In yet another sad example of the COVID insanity gripping the nation, the owner of the Self Made Training Facility franchises in Arizona, Jeff Mahaffey – a decorated Marine Corps veteran – has received daily fines and criminal charges for operating his gym outside of the government mandates and CDC guidelines. In early spring when the original shutdowns began, Jeff did close in adherence with the statewide stay at home orders. However, due to lack of statistics and scientific backing for the closures, his doors were reopened in May when that original order expired. But on June 30th, a second round of closures was announced.

This second closure edict specifically targeted restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and gyms. Nevertheless, Jeff made the courageous decision to keep his facilities open for the countless independent contractors and their clients who utilize his buildings. Soon thereafter, he started receiving daily class 1 misdemeanor charges issued by Scottsdale Police Department. These charges carry a max penalty of $2,500 and 6 months in prison – each.

Not only this, the city of Scottsdale also began using intimidation tactics to try and keep Jeff’s doors closed. The local government began placing squad cars in the parking lot of the Scottsdale facility and even followed members who were leaving the facility. Invariably, these members would be stopped for minor traffic infractions. When confronted, the conversation always immediately turned to the gym in place of the reason for traffic stop.

Come early August, gyms were given the opportunity to reapply to reopen. However, in doing so, the owners had to agree to enforce a set of rules and restrictions set forth by the state. The restrictions and penalties were vague and seemed to allow the state to permanently shut down businesses if found in violation of the ambiguous guidelines. Given this, and coupled with the fact that the Self Made Training Facility had not closed back down to begin with, Jeff did not submit an application.

A few months went by with little to no issues. However, on November 25th, the Arizona Department of Health entered the facility without permission and, without any inspections, left a notice of immediate closure on the front desk and taped one to the front door. The state inspector then left without saying much of anything.
On the state’s notice, it stated the reason for closure was that the business had failed to submit an application to reopen. In other words, Jeff would essentially have to ask permission from the government to operate his business. Following this notice, multiple new charges were filed against Jeff. Local courts issued a court date but failed to provide any notice to Jeff. Once the unserved court date was predictably missed, the court then issued a warrant for his arrest.

But instead of arresting Jeff, local authorities attempted to mediate. In mediation it was stated that if Jeff wanted his contempt of court charge (for missing the hearing he didn’t know about) dropped, he would have to waive all rights to trespass local and state government officials from his businesses. In other words, he would have to grant an unlimited license to government agents to come and go as they pleased from his property. Of course, this “solution” was quickly turned down. An agreement was met to keep Jeff out of jail for the time being, however. In this agreement, local authorities filed a permanent injunction stating that as long as Jeff enforced CDC mask guidelines and was willing to work with the Arizona Department of Health Services, they would not pursue the contempt of court charge at this given time. So, the fight wages on.

Obviously, this fight is much more than just one man trying to keep his business open. It is a fight for the soul of our nation and the Constitution on which it was founded. There are small businesses nationwide standing up to this tyranny, but they cannot stand alone.

Patriot Jeff Mahaffey will keep fighting, but he needs support to stand up in the courts. If you would like to help, please visit Fundraiser by Bruno Dominianni : Jeff Mahaffey Self Made Family Legal Fund (gofundme.com) to donate.

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE