Conservative groups are focusing on Judge Merrick Garland’s record on gun control, which will take center stage in the acrimonious debate over President Obama’s newest nomination to the Supreme Court.

Some Republicans predict his record could make it tougher for Democrats from pro-gun red states to offer a full-throated defense of Garland.

The Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative-leaning group that will help lead the opposition to Garland’s nomination, is taking aim at Garland’s skepticism of a decision to overturn Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban nearly ten years ago.

Garland voted in 2007 as a member of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear a decision by a three-judge panel of the circuit court that struck down the handgun ban. He voted with three other judges on the circuit to rehear the case en banc, or as a full panel. The court, however, declined to do so by a 6-to-4 vote.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/273224-obama-nominees-record-on-guns-in-the-spotlight