By AP
WASHINGTON – A Democratic senator says that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sees a 2008 ruling affirming Americans' right to own guns for self-defense as settled law.
Colorado Sen. Mark Udall says Sotomayor told him at a meeting Thursday that she will work from the high court's decision in the District of Columbia v. Heller in future cases involving gun rights.
The 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's handgun ban and imperiled similar prohibitions in other cities.
Gun rights activists have accused Sotomayor of being hostile to gun rights because she was part of a panel that ruled that the Second Amendment protection of the right to bear arms does not apply to state and local governments.