Posts in 'Judicial'

The Duplicitous Nature of Requiring Good Cause In Order To Exercise 2nd Amendment Right

The Duplicitous Nature of Requiring Good Cause In Order To Exercise 2nd Amendment Right

DC has, because they were forced to by the courts, enacted legislation that allows people to get pistol permits in order to carry a firearm while in the city…sort of. Unfortunately the District looked to places like New York City and other rights infringing metropolitan areas to model there new program on.  And while they MAY be technically following the judges orders, it is akin to a childish tantrum in which a parent tells one child to stop touching the other so the belligerent child holds his fingers a hairs breath from the skin all while cackling “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you.” As the Associated Press reports: “Mayor Vincent Gray and other city officials said they plan to propose legislation that would make the District of Columbia similar to a half-dozen states, including Maryland, where residents can be denied a concealed-carry permit if they can’t show...
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Enough Pressure Finally Mounts and Shaneen Allen Will Be Treated Like A Wife Beater

Enough Pressure Finally Mounts and Shaneen Allen Will Be Treated Like A Wife Beater

If you are a regular to this site then you know the tale of Shaneen Allen, the Philadephia single mom who took a wrong turn into New Jersey (because all turns into New Jersey are wrong and should be avoided) and was facing 10 years because she informed the officer that she had her legal sidearm with her. I told you how the DA and the Judge both refused to let her enter a pretrial intervention program that would spare her jail time and was created for people like her, no criminal record, first time mistake type people. Then I told you about Ray Rice beating his wife unconscious and the SAME DA and Judge GAVE Ray Rice the pre trial intervention. Now I finally have some good news to tell you in relation to this case. Because of all the outrage and phone calls and emails sent to the...
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Court: Sexual Predators Protected By the 1st Amendment…2nd Amendment For Law Abiding? Still Ok To Infringe

Court: Sexual Predators Protected By the 1st Amendment…2nd Amendment For Law Abiding? Still Ok To Infringe

It boggles the mind sometimes when I hear how judges rule things.  But a case in which a judge actually defended a case of a sexual predator who was taking photos up women’s skirts takes the cake. On Wednesday, the highest Criminal Court in Texas, tossed out part of a law that sought to criminalize the improper photographing of video recording of images commonly referred to as “upskirting” or “downblousing”.  Basically taking a photo up a woman’s skirt or down her shirt.  First of all, I’m shocked that crawling under a woman and sticking a camera between her legs and taking a snapshot ISN’T a crime everywhere. Secondly that I am shocked that the Texas court ruled such a law is unconstitutional and did so in a ruling of 8-1. But finally I am most shocked with the asinine reasoning behind the decision. According to court these sexual perverts...
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Why Believers In The 2nd Amendment Can’t Depend On The Courts

Why Believers In The 2nd Amendment Can’t Depend On The Courts

We as Americans like to think that, at the end of the day, no matter how much elected officials try to impose tyranny upon us, the court will stand up for our rights and balance the legislature and executive branches with good ole fashioned constitutional beat downs. Yet, if that was the case, decisions like Heller v DC and MacDonald v Chicago would have been decided by the Supreme Court by 9-0 rulings in favor of the 2nd Amendment.  Yet, the result in actuality is that the 2nd Amendment still exists in America because of a single vote. Why is that?  Because judges are not paragons of infallibility…they are simply people who SHOULD follow the Constitution but when it comes down to it are just as likely to ignore their oath as a politician is.  And speaking of politicians, on the Federal level, judges are appointed BY politicians. At...
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Sotomayor Fears Drones Yet Votes To Strip Citizenry Of Ability To Combat Tyranny

Sotomayor Fears Drones Yet Votes To Strip Citizenry Of Ability To Combat Tyranny

I wonder if the fog of liberalism is finally lifting from the eyes of Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor or if she is just ignorantly hypocritical as most liberals seem to be. Speaking before a group of students and faculty at Oklahoma City University’s School of Law on Thursday, Justice Sotomayor railed against the increasing intrusion into our privacy during this “frightening” age of surveillance technology.  She made a specific point about the use of drones by both public and commercial entities to encroach on our private lives. There are drones flying over the air randomly that are recording everything that’s happening on what we consider our private property. That type of technology has to stimulate us to think about what is it that we cherish in privacy and how far we want to protect it and from whom. Because people think that it should be protected just against government...
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NJ’s War on Women: Wife Beater Free While Single Mom Makes Wrong Turn Faces 3 Years

NJ’s War on Women: Wife Beater Free While Single Mom Makes Wrong Turn Faces 3 Years

I always had a feeling that parts of New Jersey were just cesspools but the overt war on women that some people within the state are waging is just downright disgusting. Firstly, you have Ray Rice, who beat his wife unconscious in an elevator, dragged her out and left her head in the doorway in the tracks of the closing elevator doors as she laid there unmoving. Here is the video if you haven’t yet seen it:   (warming: it is vicious and graphic) How did Atlantic County prosecutor Jim McClain decide to proceed with this brutal case of spousal abuse?  Why, he entered Ray Rice into a pre-trial intervention program (PTI) for first time offenders and Superior Court Judge Michael Donio signed off on it, thereby sparing Rice from jail time. What are some of the benefits to the PTI program? If PTI is successfully completed, there is no record of conviction...
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Another Judge Fails the 2nd Amendment – Upholds Rifle Ban

Another Judge Fails the 2nd Amendment – Upholds Rifle Ban

There is a very good reason that I tell people to consider the courts the LAST defense (ok 2nd to last defense) of the right to keep and bear arms.  That reason is because there are judges like U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake. Blake, who was appointed by Assault Weapons Ban President Bill Clinton has ruled that “assault” weapons are not protected by the 2nd Amendment. From our friends at Liberty Unyielding: The lawsuit, titled Kolbe, et al vs. O’Malley, et al, was filed in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore by numerous plaintiffs, notably the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore, Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association, Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Their lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of Maryland’s recently-enacted draconian gun laws. Those same laws prompted famed firearms manufacturer Beretta USA to take its base of operations–and the jobs that come with it–to...
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Gun Grabber Heads Implode as DC Ban Ruled Unconstitutional – All law abiding can now carry

Gun Grabber Heads Implode as DC Ban Ruled Unconstitutional – All law abiding can now carry

Shockingly over the weekend a Judge ruled that “the right to keep and bear arms” ACTUALLY included bearing arms. In Palmer v District of Columbia, Federal Judge Frederick Scullin Jr. ruled that the Second Amendment existed OUTSIDE a person’s home.  With a decision so obvious I do wonder why it took 5 years to issue this decision.   Perhaps the five year wait had to do with Judge Scullin delving DEEPLY into both Heller v DC and MacDonald v Chicago to issue this resounding and total conclusion:  “there is no longer any basis on which this court can conclude that the District of Columbia’s total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional under any level of scrutiny.” That wording is important.  According to the correct ruling of Judge Scullin, the right to bear arms is just as paramount as the right to keep them....
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Judge tells atheist group to stop being whiny biddies

Judge tells atheist group to stop being whiny biddies

In some feel good news today a federal appeals court said this week that an atheist group trying to keep the Ground Zero Cross out of the National September 11 Memorial Museum must better explain how displaying the artifact is “offensive” and violates members’ constitutional rights. The cross measures 17 feet high and is a the remains of two I beams that survived the destruction to remain standing.  Those on the ground at the time and in the weeks following 9/11 took solace at the cross and it became an indelible symbol of resolution and hope for many. Apparently that doesn’t mean diddly squat to some atheists who got their panties in a bunch about the cross being in a museum dedicated to 9/11.  The group, American Atheists filed suit back in 2011 trying to have the cross removed because they claimed it was “offensive” and violated their “constitutional rights.”...
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Has Ohio Been A Constitutional Carry State All Along?

Has Ohio Been A Constitutional Carry State All Along?

As I was looking into my travels this Memorial Day weekend I took a minute to have a refresher course on what the gun laws are in the states that I will be travelling to.  I am planning on heading to Cincinnati Ohio to root on my Alma Mater’s, the University of Pittsburgh’s, Ultimate Frisbee Team En Sabah Nur. Yes…your champion of gun rights and all things 2nd Amendment himself was a big time Ultimate Frisbee player.  With ESN, a team on which I was a founding member, I was a 4-time National Qualifier after an injury left him unable to continue playing football at Pitt…but I digress :o) Anyways, while I know Open Carry is legal in the Buckeye state (fortunate for me since Ohio and Pennsylvania do not have CCW reciprocity) I wanted to delve into the motor vehicle aspect of firearm transportation.  From what I heard...
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Here’s what Valor and Honor Look like

Here’s what Valor and Honor Look like

Cpl Kyle Carpenter only had a split second to make a choice.  He could either think only of himself and flee from a dangerous situation or literally jump headlong into danger in order to protect his fellow Marine. Cpl Carpenter chose the latter. On November 21st of 2010, Carpenter and his squad were securing Patrol Base Dakota against the Taliban in  the southern part of Afghanistan.  It was in this push to secure a stronger presence in the volatile region where he and fellow Marine, LCpl  Nicholas Eufrazio, found themselves on a rooftop in an overwatch position.  Around 10am insurgents pressed an attack and started throwing grenades, one of which landed in the middle of Carpenter and Eufrazio’s rooftop nest. It was in that split moment that Carpenter leapt into action and “distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of...
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Supreme Court’s Inaction Fails Gun Owners Again

Supreme Court’s Inaction Fails Gun Owners Again

Once again the faith that some gun owners hold in the US Supreme Court to do the right thing in regards to the 2nd Amendment was proven baseless. Last week the Supreme Court decided NOT to rule on the ever expansive infringements on the right to keep AND bear arms in the state of New Jersey.  But refusing to hear the case, the Supreme Court has allowed to stand a ruling by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals that states the right to bear arms outside of the home can be limited to the whims and discretion of an issuing authority. Basically, if the issuing authority in May-Issue states within the jurisdiction of the 3rd Circuit don’t want to give you a license to carry a firearm they have NO obligation to do so.  All they have to do is claim you don’t deserve one. How this ruling in...
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Another case where Gun Registration leads to Gun Confiscation

Another case where Gun Registration leads to Gun Confiscation

As a child, I remember watching the movie Red Dawn starring Patrick Swayze and C. Thomas Howell. The thing about that movie that really hit a chord with me was a scene when the Soviets had just landed and the commander told one of his lieutenants to go to the gun shops for they would have a list of all the guns owned by the people, thus making it easier for the Soviets to round them up. Now, while a work of fiction, the concept is sound.  If you make a list of everyone who has a gun, it’s easier for an oppressive authority to confiscate them when they don’t want you to have them. Unfortunately in America, this is not limited to the realm of fiction. I have spoken about he jackbooted thuggery of New Orleans Police when they went out and forcibly confiscated guns from citizens in...
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Another liberal activist judge inadvertently strengthens gun rights in America

Another liberal activist judge inadvertently strengthens gun rights in America

A federal judge, US District Judge John Heyburn II, has ruled that the state of Kentucky MUST recognize same-sex marriages that were performed in other states. The state of Kentucky had passed a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriages in the state and part of that amendment was to not recognize such marriages from other states. Judge Heyburn ruled that the exclusion of marriages from other states was unconstitutional based off of the following rationale, that Kentucky’s laws treat gay and lesbians differently in a “way that demeans them.” Heyburn DIDN’T say that the state of Kentucky had to perform same-sex marriages but that they did have to recognize the marriage licenses from other states. Now, THIS is where things get interesting. If the courts rule that a license issued in one state MUST be recognized by another then by extension my Pennsylvania License to Carry a Firearm MUST be acknowledged...
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Mass. Task Force lays out 44 ways the Legislature should infringe on your gun rights

Mass. Task Force lays out 44 ways the Legislature should infringe on your gun rights

After the shooting at Sandy Hook, a state committee in Massachusetts was charged with devising ways to end gun violence. We are a nation who loves to think everything is coded so you can go ahead and read that as “devising ways to pass acceptable gun control by exploiting the tragedy of dead children.” I’ll give Massachusetts politicians this though, they at least went through the process of giving it some thought, unlike Gov. Cuomo of New York who violated his states own prohibitions in order to jam the SAFE Act down the throats of New Yorkers in the dead of night. So what did this “task force” come up with?  While not completely erasing what’s left of the 2nd Amendment in Massachusetts, as a whole the recommendations are just gun control masquerading as something “new”. The major points: — The Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association should work with...
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Another WTF moment from the ATF

Another WTF moment from the ATF

There is a trial going on in the Supreme Court that isn’t getting too much press but if nothing else it highlights the pointlessness of gun control and the ATF in general. Abramski v United States The facts of the case are pretty straight forward.  A Law Enforcement Officer from Virginia goes to a gun shop and buys a gun.  He then takes the gun to a Pennsylvania FFL Dealer and transfers it over to his uncle for whom the gun was for.  The officer, Mr. Abramski, picked up the gun as a gift for his uncle and followed the law about transferring ownership to a resident of another state, hence the FFL transfer and the NICS check.  The uncle had given his nephew money to purchase the gun but the act of picking it up and driving it to him was viewed by Mr. Abramski as a gift....
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Another Activist Judge, Another Double Standard Stickin It To The 2nd Amendment

Another Activist Judge, Another Double Standard Stickin It To The 2nd Amendment

Judges are SUPPOSED to be like umpires or referees. I mean that, though you may not agree with them they are consistent.  In being such they do not favor some rights more than others. Yet once again, an activist judge has decided to toss out the will of the people on logic that would be unheard of if used with regard to the 2nd Amendment. Commonwealth Court Judge Bernard L. McGinley, a Democrat,  has tossed out Pennsylvania’s Voter ID law because: “the law would unreasonably burden the fundamental right to vote, and the state had been unable to convincingly explain why it was necessary.” Funny, examples of voter fraud aren’t convincing but somehow Andrew Cuomo, Barack obama and other rabid gun controllers speaking in hyperbole is convincing? There is NO evidence that gun control has stopped or reduced gun crime.  In FACT, over the past 100 years, whenever major...
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Oklahoma Judge Makes Strong Argument to Repeal SAFE Act and Gun Bans

Oklahoma Judge Makes Strong Argument to Repeal SAFE Act and Gun Bans

They say politics make the strangest bedfellows. Ironically, a liberal activist judge in Oklahoma has once again furthered the judicial basis to strengthen 2nd Amendment rights of Americans…completely unintentionally. While ruling to gut not only the Constitution of Oklahoma but also to force the Okie state to recognize marriage licenses from other states, U.S. District Judge Terrence Kern forwarded the 2nd Amendment. You see, the voters of Oklahoma voted to amend their state constitution to specify that marriage is between a man and a women.  Apparently, states rights don’t really matter to Judge Kern when he can just imagine that the issue of marriage is somehow in the US Constitution.  It’s not. But let’s pretend that Kern’s ruling that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment is somehow relevant to gay marriage. I say it like that because marriage can be viewed like tax breaks.  A state may dictate...
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