Democrat Jon Tester likes to pretend that he’s a friend to gun owners, and maybe he is in a lot of ways. However, we also know that he likes to bill himself as a hunter when he hasn’t done much in the way of hunting since the last election.

Tester also voted against confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, despite the new justice’s impeccable Second Amendment credentials.

That move was bound to have some repercussions, and we didn’t have to wait long to see them.

The National Rifle Association today downgraded Sen. Jon Tester’s rating to “D” after he voted against confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kavanaugh’s confirmation restores a 5-4 majority on the Court in favor of our right to self-defense.

“D.C. Jon Tester once again joined forces with Chuck Schumer and anti-gun liberals to vote against our fundamental right to self-defense,” said Chris W. Cox, chairman, NRA-PVF. “Actions speak louder than words. Downgrading Jon Tester to a ‘D’ sends a clear message to Montanans that Jon Tester can’t be trusted to protect our constitutional rights.”

Tester’s vote against Judge Kavanaugh marks the fourth time he has voted wrong on a Supreme Court nominee. He voted with Chuck Schumer and the anti-gun liberal left to confirm anti-gun Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also voted against the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, a pro-Second Amendment justice, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Contrary to what Jon Tester says in Montana, he has supported the gun control agenda of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer by voting in favor of gun control in Washington, DC,” continued Cox.

Now, it’s entirely possible that Tester feels his vote had nothing to do with guns, but that’s a load of crap.

One of the biggest fears about Kavanaugh wasn’t his stance on Roe v. Wade, but really about the Second Amendment. The Court has been hesitant to take a gun case since the double whammy of Heller followed by McDonald, the first case finding that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right and the second finding that it applies to states and cities. But there have been other cases where the Court could have ruled, and it has opted not to hear them.

That may change now that Kavanaugh is there, and that terrifies the anti-gunners. Justice Kennedy was appointed by a Republican, but he represented a swing vote on most issues. Kavanaugh, however, appears to be unlikely to fill that role. In other words, anti-gunners in Congress knew that their one hope in achieving gun control and maintaining it was keeping Kavanaugh out of the Supreme Court.

And Tester, despite his efforts to appear pro-gun, voted against Kavanaugh. He sided with the anti-gunners in his party to keep a justice off the Supreme Court who would uphold our Second Amendment rights.

The fact that he was only downgraded to a “D” grade shows that the NRA isn’t capricious in this. If it had been, the NRA would have given him a big, fat “F,” and I would be writing about how that was completely justified.