Brett Kavanaugh says he grew up surrounded by violence and despair, and it apparently shaped him into the Supreme Court nominee he is today.
Except Kavanaugh didn't grow up in his birthplace of Washington, D.C., a place he called the "murder capital of the world" during his confirmation hearing Wednesday. He spent his childhood in the very rich, very well-educated suburb of Bethesda, Maryland.
In the hearing's second day, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked about Kavanaugh's dissenting opinion in a court case over a D.C. gun law. Kavanaugh contradicted the court's 2011 ruling upholding a ban on assault weapons, saying that banning one type of weapon was "equivalent to a ban on a category of speech."
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That opinion didn't necessarily reflect Kavanaugh's views on gun rights, he said Wednesday. Still, he added that it did "make clear ... [that] I am a native of this area," which is apparently "a city plagued by gun violence and gang violence and drug violence."
It's true that Washington has a rough record when it comes to crime. But Kavanaugh spent his younger days nestled in Bethesda, a city that now boasts high household incomes and education rates. During Kavanaugh's childhood, Montgomery County, where Bethesda is located, recorded violent crime rates far below the rest of the D.C. area. And even today, Bethesda sees far less crime than all of Washington — and the entire United States.
Watch the whole exchange below. Kathryn Krawczyk
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