NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS’ “BLUEPRINT TO END GUN VIOLENCE” IS A HOAX

MULTI SERIES ON NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ERIC ADAMS

PART THREE

NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ comprehensive strategy to stem the tide of intractable criminal violence in the City will do nothing of the kind—is doing nothing of the kind. It is a hoax, plain and simple, albeit one well-planned and orchestrated. It is intended to delude the public into placing confidence in his Administration. It is designed to convince the public that the Mayor is doing something concrete to promote public safety. And that is to mean that he has a handle on violent crime. Image is everything, and Mayor Adams maintains vigorous control over that image, carefully overseeing all communications that go out to the Press. See the article in Legal Insurrection, published, on April 4, 2022, titled,  “‘Discipline of Message’: NYC Mayor Adams Wants to Approve All City's Communications.”The “Blueprint,” released with fanfare on the “Official website of the City of New York,” on January 24, 2022, creates an impression, as it was undoubtedly designed to do, that Eric Adams intends to deal head-on with the intractable crime problem—a violent crime wave that continually threatens millions of innocent people in the City, whether they reside there, work there, or are simply visiting.But, how well is this “Blueprint to End Gun Violence” working out? Not so well, it turns out. And that fact is difficult to hide, much as Mayor Adams would like to hide it, regardless of the clampdown on communications from the Mayor’s Office.Even the Radical Left, which supports the Mayor, realizes this and is vocal about it. See MSN.com which cites an article appearing on the website, Slate. The progressive left website, Slate, harbors no illusion about the inherent deficiencies of the Mayor’s “Blueprint,” and expressly asserts its belief about it, referring to the Mayor's plan as a “Trojan Horse.”Be that as it may, “Slate’s” disagreement with Adams’ “Blueprint” has nothing to do with overt concern over incessant crime in the City. Rather, Slate expresses displeasure at the prospect of the Mayor's plan targeting the perpetrators of it, the majority of whom happen to be “non-white” people.Slate posits the plan as racist and, and expresses its indignation and disdain over the implementation, implying that the presence of violent, horrific crime in New York City is preferable to the measures the Mayor intends to invoke to contain it.And violent crime does continue to spiral out of control, as reported on Fox News, on March 2. 2022.See also the article in law enforcement today, posted on April 9, 2022.So, with pushback on Adams’ “Blueprint” coming from polar opposite corners, one wonders if there is a solution to the problem of intractable crime at all.There is a solution, of course. But it’s a solution this Mayor, no less than the previous one, refuses to countenance. For, the perfect solution to incessant, violent crime in the City is one that both Adams, and his predecessor, de Blasio, consider more problematic than runaway horrific violence.And we all know what that solution is: It’s “the armed citizen.”If Eric Adams truly wished to deal effectively with the intractable violent crime problem in the City, he would revise the City’s politically motivated handgun licensing Rules that, on any serious reflection, are absurd. He would have to do this if he were serious about combatting violent crime. And, he doesn’t have to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to make that decision for him through the Bruen case.But that isn’t a tack that Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul, no less than their predecessors, Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo would ever consider—not in their wildest dreams.In fact, these people have spent considerable time hobbling the average citizens’ access to the most effective means of ensuring their defense against violent crime. Of course, the criminals and lunatics know this too. And that goes far to explain how it is and why it is violent crime in New York continues to increase exponentially. Criminals and lunatics know that it is more likely than not that their targets won’t be armed and therefore need not fear their would-be victims turning the tables on them.From his latest comments, Mayor Adams' posture on the armed civilian citizen is clear enough. And that posture explains why he doesn't refer to armed self-defense at all as a means to deal a blow to violent crime. For, the mainstay of Mayor Adams' approach to curtailing violent crimes involves ramping up police efforts to curb crime. See the recent article in the progressive website Politico published on April 3, 2022.Also see the transcript of April 3, 2022, Face the Nation interview of Eric Adams, and the article in Bearing Arms.Eric Adams refers to himself as the new “face of the Democratic Party,” as reported in the New York Post. But, on reflection, his isn't really a new face at all. It is simply a new mask worn over an old face.It is clear enough, from prior remarks he made, that Mayor Adams is an avid supporter of stringent gun licensing in New York, no less so than the new New York Governor, Kathy Hochul. See February 4, 2021 article in St. Andrews Law Review:“Public officials fear any outcome that curtails their ability to regulate firearms. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that restricting the state’s ability to regulate weapons will simply instigate violence. Governor Kathy Hochul echoed Adams’ sentiments in similar remarks.” And Arizona State University Crime and Justice News reported this, on Eric Adams' stance on firearms’ licensing, apropos of the Bruen ruling:“The ruling is expected to come down after Eric Adams replaces de Blasio as mayor. Adams, who emphasized public safety as key to the city's recovery during his campaign, said that limiting the state's ability to regulate firearms ‘is a recipe for disaster.’”Thus, Mayor Adams dismisses out-of-hand the most effective means at his disposal. For it is the armed citizen who can, in the final analysis, play an important role in combatting intractable, violent crime in the City.Adams sees, albeit erroneously, the armed citizen as likely aggravating a volatile criminal situation in the City rather than lessening violence. So if New York City is to see any change to the concealed handgun carry licensing Rules, such change will have to come from the rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court itself.See the article in The Ticker:“New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mayor-elect Eric Adams have concerns over this case, primarily from a public safety viewpoint.While safety is certainly a factor that can be used to determine which specific, sensitive public places can prohibit firearms, such as libraries, it cannot be used to serve as a prior restraint to prevent people from being able to defend themselves with firearms outside of their home completely.By the end of the arguments, most of the justices appeared likely to strike down or limit New York’s law.If the court correctly rules in favor of the petitioners, New York could be forced to rewrite its law to allow more citizens to carry firearms in public for self-defense, with clearer criteria and less discretionary hurdles.In addition, New York could become a ‘shall issue’ state, which would compel licensing officers to approve applications if they meet objectively set state requirements, such as meeting the minimum age and having no felony criminal activity.While some advocates will argue that allowing more citizens to carry firearms in public for self-defense will lead to an increase in uncontrolled gun violence, the result would be the opposite.Allowing more good citizens to legally carry guns will lead to more deterrence and a higher likelihood that they will be able to successfully defend their families and themselves against criminals.New York is one of the most restrictive states when it comes to allowing citizens to legally have firearms, yet it declared a statewide gun violence emergency in July ignoring the fact that most of the gun violence is a direct consequence of illegal, not legal, firearms.Most states, both liberal and conservative states included, adopted a ‘shall issue’ system in recent decades, yet they have less violence than in New York.”Also see the article in the Free Republic.New York as with several other jurisdictions around the Country gives great latitude to handgun licensing officials to make the decision whether to issue an unrestricted handgun carry license to the applicant, or not. Yet, it is the States with the most restrictive gun licensing that are plagued by violent crime. You would think that Cities like New York would consider relaxing the rules on the issuance of concealed handgun carry licenses, since nothing else, historically and to date works, effectively to deter violent crime. Yet, nothing is done. Go figure.The governing principle of these jurisdictions—that uniformly abhor the notion of the armed citizen who takes responsibility for his or her personal defense—is the “may issue/proper cause” standard to carry a handgun, concealed. That standard, as applied in New York City, is up for review at the U.S. Supreme Court. And a decision is anticipated in early Summer 2022.How will the U.S. Supreme Court rule in Bruen? It is expected that the Court will rule the NYPD standards for determining the propriety of issuing a concealed handgun carry license to be unconstitutional both as constructed and as applied.To be sure, the entire “may issue” structure for issuing a concealed handgun license in any jurisdiction around the Country is misguided from the get-go because the standards created whatever they may be, are inherently subjective as applied. The entire “may issue” structure is unsound and anathema to the fundamental, unalienable natural law right codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.The very constitutionality of “may issue/proper cause” was at the heart of the Bruen case, pushing well beyond the borders of New York City and New York State, as the issue was promulgated in Plaintiffs Brief to the Court.But Chief Justice John Roberts narrowed the focus of Bruen, thereby forcing the Justices to consider only the constitutionality of the City’s concealed handgun carry Rules. The salient issue of whether “may issue” infringes the core of the Second Amendment is not up for review.By doing this, the issue, as framed for review, takes as a given that “may issue” is sound and valid but that the City’s Rules regarding “may issue” might not be.It will be interesting to see what Justices Thomas and Alito do with this. Consistent with their opinions in the seminal Second Amendment cases, Heller and McDonald, Justices Thomas and Alito may well view the entirety of “may issue/proper cause schemes unconstitutional, notwithstanding the deformation of the issue by Chief Justice Roberts. In that event, their opinions would be relegated to concurrences; not majority rulings, and other “may issue/proper cause” jurisdictions can rest easy that their own draconian handgun carry licensing rules remain untouched by Bruen. This, no doubt, is what Chief Justice Roberts and the liberal wing of the Court had in mind; had certainly intended to do to soften what otherwise would seem to augur yet another landmark Second Amendment case decision.If a handgun licensing scheme is to be retained in New York City at all, it should be simplified, made straightforward, and applied fairly to all applicants. In particular, concealed carry provisions should address the needs of the average law-abiding, responsible citizens who do business in the City and/or reside there. And provision should be made for those law-abiding, responsible citizens who happen to visit the City.The present New York City handgun licensing scheme is deficient on any rational measure. And it isn’t applied in a fair and impartial manner.And woe to any person from another jurisdiction who brings a handgun into the City, and is found possessing a handgun, sans a valid unrestricted handgun carry license issued by the NYPD Licensing Division. At the moment it is that person, and not the gun-wielding rabid lunatic, psychopathic gangbanger, or garden-variety common criminal who will suffer the greatest wrath from the City’s criminal justice system.It has always been thus. And that fact isn’t going to change soon, regardless of the enormity and severity of crime in the City. See the article posted in Ammoland Shooting Sports News, published, August 6, 2015, titled, “Who’s Packing In New York City?” But, even if the Bruen Court strikes down, or otherwise places stringent curbs on the inordinate discretion presently extended to the NYPD Licensing Division in prosecuting applications for concealed handgun carry licenses, it is another question entirely—and a pertinent one—whether the Mayor’s Office will abide by that High Court decision. And that is worrisome.Consider——Back in November 2021, Mayor-Elect Eric Adams specifically addressed Bruen, on MSNBC News, when questioned by the host, Andrea Mitchell:“‘The concealed weapon ruling that’s going to come about is extremely challenging for us,’ says Adams. ‘This is different from a rural county somewhere. And this could have a major impact on our ability to keep our city safe, but we will adjust.’”So, there you have it! In an act of sly casuistry, rather than clarity, the Mayor says, “we will adjust.” He doesn’t say, “we will comply with the rulings of the Court.”  The Mayor's choice of words is telling. For he would rather suffer continuing waves of violent crime than acquiesce to the Constitutional right of all citizens to bear a handgun outside the home or outside their place of business, for their own defense.Even with a U.S. Supreme Court directive that might strike down the entire licensing structure of New York City, the Mayor of New York City and the Governor of the State will—by dictate of the Neoliberal Globalists and Globalist Marxist forces that secretly control them—fanatically resist the reversal of over a century of ever-growing unconstitutional restrictions on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. And we know whereof we speak, based on past practices.We have seen how State, local, and county governments, along with lower Courts have—have, through the last decade—blatantly, arrogantly, and contemptuously dismissed out-of-hand clear and explicit rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in the seminal Heller and McDonald cases.Can one reasonably expect that the State of New York and its major metropolitan area, New York City, will do an immediate and abrupt about-face toward concealed handgun carry when Bruen, as the third seminal Second Amendment case, comes down the pike with further explicit rulings? Sadly, we have to say: Not likely! The State and City will come up with dubious schemes to avoid taking any action that would do harm to a handgun licensing structure that has been in place for over 110 years.New York City residents should not expect the Mayor to reform the City’s draconian handgun licensing Rules even with clear, categorical rulings from the High Court.Mayor Eric Adams is of the same mindset and holds to the same alien ideology as both his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, and the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, and boasts the same sympathies of myriads of other Federal, State, and local government flunkies.It would be naïve to think Eric Adams is cut from a different cloth. The secretive powerful interests behind his election are the same as those who thrust de Blasio into Office. These powerful, malevolent interests have made certain that the toadies they place into Office share the same worldview, and that worldview is not amenable to the preservation of a free Constitutional Republic.These forces are intent on replacing a free Republic, and a sovereign people, with an entirely new and ambitious, political, social, economic, financial, juridical, and multicultural construct. It is a paradigm antithetical to the needs and desires and fundamental rights of the American people. This new paradigm or framework goes by many names: “the international order;” “the new world order;” “the global democratic liberal world order;” Kissinger’s “world order,” the “neo-feudal world order,” “liberal internationalism,” and, the “Soros/Open Society.” But, by whatever name, the demise of the United States as a truly sovereign, independent Nation-State, along with the demise of the American citizenry as sole sovereign of their Government and the demise of the very concept of ‘citizen’ are the end goals.To accomplish these ends, the forces that crush are hell-bent on shattering the will, psyche, reasoning capacity, and sanity of the American people.To that end, violent societal upheaval is not to be contained or constrained, but to be encouraged.Americans have in the last few years witnessed violent societal upheaval. They see many of their political leaders embracing, enhancing, aggravating upheaval without care for the horror and misery inflicted on innocent individuals.We have seen this “Democrat Party” tolerating, even coaxing, and encouraging BLM and ANTIFA riots in the Summer of 2020 and the rioting continues today. See, e.g., articles in the Washington Examiner, and The Frontier Post.The vigorous, violent, outrageous assault on the U.S. Constitution and on the American citizenry by the ruthless, powerful, inordinately wealthy, and well-connected forces that crush is plain:

• Conceptualization and Implementation of a coordinated FBI hit job on ordinary American citizens who have justifiably sought a serious, comprehensive investigation of and serious accounting of those shenanigans and machinations involving the 2020 election that improbably ensconced, as titular head of the Executive Branch of Government, an obviously corrupt, emotionally and physically weak, and dementia-ridden shell of a man;

• Outrageous DOJ Persecution of “militia” members and Castigation and Remonstrations against average American parents who simply wish to exercise their fundamental rights of free speech and free association without fear of governmental backlash, interference, and reprisals for harboring ideas and beliefs inconsistent with that of the Administration;

• Endangering the Sanctity and Inviolability of the American Citizenry by unlawfully and brazenly secreting into the Nation hordes of illegal aliens from around the world, including violent criminals—literally millions of them;

• Massive Social Engineering Programs and Social and Psychic Conditioning and Indoctrination of the entire American citizenry: including Adults, Youth, and Children;

• Deliberate Actions aimed at Demoralizing and Weakening the Military and Community Police apparatuses of the Nation;

• Placement of scores of defective, incompetent, easily, malleable people in the highest levels of Government to assist in the dismantling of a free Constitutional Republic

• Consolidation of all the Apparatuses of Government by which the dismantling of a free Constitutional Republic can proceed at a record pace, unconstrained, from within.

And the public is expected to do nothing to prevent the coopting of their Country, but simply acquiesce, sit still, and moronically enjoy the hayride to oblivion. And, for those Americans who refuse to submit, who know what is in store for them and their Country, and who refuse to be mesmerized by the claptrap incessantly spread through the airwaves, legacy newspapers, and the internet, they can expect to be unceremoniously crushed beneath the wheels of the hay wagon.____________________________________Copyright © 2022 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved

“THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS”: STEPHEN HALBROOK’S NEW BOOK IS A MUST-READ!

By Stephen L. D’Andrilli, President,Arbalest Group LLC.The title of Stephen P. Halbrook’s new book is the very question at issue in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Corlett, which the United States Supreme Court recently decided it would hear in its next term. The timing and importance of both the book and this case couldn’t have been better! See Arbalest Quarrel article on the Corlett case, titled, “Supreme Court to Take Up New York Second Amendment Case At Last!” In Corlett, the applicant for a concealed carry handgun license was denied a license for lacking “good cause” – a purely subjective requirement established by New York State’s highly discretional firearms licensing scheme. The decision, in this case, could strike down, as unconstitutional, Government infringement on a fundamental right – both in New York and in other “may-issue” states throughout the Country where similar practices prevail. What happened in Corlett could happen to you, too!It has been over a decade since the High Court ruled on a major Second Amendment case.In 2008, in District of Columbia vs. Heller, “held that the Second Amendment protected an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use that firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.”The judicial interpretative methodology used by the Court’s majority was based on “text, history, and tradition” and the Court’s majority rejected the judge-empowering interest-balancing inquiry, too often used by liberals, which defers to legislatures to decide if various interests outweigh recognition of a Constitutional right.Two years later, in McDonald vs. City of Chicago, “the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protected the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense and that the Second Amendment was fully applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment.” The Court also made clear that this right is deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition.The High Court rejected out-of-hand the City’s argument that the Court, “in effect . . . treat the right recognized in Heller as a second-class [“watered down”] right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees that we have held to be incorporated into the Due Process Clause. The Court also, as it did in Heller, “expressly rejected the argument that the scope of the Second Amendment right should be determined by judicial interest balancing.”It’s mind-boggling that some federal and state courts resist these Supreme Court holdings and render conflicting decisions, dismissing fundamental rights that are plainly stated in the Constitution, while inventing others that do not exist in the Constitution.Halbrook’s book serves as a literary weapon in support of our Second Amendment right by clearly identifying what the Second Amendment means and requires.The Corlett case and Halbrook’s book comes to us at a time when the Bill of Rights in its entirety – all ten of them – are on trial!The very soul of our Nation and the meaning of what it is to be “an American” is constantly and relentlessly challenged by well-organized and well-funded Progressive Left-Wing and outright Marxist and Anarchist groups such as BLM and Antifa.These groups promulgate and agitate for “Wokeness” and “Cancel Culture.” They demand the Nation’s institutions implement fictional doctrines such as “Critical Race Theory,” and “the 1619 Project.” They attack dissenting viewpoints with insulting claims of “White Extremism” and “White Supremacy.” They create “Defund the Police” and “Dismantle Police” campaigns. They have gone as far as infiltrating our military with their “patriot extremism.” This threatens our Country. If they weaken our military, we are undone. And they deliberately sow discord and suspicion among Americans to weaken the Country to further their Radical Left agenda.Crime is not only on the rise and has reached historical proportions in major cities across our Country. True as that is, Americans were always mistaken in their belief that they can rely on the police to protect them. The police have no duty to provide protection for individuals, except in rare circumstances.The salient function of the police is to provide general protection for the communities they serve, not to guarantee the safety of individuals within the community. They aren’t personal bodyguards for average Americans.See the following three Arbalest Quarrel articles on the role of the police and the role of the citizen on the matter of personal safety, published on Ammoland Shooting Sports News:“Can We, As Individuals, Rely On The Police To Protect Us,” referencing an article co-authored by Stephen L. D’Andrilli and David Kopel B. Kopel, titled, “Personal Safety: Individual Responsibility,” that is as relevant today as it was when it appeared over thirty years ago, in the May 1989 issue of “Women and Guns;” and, two,“Police Have No Duty To Secure The Life Of Americans From Threat Of Physical Harm;” and, three,“The Government Cannot Protect You! You Must Protect Yourself!”But now, with calls made to defund the police and reduce the number of police, the public cannot even rely on the police to provide even a modicum of general protection for the community, which is and always has been their main function. It is the police who are “handcuffed,” not the criminal element.This means that now, more than ever, people must assume responsibility for their own safety and well-being. And many more Americans recognize this, and they want to own a firearm for personal protection.This turn of events disturbs Radical Left politicians and fanatical Radical Left-wing groups as they intend to prevent average Americans from exercising their Second Amendment right of self-defense to carry a handgun, the best means available for ensuring one’s life.Radical Left-wing politicians and groups obviously don’t care about the life and well-being of individuals. That idea is, after all, contrary to the tenets of Marxism. All they care about is furthering their agenda and wielding increasingly more power and control over the American people — a desire that is insatiable.And this comes at a time when Radical Left Soros funded “prosecutors” refuse to prosecute even the most violent criminals, and release more and more of them out on the streets to prey on innocent Americans. But this, too, is part of the Radical Left agenda. It is all designed to keep the public off guard, in a constant state of bewilderment and fear, as the fabric of society unravels.Meanwhile, the police are constrained from providing even minimal community protection, given draconian policy directives and for fear, not unreasonable, that Radical Left politicians will second-guess their every move and treat them as the criminal element rather than as society’s protector.Since Radical Left politicians fear an armed citizenry more than they do hardened criminals, the public is left essentially defenseless. This is contrary to the Nation’s history and heritage, which Stephen Halbrook lays out in a comprehensive, scholarly manner.He explains clearly and convincingly the import of the right to bear arms and its practice, from its origins in England – going back as far as the early 1300’s – through colonial America, and then through ratification of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, up to the present day. His thorough analysis includes references to and explanations of important state and federal court cases.Given the danger presented to the Nation due to a rampaging Radical Marxist agenda, permeating society from the highest levels of the Federal Government to the local government level, and given dramatic increases in violence on our streets, the Nation’s need for Stephen Halbrook’s book is pressing. The material presented directs the public’s attention back to where that attention needs to be directed: toward an understanding of and appreciation of our Nation’s historical roots.The information provided in Halbrook’s book should be shared by everyone – regardless of political or ideological persuasion – all who truly value and appreciate the freedom, liberties, and rights we enjoy in America.Buy a copy and read it now!____________________________________Copyright © 2021 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

UNLEASHED AND UNCHECKED, FAKE NEWS MEDIA PROPAGANDA WILL DESTROY AMERICA

PART FOURTEEN

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP STANDS AS A LONE BUT POWERFUL VOICE AND BULWARK AGAINST A SOCIALIST TAKE-OVER OF OUR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC AND OUR FREEDOMS!

What we, Americans, are witnessing today is the incestuous union of technology, the Federal Bureaucracy and of radical, hateful elements in Congress, in the social media and in the Press, working in concert, at the behest of Billionaire Neoliberal transnationalists, in a naked, reprehensible bid to destroy our Great Nation and a free people, and all in an attempt to usher into existence a new system of governance—one devoid of once powerful Nation States—a neo-feudalistic New Monstrous Collectivist World Order, one comprising a few ruling “Elect Elites” on the one hand, and a multitude of serfs, hundreds of millions of citizens, including those of our own Country, citizens stripped of their citizenship and of their fundamental rights and liberties; reduced to abject servitude and misery, namely, the new Preterite (the Damned), the new denizens of the New World Order.This is the vision of Radical Left Marxists and Antifa Anarchists—their notion of a paradise on Earth; but really a hell-world they wish to bring to fruition, into actuality. This is their vision of a new transformative America that they would bequeath to us in lieu of that bequeathed to us by the Founders of our Great Nation.And insidiously, outrageously these Radical Left Marxists and Anarchists use the very power inherent in our Constitution and the very power of a free market economy upon which our Constitutional Republic exists, against that very Republic, and against the citizenry of this Nation. In so doing, these Radical elements would dare rob the American people of their birthright; all the while proclaiming that this a good thing; that this should happen; that this must occur to bring about equality and equanimity and justice; that this the way things ought to be—reducing us all to squalor, unrelenting malaise and poverty. It is happening before our very eyes, gathering increasing momentum. And the words and actions and methods of these Radical Left elements and Anarchists in Government, in the Press, in social media, in the entertainment business, in the information technology sector, and among the citizenry itself are becoming more and more outrageous, more and more bizarre, more and more acute.Every day we see the worst excesses engaged in by those malevolent forces bent on destroying all that most Americans, the silent majority, hold most dear and sacred. And, only, we, the American people, can prevent it from playing out to its disastrous end, an end which means the destruction of our Nation’s Constitution; the loss of our people’s personal identity, history, culture and personal autonomy; the end of the independence and sovereignty of our Nation State, the end of our centuries old system of laws, and justice, and jurisprudence: all of it gone; and that this supposed to be a good thing! The end of the exercise of our own Free Will!

HERE, BELOW, ARE DELINEATED, A FEW OF THE SCHEMES RADICAL LEFT MARXISTS AND ANARCHISTS HAVE DEVISED AND UTILIZED TO UNDERCUT THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF THE UNITED STATES, AS AN INDEPENDENT, FREE REPUBLIC.

ENCOURAGE AMERICAN CITIZENS TO ABORT THEIR BABIES, REDUCING THE POPULATION OF EDUCATED AMERICANS, INCULCATED WITH A KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR CONSTITUTION AND OF THEIR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIESENCOURAGE UNSKILLED, ILLITERATE ITINERANTS TO EMIGRATE ILLEGALLY TO THE U.S., THEREBY FOSTERING A NEW POPULATION OF DRONES, CONDITIONED TO SERVITUDE AND IGNORANT OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND OBLIVIOUS TO AND UNCONCERNED ABOUT THE IMPORT AND PURPOSE OF OUR NATION’S FUNDAMENTAL, NATURAL, UNALIENABLE AND IMMUTABLE RIGHTS AND LIBERTIESENCOURAGE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO FORSAKE AND FORGET ITS UNIQUE HISTORY, HERITAGE, AND CORE CHRISTIAN VALUES, THROUGH MEDIA USE OF PROPAGANDA; AND THROUGH CENSORSHIP OF ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINTS TO SUPPRESS ALL DISSENT; AND THROUGH NOXIOUS, INCESSANT, REPETITIOUS CONDEMNATION OF AND EVEN ASSERTIONS OF HATRED, ABHORRENCE DIRECTED TOWARD OUR NATIONAL EMBLEMS, AND THROUGH ASSERTIONS OF LOATHING DIRECTED TOWARD OUR NATION’S INSTITUTIONS, AND THROUGH ATTACKS AGAINST OUR NATION’S WELL-DEVELOPED AND HONORED SYSTEM OF LAWS AND JURISPRUDENCE THAT HAS WELL STOOD THE TEST OF TIME; AND--AS IF ALL THAT WERE NOT HORRENDOUS ENOUGH--THROUGH INCESSANT ASSAULTS DIRECTED AGAINST OUR NATION’S ILLUSTRIOUS, LOVING FOUNDING FATHERS—AS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA OUTRAGEOUSLY QUESTIONS WHETHER THE FOUNDING FATHERS, THE FRAMERS OF OUR SACRED CONSTITUTION, EVEN DESERVE OUR CONTINUED REVERENCE AND DEVOTIONSUBVERT AND SUBORDINATE THE SUPREMACY OF OUR CONSTITUTION AND STATUTES THROUGH ATTEMPTS TO BIND OUR NATION TO SECRETIVE INTERNATIONAL PACTS AND TREATIES, IN ORDER TO UNDERMINE OUR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY AND INDEPENDENCE AND TO UNDERCUT THE PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF OUR NATION, GROUNDED ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL: OF INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY AND INTEGRITY AND SANCTITY OF SELFDIVIDE THE NATION AGAINST ITSELF THROUGH THE MECHANISM OF IDENTITY POLITICSRAISE THIS IDEA OF VICTIM-HOOD TO THE LEVEL OF A VIRTUE AND HOLY PRINCIPLE, INSERTING THIS FALSE IDEA INTO THE MIND AND PSYCHE OF THE AMERICAN CITIZEN; TO CREATE IN THE AMERICAN PUBLIC A SENSE OF COLLECTIVE GUILT, THEREBY WEAKENING THE RESOLVE OF OUR NATION’S CITIZENRY TO THWART ATTEMPTS TO DESTROY A CITIZENRY’S PRIDE IN SELF AND NATIONINDOCTRINATE THE YOUTH OF OUR NATION TO ACCEPT COLLECTIVIST TENETS AND MARXIST POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES AS SUPERIOR TO THE TENETS OF INDIVIDUALISM UPON WHICH OUR NATION'S CONSTITUTION RESTS  AND UPON THE NOTIONS OF PERSONAL PROPERTY AND OF FREE MARKET CAPITALISM, THAT ALONE ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE IMPORT AND PURPORT OF OUR CONSTITUTION AND OF THE STRUCTURE OF A FREE REPUBLIC REEDUCATE THE ADULT POPULATION OF OUR NATION TO ACCEPT THE PRECEPTS OF COLLECTIVISM, TO CREATE A SENSE OF DEPENDENCY OF THE POPULATION ON GOVERNMENT TO SATISFY THE POPULATION’S NEEDS AND WANTSTO CRUSH THE INDIVIDUAL INTO SUBMISSION BY INCULCATING IN THE POPULATION A DESIRE TO BELONG TO THE GROUP THROUGH PRE-PROGRAMMED BEHAVIOR—DEFINED BY AGENCIES OF GOVERNMENT—THEREBY THWARTING THE PUBLIC TO RISE UP AGAINST THE TYRANNY OF GOVERNMENT.DISARM AMERICAN CITIZENS TO PREVENT THOSE WHO DO NOT COMPLY WITH THE NEW COLLECTIVIST PHILOSOPHY FROM SECURING FOR THEMSELVES THE MEANS TO HOLD GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLEA compliant propaganda-laden Press, sold on the idea of a Marxist style one world Government—a vision of global domination of all Western Nation States, contemplating the end of the very notions of ‘nation state’ and ‘citizen of a nation state’—has demonstrated an ecstatic willingness and resolve to work on behalf of and to take its marching orders from the Marxist enterprise that the Democratic Party has slowly, inexorably, and inevitably devolved into. And, this Political Party, in turn, in all likelihood, takes its marching orders from our ostensible “allies” in Europe, in whom the Party shares common cause.And, what is that common cause? It is nothing less than the destruction of the sovereignty and independence of all Western Nations, along with the subjugation of the polity of those Nation States, including the citizenry of the United States.And, who are these purported allies of the Democratic Party? They include the innately and highly secretive, extraordinarily powerful, inordinately wealthy, inherently corrupt, abjectly ruthless, hedonistic and amoral, and insufferably decadent Rothschild clan and the clan's minions, most infamously, George Soros—whom, curiously, Fox News has just begun to mention on its nightly news programs. And, how long shall it be before the Fox News media organization demonstrates the moral courage to mention the name, Rothschild, itself—the Centuries old family, inbred, through the ages, with the royalty of Europe—in whom plans were first drawn up for domination of the nations of the world, and that remains today the principal architect of plans for the dissolution of the Nation States of Europe and of the United States.Simply witness the impact that implementation of their plans have had on the citizenry of the Nations of the European Union. The creation of the EU just didn’t happen by accident. The Blueprint for its construction began long ago, actually centuries ago, with the creation of the diabolical and horrific Central Banking System through which wealthy financiers, commencing with the ruthless Rothschild clan would be able to, were in fact able to, and were desirous of controlling the destines of Nations. And, the descendants of  the family Patriarch, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, have been machinating to bring their schema for a trans-global political, social, economic, financial, legal, and cultural system of Governance—the New World Order—to fruition.What Americans are witnessing occurring in their own Country, and what native populations of the Nations of the EU are now witnessing occurring in Europe, is the gathering storm of disaster for European and U.S. citizens alike—a cascading sequence of events—a horrific, cataclysmic reconfiguration of the entirety of Western Civilization into something out of science fiction--a Dystopian nightmare reality, for the populations of of Europe, and for the citizenry of the United States, from which no one can awaken. _____________________________________________

PART FIFTEEN

THE GREAT THREAT TO OUR NATION’S SURVIVAL COMES NOT FROM RUSSIA OR CHINA, BUT FROM RADICAL ELEMENTS HERE AT HOME, FED BY SO-CALLED “ALLIES” FROM ABROAD.

The Arbalest Quarrel has been warning about the threat posed to our Nation and to the Nations of Europe, by the Rothschilds; and we have discussed both the fact of and the nature of the attack by the transnationalist one-world, Government crowd on all that the populations of Europe and Americans, at home. Europe may not be salvaged, given the merciless grip of the Rothschild clan on Europe; but, then, apart from Nationalist fervor, a love of one’s Country, and history, and culture, and language, the citizenry of those Nation States of Europe did not have, and do not have a Bill of Rights to bind Governments and truly protect the rights and liberties of the populations of those Nation States, from tyranny. Americans, however, do have, in their Bill of Rights, that the framers of our Nation, lovingly and wisely gave to us, the means through which the citizenry’s natural, fundamental, unalienable, immutable rights, bequeathed to that citizenry from a Loving, All Powerful Creator—are able to hold fervently and ably onto their individual autonomy. Individual autonomy, secures, for each American citizen, through the Nation's Bill of Rights, in clear, categorical, imperatives, the definitive proclamation of one's right to be left alone; that each individual American citizen has the right as  an individual to truly remain individual.Our Bill of Rights is the living testament to The Creator’s Divine Imperative—that Government cannot, ever, lawfully deny to the American citizen the Integrity of Self-hood; for the Creator gave to each of us an individual living Soul. The Human Soul is a unique marker, defining one's existence as an individual. And the very existence of our Bill of Rights makes that fact plain. The import of Individual Expression and Individual Autonomy succinctly and clearly exemplifies us as Americans.But, how do Americans best protect their Sacred, Inviolate Self, against the evil of Government? By force of arms. For it is only by force of arms that Government, a necessarily corrupt, artificial construct, must forbear, from imposing its will on the individual American citizen. It is only through the codification of the right of the people to keep and bear arms in the Second Amendment that the might of the Federal Government is kept well in check. The Radical Left and the Progressive elements in society know this. And the Transnational Neoliberal Globalists know this. And the Radical Anarchist Group, Antifa—that horrid, disgusting group of malcontents knows this, too.Antifa is beginning to learn about the power of firearms. Not incidentally or accidentally, the Globalists are  arming members of Antifa, with knives and other weapons. The public has recently heard about this from the Radical cable networks, like CNN, that oddly argue that this is a good thing. Likely, Globalists are also beginning to surreptitiously provide Antifa with firearms, teaching them how to use firearms to attack Americans who merely seek to uphold a Constitution and free Republic, in the form the founders gave to the people of our  Nation that we would remain free from the heavy hand of Government control; that Government should know and accept, even if only grudgingly, that each American citizen is an individual, who should be permitted to carve out his own destiny in America, as long as he harms no one else; that the life, well-being, and individual autonomy of each American citizen is sacrosanct, and inviolate. But the transnationalist Globalist elite find that idea offensive, repugnant, even; and, so they find an armed citizenry intolerable, as it upsets their plans for world domination. So it is likely beginning to arm those groups that do its bidding, like Antifa. And the mainstream media, a Seditious, virulent, Press, misusing the power the framers gave to it through the First Amendment, acts as an apt and pompous and singularly duplicitous, hypocritical apologist for the worst excesses carried out by that Group—rationalizing the Antifa’s heavy-handed tactics as just and necessary.And, so, through the medium of “fake news,” the mainstream Press conducts a virulent, vicious, merciless campaign on the Bill of Rights--condemning especially the free exercise of the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The Press maliciously, sanctimoniously engages in an incessant reprehensible attack on the sanctity of our Nation’s Constitution and on the supremacy of our Nation’s laws.The mainstream Press engages in a continuous and vicious assault on our Country as an independent Sovereign Nation State. It argues incessantly for open borders, knowing full well that a Nation that cannot and, in fact, is ordered by a corrupt Congress to refrain from defending the integrity of its land, the integrity of its borders, amounts to a wholesale denial of the right of a Nation to exist as a Nation. In fact, the Radical Left, along with Anarchists, openly assert that our Nation has no justification for existing as an Independent Sovereign. And those sentiments are echoed in the mainstream Press. We are to become, then, no more than a geographic region, no longer a Sovereign State. And, were that end to be realized, we would see as well that the very notion of what it means to be a citizen of the United States and the very notion of a what it means for a Country to exist as an independent, Sovereign ‘Nation State,’ would become meaningless concepts.All that we have laid out here as true is now being openly attested to by at least one major news outlet: Fox News, as it rightfully condemns what it sees occurring in our Country; enabled by a vicious, virulent, renegade Press. Thus, the truth of what the Arbalest Quarrel relates to you, our kind reader, is vindicated by a major news source. Yet, it was surprising, to be sure, but both refreshing and wondrous to hear the night show host, Laura Ingraham exclaiming with singular clarity, to the insidiousness and ferocity of the attendant dangers that Collectivists pose to our Nation’s continued existence if, in the next few years, their vision comes to fruition.In case you missed the recent broadcast, here are a few excerpts from the show that caught our attention (and more available at the Fox News website):LAURA INGRAHAM: . . . American identity under assault. That's the focus of tonight's ‘Angle.’The historical purge that we're witnessing all over the country. It's part of a larger agenda to destroy what it means to be American. And it's getting more audacious by the day. In St. Louis Park, Minnesota, the geniuses on the city council there recently decided to ban the Pledge of Allegiance from town meetings. Their reason, to create a more welcoming environment to a diverse community. Welcoming to everybody, but Americans who actually love the pledge. Well, residents were rightly outraged by this insanity and local Patriots turned out and they stood up to the city council.And then in San Francisco, the public defecation capital of the world, taxpayers are going to shell out $600,000 to paint over a George Washington mural that offended a few snowflakes there. So, let me just get this straight. People peeing in the fountains and stepping on dirty needles. That's not offensive. But the first founding father is? Perfect.So, why would anyone after hearing these kinds of stories be surprised when someone like Left, a soccer star Megan Rapinoe who knelt during the national anthem back in 2016 still refuses to respect it today. Or when midfielder, Allie Long drags the American flag on the ground while representing the U.S. on the world stage. And while mugging for the cameras then drops the flag like it's a piece of trash.Thankfully another midfielder, Kelly O'Hara picked it up. And of course, Rapinoe discovered early on though really that you'll win permanent MVP status when you kick Donald Trump. Like when she used foul language nixing any traditional White House visit to the champions and this was before they even won the World Cup. [A REAL HUMAN BEING isn’t she, THAT Rapinoe; and New York gives the TEAM a ticker-tape parade; but for whom, exactly? Whom is it that the TREAM represents? The United States? Even as the TEAM drags our Flag on the ground? A bit discordant, no? Other Nations must have been embarrassed for us].The easiest path to social media stardom today is one where you take cheap swipes at American symbols and traditions and you must understand that the Left truly believes America itself is illegitimate to its core. What am I talking about? Well, its founding was fraudulent. They believe its founding documents meaningless. All because of slavery and the people who were involved in it. Our progress on racial issues is conveniently ignored by cynical actors who are frankly using these past horrors for a power grab and they hope eventually a total reorganization of our society here and a massive wealth confiscation. The phrase white privilege. Well, it's now the preferred weapon of choice and it's used by socialists know nothings to tar their political opponents and avoid real debate. Only guess what? Now even old white Democrats are in the privileged crosshairs.AOC blasts everyone and anyone any time of the day or night on social media. But when the leader of her own party calls her out, she cries foul. No, no Nancy is not a racist, but - well, but President Trump is routinely subjected of course to this kind of attack while his plan to put citizenship that question on the census was roundly derided as racist by Democrats. And today, referring to that issue, he shot back.{VIDEO CLIP} DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Now, they're trying to erase the very existence of a very important word and a very important thing, citizenship. We must have a reliable count of how many citizens, non-citizens and illegal aliens are in our country.INGRAHAM: Bingo. How is this controversial? Asking about citizens. It's like a question that has nothing to do with race at all. It's about who is American and who is not. [see Stephen D’Andrilli’s UFT article republished, in unabridged format in Ammoland Shooting Sports News]. And by the way, African Americans have been the most directly impacted by the mass flow, massive flow of illegal immigrants in the United States. No wonder polls now show that a majority of both black and Hispanic voters support adding the question to the census. Are racing our history our sense of who we are is making it easier to turn America into just kind of another member of a globalist super state.Europeans sacrificed their identities years ago on the altar of globalism, when they formed the European Union. Look at what it got them.INGRAHAM: Now, we may have masked morons of ANTIFA to deal with. . . . There is a price for surrounding your sovereignty and your identity. And we're going to pay it if we don't defend our history and our traditions. And that's “The Angle.” Joining me now is Victor Davis Hanson, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover's Institution. Victor why can't the Left see the value of symbols and traditions that don't blur the differences or the mistakes we made but that have the effect of binding us together at a time when so much else rips us apart.VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER'S INSTITUTION: I think they feel that if they were to do that Laura, they would not win elections and that they have to change the past and the present, so they can have power in the future. It's a war where demography, it's a war over making residents, the equals of citizens and in their view, the argument that they're advancing as we were so sin, we the Americans were so sin at our origins, we can't be modified, adapted or improved. We have to be dismantled and reconstituted on their agendas, according to their agendas and therefore they're going to have a lot of power and influence in the future.And so when you mentioned all of these incidents of the San Francisco murals or the Nike shoe controversy or the soccer team, this is the trench warfare or these are the soldiers at the front who are fighting for these elites that we see in the Democratic primary who are advocating Medicare or health care for all, who cross borders, who are escorting people illegally into the United States, who are attacking the past, demanding reparations or the New York.Remember the New York Times video op ed where they said we're just OK, we're not really exceptional or what Representative Omar detailed in a recent Washington Post interview where she said, she was very disappointed after leaving a refugee camp to see things weren't too good here in the land of her host.And so, this is the - I don't know the raw side of what the elites are talking about, but it's the same agenda, it's to create a new future by reconstituting or redefining the past and the present. INGRAHAM: And Victor, don't you agree if America herself is illegitimate. Of course, the founding documents and the principles undergirding those documents either have to be completely swept away and rewritten because they were written by a bunch of all racist white guys or many of them old racist white guys. That has to be rewritten, reconstituted, reformed, refounded as something very different. That seems to be where this is going. Because there is no concern for actual historical reference, historical context. It's either evil or good—. . . .HANSON: No, there isn't.INGRAHAM: And everything in the past is evil and everything now and present is good until that becomes evil, I guess.HANSON: Yes, we're not a physical society where we work all day in the field. So, we have the luxury of affluence and security and leisure to think that the world works the way your app does or your smartphone. And we believe that if we're not perfect then we're not good and that the sins of humanity which exists today, sexism, racism in every country to a much greater degree than they do in the United States. Those are uniquely our sins because we should be perfect just like our technology.”A few courageous broadcast networks and commentators, along with our astute and heroic President, Donald Trump, recognize the seriousness of the dangers facing our Nation and to its citizenry and are meeting the forces that would dare crush us into submission, head-on.The real danger to our Nation’s survival as a free Republic is not coming from, and never did come from Russia, or even from China. That was deception—carefully planned and carried out. How could those Nations harm us, fatally, really? Think about that for a moment. The silliness of the notion should be self-evident to all Americans. The public has been played for fools, ever since Trump took the Oath of Office. The true threat to our Nation’s survival as a free Republic is coming from so-called allies of us—the Commonwealth Nations and the EU; from ruthless, corrupt, and powerful Neoliberal Globalists and from those whom those Transnationalists, and Economic and Political Globalists control and fund, and organize and promote, within our Nation: the Radical Left; anarchist Groups, like Antifa, from Left-wing social media Tech Giants; from corrupt politicians and Government bureaucrats; and from a compliant Press. The Rothschild Globalist "Elite," has nurtured dissident elements within in our Nation. years ago, these stooges  of the Rothschild clan and its minions were sold on the idea that the United States must eventually be subsumed into transnational unified World Government, transforming the entirety of the Western Civilization into a neo-Feudalistic construct overseen by a secretive, insular Global Aristocracy.This is the unfortunate but true, insidious nature of the real threat to our survival as a free Republic and a free people: that we might lose all we hold most dear and sacred from forces weakening us from within, fed with the necessary funds and organizational might and expertise from what the mainstream media refers to as our “allies”--those reprehensible, loathsome, ruthless forces from outside the U.S. ______________________________________________________Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

CONGRESSMAN CHRIS COLLINS’ SECOND AMENDMENT GUARANTEE ACT (“SAGA”): A GOOD START BUT NOT A FINISHED PRODUCT

THE SECOND AMENDMENT GUARANTEE ACT

INTRODUCTION

The seminal Second Amendment Heller case (District of Columbia vs. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 171 L. Ed. 2d 637 (2008)) made categorically clear and unequivocal that the right of the people to keep and bear arms is an individual right unconnected with one’s service in a militia; and the seminal Second Amendment McDonald case (McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U. S. 742, 780, 130 S. Ct. 3020, 177 L. Ed. 2d 894 (2010)) that followed Heller, two years later, made clear that the right of the people to keep and bear arms—an individual right—applies to the States as well as to the federal Government. Unfortunately, many State Legislatures, along with many legislators in Congress and, worst of all, many jurists on State or Federal Courts strongly oppose the holdings and reasoning of the Majority in Heller and McDonald. This animosity carries over to and is reflected in poorly drafted legislation and in poorly crafted legal opinions. Occasionally, though, State Legislatures and Congress get it right, and do draft laws recognizing the fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms. Congressman Chris Collins’ (NY-27) Second Amendment Guarantee Act (“SAGA”) that the Congressman recently introduced in Congress is just such a bill. We heartily support the Congressman’s efforts. But, what might we expect?

WHAT IS THE POSSIBILITY OF PASSAGE OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT GUARANTEE ACT?

Unfortunately, not good. We take our cue from other pro-Second Amendment bills. We have yet to see movement on several national handgun carry reciprocity bills that presently exist in a state of limbo, locked up in Committee.  Even if Congressman Collins’ bill makes it out of Committee, and, further, is voted on and passes a full House vote, it likely would be held up in the Senate where it must garner a super majority—60 votes—to pass and see enactment. The bill likely would not pass as a “stand-alone” bill in any event. That means the bill would have to be tacked on to other legislation to have any chance of passage. But, assuming the bill were enacted, what might we expect from it?

WHY DID CONGRESSMAN COLLINS DRAFT THE SECOND AMENDMENT GUARANTEE ACT AND WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE BILL?

Congressman Collins, a Representative of New York, obviously had Governor Cuomo’s signature anti-Second Amendment legislation, the NY Safe Act, in mind, when he drafted this bill; for the bill, if enacted, is, ostensibly at least, at loggerheads with a key feature of the Safe Act—Section 37 of the Act—the Section that bans the possession and sale of all firearms defined as ‘assault weapons.’According to the Congressman’s Press Release “Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) has proposed new measures for protecting Second Amendment rights by introducing legislation to limit states authority when it comes to regulating rifles and shotguns, commonly used by sportsmen and sportswomen. The Second Amendment Guarantee Act (SAGA) would prevent states from implementing any regulations on these weapons that are more restrictive than what is required by federal law. Upon passage of this bill, most of the language included in New York State’s Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act of 2013 signed into law by Governor Cuomo would be void." But, is that true? Is the Press Release accurate? Or, does the Press Release presume more about the bill than what the bill produces, in the event the bill, as drafted, sees the light of day and becomes law?

WHAT DOES THE BILL SAY?

The bill (H.R. 3576), amends Section 927 (Effect on State Law) of Chapter 44 (Firearms), of Title 18 (Crimes and Criminal Procedure) of the U.S. Code.As presently enacted Section 927, says:“No provision of this chapter [18 USCS §§ 921 et seq.] shall be construed as indicating an intent on the part of the Congress to occupy the field in which such provision operates to the exclusion of the law of any State on the same subject matter, unless there is a direct and positive conflict between such provision and the law of the State so that the two cannot be reconciled or consistently stand together.”Collins’ bill deletes the first word of Section 927—the word, “No,”—and replaces that word with the phrase, “Except as provided,” and, then adds language, establishing, inter alia, that States cannot enact laws pertaining to rifles and shotguns that are “more restrictive. . . with respect to such a rifle or shotgun.” In pertinent part, Congressman Collins’ modification of Section 927 of Title 18 sets forth:“A State or a political subdivision of a State may not impose any regulation, prohibition, or registration or licensing requirement with respect to the design, manufacture, importation, sale, transfer, possession, or marking of a rifle or shotgun that has moved in, or any such conduct that affects, interstate or foreign commerce, that is more restrictive, or impose any penalty, tax, fee, or charge with respect to such a rifle or shotgun or such conduct, in an amount greater, than is provided under Federal law. To the extent that a law of a State or political subdivision of a State, whether enacted before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this subsection, violates the preceding sentence, the law shall have no force or effect. For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘rifle or shotgun’ includes any part of a rifle or shotgun, any detachable magazine or ammunition feeding device, and any type of pistol grip or stock design.”What does the modification of Section 927 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code purport to do; and what does the modification of Section 927 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code mean?To understand the import of Congressman Collins’ bill, it is first helpful, in this instance, to understand what those who oppose it would do to challenge it, assuming the Second Amendment Guarantee Act does become law—which is far from clear given Democrats’ hysterical aversion to the Second Amendment and Republicans’ constant foot-dragging.

IF ANTIGUN GROUPS AND LEGISLATORS CHALLENGE THE BILL IN THE EVENT IT BECAME LAW, UNDER WHAT GROUND MIGHT THE BILL BE CHALLENGED?

Congressman Collins’ bill is likely to face stiff opposition and resistance in Congress prior to enactment—assuming it even moves out of Committee—as it would almost certainly be challenged, inter alia, on Constitutional, Tenth Amendment grounds were the bill to become law.What does the Tenth Amendment say? The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. The Tenth Amendment has always been a sticky wicket, especially in matters involving the Second Amendment because the matter of firearms’ regulations and licensing, apart from the regulation and licensing of machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and destructive devices, falls, traditionally, within the police powers of a State. Although the federal Government has, in the last several decades, amassed ever more powers unto itself, the fact of the matter is that this Nation is a confederation of independent sovereign States. This idea seems to be lost on people, not least of all in light of the present “Charlottesville” episode—a matter which the Arbalest Quarrel will be writing on in the near future, taking the mainstream news media to task for unleashing a wave of opinionated fake news on the matter, and which the mainstream media is egging the Trump Administration to handle, on the federal level, to support Marxist efforts to erase our Nation’s history, traditions, and core values.Yet, the federal Government cannot indiscriminately, lawfully, run roughshod over the States and the people. In the matter of Congressman Collins’ bill, the Second Amendment Guarantee Act, this creates something of a quandary; for, the bill—as the Congressman articulates through his Press Release—substantially preempts States’ rights on matters of firearms regulations and licensing. The paramount question is this: if Congressman Collins’ bill does become law, can those, who would then seek to mount a Tenth Amendment challenge against it, likely succeed in the Courts? The answer isn’t clear, but, a careful analysis of the bill’s text suggests the bill can survive a Tenth Amendment challenge, as it was carefully drafted to sidestep just such a challenge. Why do we say this? Well, looking at the Tenth Amendment issue, the actual drafter or drafters of the bill made clear the intent of the Act to supersede State regulation of and licensing of firearms; for, Congress would, under the Second Amendment Guarantee Act, be exercising its authority to regulate firearms moving in interstate commerce. It is a categorical, unequivocal principle of law that Congress has plenary power to regulate goods moving in interstate commerce under the Commerce clause. On that matter, no legitimate legal question exists, as the U.S. Supreme Court has made this point abundantly clear.“As we observed in Lopez, [United States v Lopez (1995) 514 U.S. 549, 131 L. Ed. 2d 626, 115 S. Ct. 1624] modern Commerce Clause jurisprudence has ‘identified three broad categories of activity that Congress may regulate under its commerce power.’ 514 U.S. at 558 (citing Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc., 452 U.S. 264, 276-277, 69 L. Ed. 2d 1, 101 S. Ct. 2352 (1981); Perez v. United States, 402 U.S. 146, 150, 28 L. Ed. 2d 686, 91 S. Ct. 1357 (1971)). ‘First, Congress may regulate the use of the channels of interstate commerce.’ 514 U.S. at 558 (citing Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U.S. 241, 256, 85 S. Ct. 348, 13 L. Ed. 2d 258 (1964); United States v. Darby, 312 U.S. 100, 114, 85 L. Ed. 609, 61 S. Ct. 451 (1941)). ‘Second, Congress is empowered to regulate and protect the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, or persons or things in interstate commerce, even though the threat may come only from intrastate activities.’ 514 U.S. at 558 (citing Shreveport Rate Cases, 234 U.S. 342 (1914); Southern R. Co. v. United States, 222 U.S. 20, 32 S. Ct. 2, 56 L. Ed. 72 (1911); Perez, supra, at 150). ‘Finally, Congress' commerce authority includes the power to regulate those activities having a substantial relation to interstate commerce, . . . i.e., those activities that substantially affect interstate commerce.’ 514 U.S. at 558-559 (citing Jones & Laughlin Steel, supra, at 37). United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, 609; 120 S Ct. 1740, 1749; 146 L. Ed. 2d 658, 670 (2000).”So, the Second Amendment Guarantee Act would likely survive a Tenth Amendment challenge. But, the strength of the bill, as drafted, also poses a weakness, notwithstanding. For, while State laws, such as New York’s SAFE Act and Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act, cannot, if Collins’ bill is enacted, most likely preclude importation of firearms into their State—including and importantly so-called assault weapons, as importation of such firearms affects interstate commerce and federal law, would, under the Second Amendment Guarantee Act, preempt State law in matters affecting interstate commerce—still, once the firearms are presented in States such as New York and Maryland, it isn’t clear, from the present language of the bill, that firearms’ dealers would be able to sell or trade such “assault weapons” to individuals residing in those States, so long as laws such as the SAFE Act and the Firearm Safety Act are in effect. And, those Acts would still be in effect. For, contrary to Collins’ Press Release, restrictive State gun laws, such as the NY Safe Act, do not, ipso facto, become nugatory. A legal challenge to the constitutionality of New York’s Safe Act and Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act would have to be made. But, once made, it is still unclear whether the Safe Act and the Firearm Safety Act could not prevent transfers of "assault weapons" to individuals, not under disability, within the State, on the ground that regulation of "assault weapons" was being conducted intrastate, thereby not affecting interstate commerce.The question, from the standpoint of those challenging restrictive gun legislation existent in States such as New York, Maryland, California, Hawaii, and others, then becomes whether so-called “assault weapons” that some States wish to ban and, at present, have banned outright, can be sold as “protected” firearms under federal law, once they are in a State, such as New York. If so, that means, then, that States could not legally proscribe the transfer, ownership, and possession of those weapons, try as they might. The issue raised by the Second Amendment Guarantee Act is analogous to the matter pertaining to machine guns, submachine guns, and selective fire weapons, as federal law completely preempts the field concerning those weapons, which means that States have absolutely no legal power to enact laws involving the regulation, licensing, and disposition of those kinds of weapons in their States. Federal law completely preempts the field in matters involving the licensing, regulation, and disposition of machine guns. Language in Section 922 (Unlawful Acts) of Title 18 of the U.S. Code makes clear the intent of Congress to preempt the field, in its entirety, in matters pertaining to the transfer and ownership and possession of machine guns. Paragraph “o” of Section 922 of Title 18 says,“(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), it shall be unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun.(2)  This subsection does not apply with respect to—(A)  a transfer to or by, or possession by or under the authority of, the United States or any department or agency thereof or a State, or a department, agency, or political subdivision thereof; or(B)  any lawful transfer or lawful possession of a machinegun that was lawfully possessed before the date this subsection takes effect [effective May 19, 1986].”Curiously, the expressions, ‘firearm,’ ‘rifle,’ ‘shotgun,’ and ‘machine gun,’ are not defined in Section 922 of Chapter 4 (Firearms) of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, where a person might expect to find them, but in Section 5845 of the Internal Revenue Service Code of the U.S. Code, 26 USCS § 5845. In 26 USCS § 5845(b), “The term ‘machinegun’ means any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. The term shall also include the frame or receiver of any such weapon, any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun, and any combination of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person.”Keep in mind that Congressman Collins’ bill modifies Section 927 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code only, which deals with federal preemption of State law regulation of firearms,  generally, but the bill modifies nothing in Section 922 of Title 18, where one would expect to find an assertion of those particular firearms and firearms’ components that federal law is preempting States from regulating and there is no modification of Section 5845 of Title 26 (Internal Revenue Code) where firearm terminology is specifically defined. And, it is in Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code that we see federal preemption of regulation of machine guns; and it is in that same Section of Title 18 that, in 1994, Congress expressly banned ownership and possession of “assault weapons,” nationally—as part of antigun efforts that orchestrated enactment of the “Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.” A national ban on the transfer of and ownership of so-called “assault weapons,” along with a ban on LCMs, was set forth in federal law, subsumed in Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code. But inclusion of an “assault weapons” provision of Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, which added a paragraph “v” which made it “unlawful for a person to manufacture, transfer, or possess a semiautomatic assault weapon,” and inclusion of a ban on large capacity magazines, set forth in paragraph “w” of Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, which made it “unlawful for a person to transfer or possess a large capacity ammunition feeding device,” both expired in September of 2003. Those provisions of Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code were never reauthorized, despite subsequent and numerous efforts by antigun politicians to do so.Since the impetus for the Second Amendment Guarantee Act was predicated, obviously and reasonably, on Congressman Collins' laudable desire to negate the impact of the NY Safe Act on the federal level, through the federal preemption—since Albany appears either unwilling or incapable of repealing the NY Safe Act on the State level itself—we can infer that the Second Amendment Guarantee Act was designed principally to preclude States, such as New York, from banning substantial numbers of semiautomatic firearms that’s State antigun legislators, with great fanfare, cast into the category of “assault weapons.”Congressman Collins, a staunch proponent of the Second Amendment, clearly seeks, through enactment of his bill, to provide Americans the converse—the flipside—of efforts to curb exercise of the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment Guarantee Act, as some would argue, proscribes States from regulating all categories of rifle and shotgun, thereby curbing, with one fell swoop, attempts by any State Legislature to impose specific restrictions on the ownership and possession of one large category of firearms, those subsumed under the nomenclature “assault weapons,” and curbing, as well, attempts by any State Legislature to impose size restrictions on ammunition magazines.But, does Congressman Collins’ bill, that modifies Section 927 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, make federal preemption of regulation of assault weapons and other firearms’ components absolutely clear?Once again, as presently enacted Section 927 says:“No provision of this chapter [18 USCS §§ 921 et seq.] shall be construed as indicating an intent on the part of the Congress to occupy the field in which such provision operates to the exclusion of the law of any State on the same subject matter, unless there is a direct and positive conflict between such provision and the law of the State so that the two cannot be reconciled or consistently stand together.”Collins’ bill deletes the first word of Section 927—the word, “No,”—and replaces that word with the phrase, “Except as provided,” and, then adds language, establishing, inter alia, that States cannot enact laws pertaining to rifles and shotguns that are “more restrictive. . . with respect to such a rifle or shotgun.” But, and this is an important, but, is such language enough to negate restrictive State firearms’ legislation such as the NY Safe Act? We don’t think so—thus, the failings of the bill, in its current form. For, what do the words, ‘more restrictive with respect to such a rifle or shotgun,’ mean, here?The reader must understand that federal law preemption of firearms, Sections 921, et. seq., of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, is directed essentially to a specific class of firearms, namely machine guns. As made clear in paragraph "o" of Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Federal law preempts the field as to those kinds of firearms only, and the language of the law makes federal preemption in matters involving the regulation of machine guns patently clear. Congressman Collins’ bill is silent on the subject of so-called “assault weapons”—which some believe Congressman Collins’ bill, if enacted, would adequately address, and which it must address if it were to do what it purports to do: preclude States from prohibiting the transfer and possession of firearms that New York’s Safe Act and Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act prohibit, expressly, and prohibit outright--"assault weapons."Had Congressman Collins’ bill been more explicit and precise, we believe that language should appear in Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code that would work in tandem with the language appearing in Section 927 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code. And, in Section 5845 of Title 26, we would like to see language that clearly and specifically defines the expression 'semiautomatic weapons.' And, in Section 922 of Title 18, we would like to see language that sets forth the lawful transfer of all semiautomatic weapons to individuals, not under disability. The federal preemption Statute, namely, Section 927 of Title 18, as modified in the Second Amendment Guarantee Act would then make federal preemption of the entire field of semiautomatic firearms abundantly and categorically clear. Ideally, language modifying Section 5845 of Title 26, and modifying Sections 922 and 927 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code would establish federal preemption of the entire field of firearms but--and this next point is critical--only to the extent that such modifications serve to enhance the citizen’s right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment. We have no desire to see federal preemption leading to mass registration of firearms and draconian licensing measures on the federal level that we already see much too often on the State level.Ideally, language in the Congressman’s bill would have set forth, in Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code explicit protection of all commercial transactions, among all the people, who are not under disability (as categories of disability are set forth with particularity in paragraph “g” of Section 922 of Title 18), involving all firearms—rifles, shotguns and pistols, whatever the configuration or mode of operation of those rifles, shotguns, and pistols; and, further, Collins’ bill should have included language doing away with BATFE licensing of such firearms as well, which, in the case of machine guns, involves a lengthy, time-consuming, expensive and mentally exhaustive process that does nothing to enshrine the Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms, as exercise of that fundamental right is unduly hampered by a multitude of administrative obstacles. Lastly, we would like to see firearms’ licensing at both the State and Federal levels ended. As a parenthetical note, we point out that Congressman Collins’ bill is altogether silent on the matter of handguns which means that, under his bill, handguns would not be subject to federal preemption. States would still be able to impose draconian restrictions on the American citizenry in matters involving handguns. But, why should Americans suffer the indignity of exhaustive, extensive, and expensive firearms’ regulatory hurdles at all?One doesn’t need a license to freely exercise one’s right of free speech—at least at the moment—although leftwing groups—most notoriously, the so-called “ANTIFA,” an anarchist/communist, domestic terrorist group (as much as any other terrorist group that this Country formally recognizes), is doing its best to constrain the right of free expression in this Country. Why must one secure a license to exercise a fundamental natural right of self-defense, as firearms are the best means available to secure one's safety and well-being when threatened and access to firearms, for those not under disability (as set forth in paragraph "g" of Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code), is guaranteed under the Second Amendment!Congressman Collins’ modification of Section 927 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, alone, does not, we believe, adequately establish federal preemption of firearms’ regulation because the purpose of Section 927 is simply designed to preclude conflict between State and Federal firearms laws. That is the Section’s only purpose. Its purpose is not to define the kinds of firearms that fall under the auspices of federal preemption—which is addressed, and is meant to be addressed in Section 5845 of Title 26 of the U.S. Code (referred to more specifically as the Internal Revenue Code of the U.S. Code) and does not set forth the manner in which federal preemption of firearms is specifically addressed, as is the case with machine guns, as set forth in paragraph "o" of Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code. We also note that the Congressman’s bill, as drafted, uses the permissive ‘may,’ rather than the obligatory ‘shall’ suggesting, then, that States might still regulate firearms, transecting, then, federal preemption, rather than being totally eclipsed by it. Furthermore, as drafted, Congressman Collins’ bill does not adequately establish the kinds of firearms that he intends federal law to preempt. The draft language of the bill simply sets forth that State law “may not” enact a law “that is more restrictive, or impose any penalty, tax, fee, or charge with respect to such a rifle or shotgun or such conduct, in an amount greater, than is provided under Federal law.” But, federal law, Sections 921 et. seq., direct attention to machine guns. Federal law does not address so-called “assault weapons”—semiautomatic weapons and, in New York, revolving cylinder shotguns (which are also defined as 'assault weapons'). Consider: had federal law still imposed federal licensing requirements on “assault weapons,” as it once had, in 1994, then New York’s SAFE Act and Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act, regulating such weapons, likely would have been struck down as unlawful under Section 927 because Federal law had, at that time, in effect, at least, preempted the field as to the regulation of assault weapons and large capacity magazines. What this means is that such restrictive State gun laws, regulating or proscribing ownership and possession of “assault weapons,” at that time, would either have been redundant, if otherwise consistent with federal law, or unlawful, if inconsistent with federal law.

CONCLUSION

The bottom line: In its present form, Congressman Collins’ Second Amendment Guarantee Act (“SAGA”), is a good start toward giving the Second Amendment full effect, as the framers of our Bill of Rights intended. And the Congressman is to be commended for his effort. But the bill, as drafted, leaves, we feel, too much uncertainty, in its present form, to be effective in defeating restrictive, draconian State gun measures like the New York’s Safe Act and Maryland’s Firearm Safety Act, contrary to the opinions of some. More work on the bill is needed. But, such work would, we feel, certainly be a worthwhile endeavor._________________________________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.