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This 2nd Amendment-Trashing Judge Is Precisely Why the Courts Were Designed to Be Weak

The notion that any branch of government has a monopoly on constitutional interpretation is dangerous enough. The fact that the unelected judiciary has been accorded ‘sole and final arbiter status’ of the Constitution is downright tyrannical and threatens the underpinnings of our Republic.

As Mark Levin wrote in Men in Black, “Judges are appointed for life because they’re not politicians. And because they’re not politicians, they’re not directly accountable to the people and are not subject to elections.” Which is exactly why the judiciary was supposed to have “neither force nor will” over political and social issues. It’s exactly why they were given the fewest tools to affect change, and no tools to enforce their opinions.

A recent comment from an Ohio federal district judge best exemplifies how this constitutional arrangement has been flipped on its head. Recently, Ohio enacted a new law permitting holders of a concealed-carry license to possess a firearm in their private vehicle parked in a company parking lot or on a school campus. Obviously, state politicians of all walks of life and ideology have weighed in pro or con on the merits of the law. Included among those publicly commenting on it was senior U.S. District Court Judge Walter H. Rice. In an interview with Military.com, he said that federal court houses are exempt from this law:

Federal installations are not bound by the state law except in certain situations which I don’t think are relevant,” Rice said. “My opinion is that it is not applicable to federal facilities unless the federal installation decides to adopt that portion of the law. What I said applies to the parking lot as well.

Now, one could debate the merits of a federal judge publicly issuing an opinion on a controversial law outside of the context of a legitimate case with standing before the courts. But Judge Rice went a step further:

I think open carry (and concealed-carry) laws, with all due deference to the Second Amendment, which I support…are dangerous to any community because of the epidemic of mental health issues throughout this country,” he said. “Putting guns in the hands of mentally incompetent people is a recipe for disaster.”

Putting aside the merits of his random conflation of mental illness and the right-to-carry, this statement is very disturbing coming from a federal judge. Obviously, Judge Rice has a First Amendment right like anyone else to speak his mind. He is allowed to express political opposition to right-to-carry laws, even if his opposition is refuted by the Second Amendment (which absolutely applies to carrying outside the home). But these comments reveal a broader problem with much of the federal bench. They are a bunch of political leftists like any other group of liberals in a legislature, except we erroneously accord them sole and final arbiter status of the Constitution. Yet, they don’t stand for reelection like state legislators do and can codify their feelings into law with no check or balance.

This is exactly what happened this week. Judges in Hawaii and Maryland officially created an affirmative right for all 7.2 billion people in the world to immigrate and get standing in court to overturn the Constitution, the social compact, the social contract, 200 years of case law, numerous statutes, common sense, and Article II presidential power over foreign affairs. Unlike members of any other branch, their personal feelings become the law of the land under this erroneous conception of the judiciary. One district judge, which is an institution created by Congress, can now apparently stand above Congress and issue a nationwide injunction on national sovereignty.

As we’ve explained many times, the concept of judicial review does not support judicial supremacy, the construct of a judiciary as a council of revision. It affirms the Constitution as supreme over all branches and dictates that the other [stronger] branches must certainly adhere to the Constitution when the judiciary does not.

Rather than promoting RINOcare, President Trump must work with conservatives to immediately reform the role of the federal judiciary, beginning with the lower courts. Otherwise, we are facing a tyranny even King George could never have fathomed. (For more from the author of “This 2nd Amendment-Trashing Judge Is Precisely Why the Courts Were Designed to Be Weak” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

MARXIST “CONSTITUTIONAL” SCHOLAR ATTACKS 2nd AMENDMENT, Demands Repeal

Aha! Someone is finally actually taking up the debate that, if you wish to disrespect the Second Amendment, you actually need to repeal it.

I teach the Constitution for a living. I revere the document when it is used to further social justice and make our country a more inclusive one. I admire the Founders for establishing a representative democracy that has survived for over two centuries.

In other words, when the Constitution furthers a “progressive”, “social-justice” end, it is to be revered. When it does not it is to be reviled. Well, so be it — at least this douche declares his intent up front in the first paragraph.

But sometimes we just have to acknowledge that the Founders and the Constitution are wrong. This is one of those times. We need to say loud and clear: The Second Amendment must be repealed.

Ah, now we get to it.

Good. Unlike all the other jackwads who have talked about “gun control” (and managed to pass over 50,000 blatantly unconstitutional laws), this one wants to talk about the lawful means by which one can infringe the Second Amendment — simply write it out of the Constitution itself!

However, in the process of attempting to make his argument he lies — repeatedly. Let’s go through the lies, because virtually the entire argument he makes is a lie.

Sure, the Founders knew that the world evolved and that technology changed, but the weapons of today that are easily accessible are vastly different than anything that existed in 1791. When the Second Amendment was written, the Founders didn’t have to weigh the risks of one man killing 49 and injuring 53 all by himself. Now we do, and the risk-benefit analysis of 1791 is flatly irrelevant to the risk-benefit analysis of today.

Oh really?

Well, don’t tell Jefferson that, who armed a private militia with a couple dozen cannon. Or, for that matter, anyone who owned a Blunderbus back then, which were a crude form of shotgun that was often loaded (as were cannon) with grape — named for it’s rough shape and size. Grapeshot was the preferred anti-personnel load because like a shotgun it spread out and covered a lot of people, but unlike a shotgun each piece was deadly on its own, and in a cannon each piece wasn’t much different in size than a musket ball.

Incidentally, The Founders also didn’t have military weapons that murdered millions with one button push, nor “remote weapons” that could be fired without personal risk. Today we have both, and yet the purpose of the Second Amendment is to prevent any sort of tyrant from using any of their weapons against the people at-large without the risk of the people firing back with equally-effective weapons.

We have spent close to 70 years under the premise in this world that if one party has really horrible weapons then others must develop and keep them because the risk of retaliation is too high and that deterrent effect will inhibit their first use. You can disagree with the premise but not the result; 70 years hence beyond the point at which only one party has had those weapons they have not been used.

The burden of proof is on those who claim that such a policy and capability is ineffective; the overwhelming evidence is that it is. That’s one reason that I have repeatedly advocated that the United States must declare as formal policy that if a weapon of mass destruction is used on our territory by Muslim Nutjobs we will immediate nuke both Mecca and Medina at ground level, rendering both impassible to humans for 1,000 years. Since these nutjobs also believe that you cannot go to heaven without having made said pilgrimage in your lifetime the continuation of the principle of MAD, which has served the world quite well on the manifest weight of the evidence for 70 years, would be promulgated to said Muslim nutjobs quite effectively.

Second, at a more-micro level, the worst rates of crime are where the most onerous gun laws exist. Chicago is just one big fat example; the entire State of Illinois requires a registration with the State Police for any purchase of a gun or ammunition and the bearing of an FOID card, and until recently (when the Supreme Court struck said law as unconstitutional) the mere ownership of a pistol was a crime anywhere in the city itself since the 1960s. Yet the gang-bangers don’t seem to care about such things; they buy, own and use guns and ammunition all the time, every one of them illegally. Unfortunately since those guns are illegal to own and possess they also don’t practice with them so their use tends to be inaccurate and thus they often shoot someone other than their intended victim by accident. Gangbangers and their violence are horrible, but what’s even more-horrible is when they wind up shooting a 3 year old accidentally because they’re a terrible shot.

Third, again at a more-micro level, in states where gun laws have been liberalized violent crime rates have gone DOWN at a rate that exceeds that where such changes in the law have not been made. It appears that “MAD” works on both a macro, international level and at a micro level, in that thugs actually consider the possibility that they may wind up with a bunch of extra holes in their body in unpleasant places if they attempt their crimes. Where that possibility is higher, they are deterred and choose either non-violent, non-personal criminal acts or no crime at all.

In point of fact so far in Chicago (as of 6/15) this year there have been 1451 people shot and 259 killed, or more than five times Orlando. Chicago remains a place where it is basically impossible for a citizen to lawfully own and possess a firearm for self-defense, and the gang-bangers know it. They are also not deterred by lots of cops who cower instead of respond.

But liberty is not a one way street. It also includes the liberty to enjoy a night out with friends, loving who you want to love, dancing how you want to dance, in a club that has historically provided a refuge from the hate and fear that surrounds you. It also includes the liberty to go to and send your kids to kindergarten and first grade so that they can begin to be infused with a love of learning. It includes the liberty to go to a movie, to your religious house of worship, to college, to work, to an abortion clinic, go to a hair salon, to a community center, to the supermarket, to go anywhere and feel that you are free to do to so without having to weigh the risk of being gunned down by someone wielding a weapon that can easily kill you and countless others.

That’s certainly true. But before you repeal the Second Amendment you must first show that doing so will prevent someone who wants to kill you from doing it — and not just with a gun either, instead of increasing the risk that you will fall victim to said violence.

Of course there’s that wee problem; recent history says that the Unicorn-fart utopia this “professor” believes in doesn’t exist. In France, for example, less than a year ago a bunch of Islamic Nutjobs shot up a theater and killed a lot of people — more than double the number of dead in Orlando were accrued. France not only has no Second Amendment it is unlawful for civilians to possess semi-automatic weapons of any sort on a virtually impenetrable basis. Yet these Muslim Whackjobs had no trouble managing to obtain and use both the weapons and their ammunition. I remind you that there are no EU nations with a strong Second Amendment-like part of their governing documents, which means that the common statement that places such as Chicago have a lot of gun violence “because other states that are nearby have loose restrictions” is a flat-out lie.

What France showed us, and what Orlando showed us, is that in the gravest extreme the cops will not help you either because they cannot get there fast enough to matter or will literally cower in the corner despite their superior numbers and firepower while the bastard kills you instead of taking him on. You either have the ability to help yourself or you die. And that leads to the next point:

Just think of what would have happened in the Orlando night-club Saturday night if there had been many others armed. In a crowded, dark, loud dance club, after the shooter began firing, imagine if others took out their guns and started firing back. Yes, maybe they would have killed the shooter, but how would anyone else have known what exactly was going on? How would it not have devolved into mass confusion and fear followed by a large-scale shootout without anyone knowing who was the good guy with a gun, who was the bad guy with a gun, and who was just caught in the middle? The death toll could have been much higher if more people were armed.

Oh really? It appears that one third of the people who were in that building were either shot or killed. The terrorist expended over 200 rounds unanswered (there was one off-duty cop who tried to engage the shooter at the outset but failed) and the cops sat outside for three hours despite the murderous bastard’s proud declaration at the onset of violence via his own 911 call that he was a follower of ISIS and intended to kill everyone.

Rather than storm the building immediately, which incidentally was the lesson that Columbine supposedly taught, the cops cowered outside and let that murderous beast slaughter everyone he wished, literally taking his sweet time to execute the wounded!

If 10% of the 300 people inside had been armed odds are that within seconds the assailant would have turned his back on one or more of them at close range. While there might have been collateral damage from the resulting returned fire it is incomprehensible that the death toll would have been anywhere near the 50 who died and the 3-hour delay would not have occurred — thus more of those who were shot would have received immediate and effective medical attention instead of bleeding out on the floor while the cops refused to do their damned job.

Further let me remind you that Florida Statutes, 790.06 explicitly prohibits the carrying of a concealed weapon into any place where the primary sale is the licensed dispensation of alcoholic beverages for immediate consumption — such as Pulse. That law is blatantly unconstitutional as “Shall not be infringed” is not followed by “except where alcohol is commonly sold under license for immediate consumption.

Therefore, the manifest weight of the evidence is that it was the outrageous and unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment that was directly responsible for a large number of the people who were assaulted at Pulse meeting their demise, and a second level of direct responsibility lies with the intentional dereliction of duty on the part of the police who despite knowing that the shooter intended to kill everyone there because the shooter had made exactly that threat refused to immediately storm the building in an attempt to end the assault.

Next, I’d like to direct this blowhard professor’s attention to Oklahoma City, where a man with a bomb made out of common materials (fertilizer and diesel fuel) blew up a building and killed far more than in Orlando (168, to be exact, not including himself as he didn’t blow himself up in the explosion); in addition he injured something like 600 more people. There is no place in this country where you can go to the “bomb store”, obviously, yet that didn’t stop him from executing his murderous plan.

Finally, please list all the mass-shootings and where they have taken place. I would like you to separate them into two groups; places that are “gun free” zones by law or policy such as schools, bars, movie theaters, military bases (except at the gatehouses) and similar, including those where concealed carry is virtually impossible such as California, and those that were gun-rich zones such as police stations, courtrooms and the like.

You will note that in virtually every single one of these assaults, including but not limited to Chattanooga, San Bernardino, Sandy Hook, Columbine, Ft. Hood, Aurora and now Orlando it was unlawful or prohibited by the policy of the establishment for anyone other than a uniformed officer — and in some cases even for uniformed officers (e.g. Chattanooga) — to possess a firearm.

You will not find said jackwads assaulting police stations, biker bars (where despite policy or even law a material percentage of the people are carrying!) or similar. Gee, might it be that while said murderous nutjobs are willing to die they are not interested in dying as soon as they declare their intentions — and before they can inflict material harm on others?

The manifest weight of the evidence is clear:

Virtually every mass-shooting incident has taken place where the Second Amendment is disrespected. Said incidents do not tend to take place where the Second Amendment is respected.

Conclusion:

This “professor” ought to be stripped of his credentials and any degree granted by his institution burned when presented by a graduate, as he clearly cannot manage to logically analyze basic facts and thus it must be assumed that neither can his students.

The manifest weight of the evidence is clear: The Second Amendment must be restored to its original intent and meaning if we are to effectively deter these sorts of attacks. (For more from the author of “MARXIST “CONSTITUTIONAL” SCHOLAR ATTACKS 2nd AMENDMENT: Suffers Near-Fatal Self-Beclownment” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

SCOTUS Just Killed a Favorite Liberal Argument Against the 2nd Amendment

In a hasty move this week, the Supreme Court gutted liberal arguments that the 2nd Amendment was only intended to protect the American right to bear primitive firearms like the muskets in common use at the time of its writing.

The case came after Jaime Caetano, a homeless woman with an abusive ex-boyfriend, was arrested for defending herself from the abuser with a stun gun after police failed to keep him away pursuant to the multiple restraining orders she had filed against the man. Prosecutors charged that Caetano had broken the law by defending herself with the stun gun because the devices were illegal under Massachusetts law and not protected by the 2nd Amendment.

The Supreme Court cited Heller earlier this week as it unanimously overturned a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in the case which maintained that stun guns are not protected as self-defense weapons under the 2nd Amendment because they “were not in common use” when the Bill of Rights was composed.

That, as you know, is also a common refrain from anti-2nd Amendment Americans who don’t believe law abiding citizens should have access to semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines. (Read more from “SCOTUS Just Killed a Favorite Liberal Argument Against the 2nd Amendment” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

EPA Can't Regulate Lead Bullets, Says Federal Court

Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan

Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan

Hunters, hold your fire — the Environmental Protection Agency won’t regulate your bullets.

A federal appeals court denied a lawsuit Tuesday by environmental groups that the EPA must use the Toxic Substances Control Act regulate lead used in shells and cartridges.

“We agree with EPA that it lacks statutory authority to regulate the type of spent bullets and shot identified in the environmental groups’ petition,” Judge David Tatel wrote for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Environmental groups had sued the agency to do so, saying spent lead ammunition posed an “unreasonable risk of injury” to wildlife and humans who would eat the animals they kill. The groups rejected the EPA’s assertion that it lacked the authority to do so.

Read more from this story HERE.

Armed Homeowners Protect Their Own, Kill Intruders

Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

Sheriff: Man Who Killed Would-Be Home Intruder ‘Acted Lawfully’

By WFAA. A man who repeatedly rang a doorbell and knocked on a front door was fatally shot Friday morning by the homeowner after the two fought in a yard, authorities said Friday. . .

The incident occurred about 4 a.m. Friday in the Shale Creek neighborhood just off Texas 114 in rural Wise County near the Wise and Denton county line.

“The homeowner armed himself and went outside,” Walker said. “That’s when he saw a man trying to jump a fence that was between his house and his neighbor’s home”. . .

“They fought briefly,” Walker said. “At some point, [Rigtrup] backed away from the man and told him he was armed. The man kept saying he needed to get inside of the house.”

Rigtrup – who had his wife and 14-year-old daughter inside the home – fired one shot at Crandall’s chest, killing him, Walker said. Police found him dead on the front porch. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Homeowner Shoots Home Invader Holding Gun To Woman’s Neck

By Chuck Ross. A suspect in an armed home invasion is dead after he was confronted by an armed homeowner.

Two men began knocking on the front door of a North Memphis, Tenn. home on Tuesday. When a woman answered, the men barged in, and one of them — identified as 22-year-old Nico Carlisle — held a gun to the woman’s neck.

A male homeowner also inside the house heard the commotion, retrieved his own handgun, and fired several shots at the two men, hitting and killing Carlisle. (Read more about how armed homeowners protect themselves HERE)

The Luby's Cafeteria Massacre: A Brutal Reminder to Restaurants Telling Customers "No Guns"

Photo Credit: TownHallYesterday Panera Bread became another restaurant establishment asking customers to leave their guns at home, joining eateries like Chilis, Starbucks and stores like Target after pressure from anti-gun groups. Like other restaurant chains, Panera’s official policy hasn’t changed to an outright ban, but they’ve made clear customers carrying firearms for self-defense aren’t welcome.

This “please leave your guns at home” policy is catching on, but as more restaurants join Panera and others like it, it’s important to remind them of the horrifying Luby’s Cafeteria massacre.

In 1991 Texas residents were banned by law from bringing firearms into restaurants. That same year, a mad man with an intent to kill as many people as possible, crashed his truck into a Lubys Cafeteria in Killeen. The man got out of his vehicle and shot 50 people, killing 23 of them…

Read more from this story HERE.

WATCH: Sheriff Predicts Civil War if Feds Attempt to Take Guns from Citizens in his County

Photo Credit: YouTube Still CodeIn light of recent mass shootings – primarily in so-called ‘gun-free zones’ – that have left dozens dead and even more injured, Americans have become increasingly divided regarding how such tragedies might be avoided in the future.

While some have concluded that stricter gun control laws would keep citizens safe by limiting legal access to firearms, plenty of others recognize that a well-armed populace can act as a deterrent to would-be violent criminals.

As federal authorities consider imposing legislation that would make the ownership of certain weapons illegal, local law enforcement officials are speaking out against such proposals. One such voice is Mike Lewis, who serves as sheriff of Wicomico County, Md.

During a recent interview, he firmly denounced the federal government’s intrusion into his constituents’ ability to own and carry legally owned weapons.

Read more from this story HERE.

Hillary Clinton Takes Aim at 2nd Amendment: Time to ‘Rein In’ An ‘Article of Faith’

Photo Credit: Stephan Savoia

Photo Credit: Stephan Savoia

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday the nation’s gun culture has gotten “way out of balance” and the U.S. needs to rein in the notion that “anybody can have a gun, anywhere, anytime.”

The former Secretary of State and potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate said the idea that anyone can have a gun is not in the “best interest of the vast majority of people.” But she said that approach does not conflict with the rights of people to own firearms.

Clinton waded into the polarizing issue of gun politics during an appearance at the National Council for Behavioral Health conference in Oxon Hill, Md., pointing to recent shootings that involved teens who had been playing loud music and chewing gum and a separate incident involving the typing of text messages in a movie theater.

“I think again we’re way out of balance. I think that we’ve got to rein in what has become an almost article of faith that anybody can have a gun anywhere, anytime,” Clinton said. “And I don’t believe that is in the best interest of the vast majority of people. And I think you can say that and still support the right of people to own guns.”

The Democratic-controlled Senate voted against legislation pushed by President Barack Obama last year that would have expanded background checks for firearm purchases to gun shows and online sales. The legislation came in the aftermath of the deadly Sandy Hook elementary school shootings in Connecticut.

Read more from this story HERE.

Former Supreme Court Justice: Amend 2nd Amendment

Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, in his new book, recommends six rewrites to the U.S. Constitution. He would restrict gun ownership to militia members; ban the death penalty; and allow government to set “reasonable limits” on campaign financing, among other things.

But Stevens says he’s no radical:

“I think every one of my proposals is a moderate proposal,” Stevens told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

One of Steven’s proposals would add five words to the Second Amendment, which would then read: “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms, when serving in the militia, shall not be infringed.”

Stevens agreed that adding those five words would allow legislatures and Congress, rather than the courts, to “do what they think is in the best public interest.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Middle School Workbook Reportedly Includes What Could Be the Most Outrageous Definition of the Second Amendment Yet

An Illinois father claims a workbook that teaches the Second Amendment comes with a requirement to register firearms was handed out to seventh-graders at Grant Middle School in Springfield, including his own son.

An image posted on the Illinois Gun Owners Rights Facebook page shows a worksheet that defines the Second Amendment as the following:

“This amendment states that people have the right to certain weapons, providing that they register them and they have not been in prison. The founding fathers included this amendment to prevent the United States from acting like the British who had tried to take weapons away from the colonists.”

Photo Credit: Facebook

The parent reportedly spoke anonymously to Storyleak.com and the Examiner about the workbook, which he says includes a summary of the entire Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

“My son was given a workbook at school that is a compilation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. When they covered the Second Amendment, he saw that they were stating that only ‘certain guns’ could be owned and that they had to be ‘registered,’ which he knew was false,” the parent reportedly said.

Read more from this story HERE.