AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL AMERICANS ON INDEPENDENCE DAY 2020

#gunvote“Americans have the right and the advantage of being armed—unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms ~James Madison.” Federalist 46Dear Fellow Americans,As we approach the celebration on Independence Day this coming July 4^th weekend we should think about the significance of the War that was fought against tyranny and the sacrifices that were made to give us a Nation unlike any other; one conceived in liberty. We should give thanks to our founders, and give serious thought to where we are today, and how we see ourselves tomorrow.Americans are shocked at the outbreak of law and order in our Nation; of the destruction of businesses and private property; of assaults on and murders of innocent Americans; of violent, senseless acts of rioters, looters, and arsonists that go unpunished.We have witnessed the wanton destruction of our Nation’s history, our culture, and our heritage. We see the defacement, defilement, and destruction of our treasured monuments, statues, and artwork.We are disgusted by the reactions of Democrats to the anarchy and chaos happening all around us, and we are appalled at their constant attacks on the President.The reactions of the Radical Left Democrat Party leadership make clear their contempt for our Nation, for our people, and for our Constitution. The weak-kneed reactions of Republicans to this lawlessness are no less disturbing and alarming.But these radical forces have done us a favor. They show us their true colors and tell us what they want: the end of a free Constitutional Republic. Never before has a U.S. Presidential election been so important.This is a modern Civil War. See the AQ article titled, “In The Throes Of America’s Modern-Day Civil War.”    In some ways, though, this modern Civil War bears more relation to the American Revolution than to the American Civil War because we are seeing something different, something potentially more catastrophic. The eradication of our Bill of Rights, all ten of them.Our representatives in Congress do not represent our interests. We had national concealed handgun reciprocity legislation in our grasp but the Senate threw it away. Of all the timely issues the Arbalest Quarrel has written on over the years, this was one of the most important, the right to own and possess firearms unrestricted.If we are to ever see the reality of national carry legislation, we can only do so with Trump as President and with Republican control of both the House and Senate.The 4^th of July should remind all Americans that true freedom and liberty always exists in an armed citizenry.We see, firsthand, in States like New York, Illinois, Washington, and California, to name a few, Democratic strongholds, where State and local leaders have either capitulated to lawless mob rule or have actively participated in the breakdown of law and order.These recent events have also demonstrated how vulnerable the American people are, how helpless they are, and how they are made to feel.Just take a look at New York City. This is a City that had for years seen a reduction in crime. It is now experiencing a massive resurgence as violent crime and murder rates have soared, equal to or surpassing those seen in Chicago.Democrat Mayor Bill DeBlasio has still refused to allow licensed Federal Firearms Dealers, gun stores, and shooting ranges to open as “essential” businesses.Yet, he has let criminals out of jail to prey on innocent people while, at the same time, he has defunded and dismantled the Police Department, disbanded undercover units, given them conflicting orders, and emasculated what remains of the police.DeBlasio has made it extremely difficult for average, sensible, law-abiding citizens to exercise their fundamental right to possess firearms for personal protection. He claims citizens who reside in New York City don’t need firearms because the police serve that function. That, of course, is a bald-faced lie, as the police have no duty to ensure the life and safety of individuals.The function of the police is to protect the safety of the community as a whole. The AQ has discussed this issue at length, in its article, “Can We, As Individuals, Rely on the Police To Protect us?”But, today, DeBlasio isn’t even providing New York City residents with that minimal level of protection. Instead of reinforcing the police, and supporting them, he has bowed to the will of the mob.DeBlasio has empowered the criminal, sociopathic elements. He has demoralized the police and left the average, responsible, law-abiding citizenry helpless. If this is DeBlasio’s intention, he has succeeded. If not, this is evidence that he is an incompetent and moron.This is repeated across the Country. You see it happening every day. America is on fire!Americans need to understand the issues, know the facts, and be proactive.DeBlasio continues to let criminals out of jail to prey on innocent people, leaving them defenseless. While also not allowing licensed Federal Firearms Dealers, gun stores and shooting ranges to reopen because he declares them “non-essential” businesses.This is repeated across the Country. You see it happening every day. America is on fire!These same governors and mayors fail to protect us; fail to protect society-at-large, and deny us the right to protect ourselves. They exercise absolute control. They ignore their own legislatures, arrogantly issuing illegal executive orders to exert control over Americans. They use that same authority to benefit themselves and the Democratic Party platform. This must stop.Well-funded and well-organized Radical Left-wing forces, from within our country and from outside it, have infiltrated our government, our schools, our social and business institutions; our very way-of-life.Their focus, for the time being, is on the Democrat-controlled sanctuary cities and States.These destructive forces aim to accomplish their goals through a seditious “Fake News” media to create a totalitarian regime. They hide behind the protections of  “Free Press.” Beware if you are not “politically protect.”Fortunately, President Donald Trump is not their puppet. He will not stand for their antics. He calls them out for the corrupters they are. He cannot be bought.Radical Left forces intend to defeat Trump, at all costs. They constantly proclaim a runaway “Blue Wave” victory. It is the same strategy they used in a failed attempt to elect Hillary Clinton.These Radical Left forces will be met by a counterforce. It is the same counterforce that succeeded in electing Trump President in 2016. That counterforce will see Trump reelected in 2020.  That counterforce consists of you, and me, and the great “Silent Majority.”We will put out the fire burning in America with a backfire!  The Presidential 2020 Election is only a few months away. The stakes are high.Voting has consequences, as evidenced in the Midterm Elections of 2018 allowing the Democrats to take control over the House of Representatives while the Republicans just narrowly held onto the Senate.The Midterm election upset put a hold on any possibility for the passage of a new “National Concealed Handgun Carry Reciprocity” bill. See the AQ Article,“It’s Time For National Handgun Carry Reciprocity To Secure The Citizen’s Right Of Armed Self-Defense, Throughout The Country.” Then, too, the recent swing-vote by U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts on the NYC Gun Transport Case has done nothing to strengthen our Second Amendment rights. The AQ discusses this in its article, “Antigun Crowd Breathes Collective Sigh Of Relief After Supreme Court Majority Gives NYC A Victory In Gun Transport Case.” Only Trump’s reelection, along with Republican wins in the House and the Senate, will preserve a Free Republic and preserve our fundamental, unalienable rights.Republicans must also gain control of States and localities presently under the grip of Radical Leftists.Reach out and touch someone!We cannot take anything for granted. The stakes are too high!We must prioritize and plan our battles. But, to successfully counter the forces that wish to undermine our Nation, we must keep informed.We need to understand the issues, know the facts, and be proactive.Get accurate news through FOX and OAN cable television, and read and subscribe to accurate reporting news sites like the Epoch Times.We also suggest you subscribe to pro-Second Amendment websites. There are several.Among the best of the pro-Second Amendment websites, we strongly suggest you subscribe to the following if you have not already done so:AMMOLAND/Shooting Sports News; NSSF/National Shooting Sports Foundation; DRGO/Doctors For Responsible Gun Ownership; and, our own, ARBALEST QUARREL. All these sites strongly and uncompromisingly support the citizens’ fundamental, unalienable right of the people to keep and bear arms.All of us must do our fair share.You can also support us and encourage others to do so as well by reading our AQ articles and to share them on social media sources like Facebook and Twitter.Let your voice be heard.Call President Trump and Republicans in your Congressional Delegation. Let them know how you feel about the important issues. Remind them that they work for you, not for themselves. Make it clear to them that you will monitor how they vote on legislation and that you can easily vote them out of Office as vote them into Office.The Capital telephone number to reach anyone in the Federal Government is 202/ 224-3121. This is a working number and a switchboard operator will connect you to the person you want to reach. We use this phone number often. It only takes a few minutes. You, too, can make a difference.We trust you will share this message with your family, friends, and acquaintances.Remember full well, if we do not retain control of the Federal Government, this July 4^th Independence Day Celebration may well be our last.Sincerely,/s/Stephen L. D’AndrilliAQ President___________________________________________Copyright © 2020 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

ARBALEST QUARREL LETTER DIRECTED TO SENATOR CHARLES GRASSLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

April 26, 2016[ADDRESSED TO THE HONORABLE CHARLES E. GRASSLEY] Re: President Obama’s Nominee for Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Merrick GarlandDear Senator Grassley:I am an attorney who specializes in Constitutional law. Together with my colleagues we publish the Arbalest Quarrel, a unique, informative website, specializing in formal analyses of State and federal firearms’ legislation and court decisions. Our articles are published throughout the Nation, in major magazines that are read by millions of people.This is a rebuttal to an open letter, dated March 31, 2016, you received from several academicians urging you to allow a confirmation hearing and vote on Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s third short list nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. We have serious misgivings as to Judge Garland’s suitability to serve as a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the vacant seat.The analysis of Judge Garland’s qualifications is critically important to the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, to the Second Amendment that is defined therein, and to the preservation of a free Republic.The professors, who co-authored the letter, claim expertise on Second Amendment matters. They attempt to allay concerns over Judge Garland’s jurisprudential approach to the Second Amendment, but their comments raise questions about the Judge’s suitability to sit on the high Court.In their defense of Judge Garland the academicians cite to two cases that have been the focus of attention. One of the cases is Parker vs. District of Columbia. Parker deals directly with the Second Amendment. The second case is National Rifle Association of America, Inc. vs. Reno. The Reno case deals tangentially with the import of the Second Amendment but definitely impacts the Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms.The authors attack NRA’s stance, asserting: “[t]he NRA claims that Judge Garland is hostile to the Second Amendment, but there is nothing in his record that supports such an attack.” An analysis of the facts proves them wrong. There is much in the cited cases that would spark debate in the U.S. Senate that Judge Garland has little regard for the fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms. In Parker the lower District Court ruled in favor of the District of Columbia’s law that bans civilian possession of handguns. On appeal the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the decision of the lower District Court. The Defendant, District of Columbia, requested a rehearing of the adverse decision, en banc. Judge Garland voted in favor of an en banc hearing of the case.The authors of the March 31 letter argue that Judge Garland’s vote tells us nothing about his position on the Second Amendment. They assert: “[i]t is well established that such procedural votes say nothing about a judge’s views on the substance of the case, or how he or she would have voted on the merits. Yet, Judge Garland’s critics assert that his vote for en banc review “proves” his hostility to the Second Amendment.”From a legal perspective the assertion is correct. But, from a logical standpoint Judge Garland’s vote for an en banc review of the Parker case reveals the essence of Garland’s lack of regard for the Second Amendment. An en banc review of Parker means the full complement of Judges – all ten – could conceivably reverse the decision of the three Judge panel that ruled in favor of the Plaintiff handgun owners, against the District of Columbia.Failure of the Court to review the case en banc keeps the decision, against the District of Columbia, intact. Judge Garland’s vote in the Parker case clearly illustrates a position that, if not overtly “hostile” to the Second Amendment, is one certainly inconsistent with the import and purport of it; for, if Judge Garland were a proponent of the Second Amendment, his vote for an en banc review of the case would be strategically senseless.Through an en banc hearing there would exist a real possibility that the full complement of Judges would reverse the original ruling of the three-member panel. Obviously, Judge Garland was hoping to overturn the decision of the three Judge panel, realizing there was much to be gained and nothing to lose were the full contingency of Judges empaneled to rehear the case.Only three U.S. Court of Appeals Judges for the D.C. Circuit voted in favor of an en banc hearing in Parker: Randolph, Tatel, and Garland. Of note: two of the three Judges, Tatel and Garland, decided the Reno case, ruling in favor of the Attorney General, Janet Reno, against NRA. The decision, however, wasn’t unanimous. Judge Sentelle disagreed with the ruling and did so in a strong dissenting opinion.Judge Tatel wrote the majority opinion in Reno. Judge Garland joined Tatel. Garland did not write his own concurring opinion. That point is notable. It means Judge Garland agreed not only with the erroneous judgment but with Judge Tatel’s faulty reasoning.Yet, the authors of the March 31 letter do not address the reasoning of the Court’s majority in Reno. They don’t present formal argument in support of the majority opinion. They simply make statements, and the statements are misguided and meritless. The legal scholars assert the decision of the majority was correct because Attorney General, John Ashcroft, “defended the opinion,” saying, “[t]he court of appeals’ decision is correct.” But that tells us nothing illuminating. It merely begs the central question at issue: is the decision correct?The legal scholars also assert the decision of the majority was correct because the high Court denied NRA’s writ of certiorari. But, the authors of the letter know full well that no party may impose on the high Court as a matter of right. The granting of a writ of certiorari is discretionary and the Court will take up a case when it is consistent with the interests of a majority of the Justices at that particular time to do so, regardless of the merits of a case. The interests of the parties need not and often do not factor in the equation.But, there is another problem with the legal scholars’ pronouncements. Concerning Parker, they assert, “[a]ny argument that a purely procedural vote reflecting no substantive judgment on the merits of the underlying case is proof that Judge Garland would vote to overturn Heller is specious and dishonest, and unworthy of acceptance by the Committee or the Senate as a whole.”The point of the remark is that no one can reasonably discern Judge Garland’s views on the Second Amendment on the basis of a purely procedural vote. But, then, concerning Reno, these same scholars assert, inconsistently, that the failure of the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review means, “[t]he Supreme Court agreed [with the decision] and declined to hear the N.R.A.’s appeal.”Where lies the difference between the procedural vote cast by the U.S. Supreme Court Justices denying the writ in Reno, and the procedural vote cast by the full complement of U.S. Court of Appeals Judges for the D.C. Circuit, denying an en banc hearing in Parker?  If these legal scholars are telling the Senate that no inference can be drawn regarding Judge Garland’s Second Amendment stance in Parker, what is their legal or logical rationale for drawing an inference regarding a U.S. Supreme Court stance on the Second Amendment in Reno? The professors do not explain the discrepancy in their logic.The authors of the letter suggest the Senate should accept on faith that Judge Garland’s position on the Second Amendment is – if one must speculate – indeterminate. We disagree. His philosophy on the Second Amendment, on the basis of an analysis of Parker and Reno, is clear. It is one not supportive of a strong Second Amendment. It is one not at all in the same vein as Justice Scalia’s.The Judge’s jurisprudential approach to the law and the methodology he employs are substantially different from that of Justice Scalia. We discuss this on the Arbalest Quarrel website. We recently posted a comprehensive analysis of the Reno case in a series of articles.We welcome you to take a look at our analysis and encourage you to take a tour of our site. The link is: www.arbalestquarrel.com.We trust that you appreciate our concern for the continued preservation of our sacred Second Amendment. We implore you to deny Judge Merrick Garland a hearing and a vote on his confirmation. The danger his confirmation poses to our free Republic and to the preservation of the Bill of Rights our founders gave us rests in the balance.The Arbalest Quarrel weblog recently posted a comprehensive analysis of the Reno case in a series of articles. We welcome you to take a look at our analysis and encourage you to take a tour of our site. Once again, the link is: www.arbalestquarrel.com.We trust that you appreciate our concern for the continued preservation of our sacred Second Amendment. We implore you to deny Judge Merrick Garland a hearing and a vote on his confirmation. The danger his confirmation poses to our free Republic and to the preservation of the Bill of Rights our founders gave us rests in the balance.Sincerely,/s/Roger KatzRoger J. Katz, Attorney at LawCo-founder, Arbalest Group, LLC.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2015 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour) All Rights Reserved.