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THE COURTS, NO LESS THAN CONGRESS, IS WHERE ONE WILL FIND THE SECOND AMENDMENT EITHER SAFEGUARDED AND STRENGTHENED OR ENDANGERED AND WEAKENED.

REPUBLICAN CONTROL OF ALL THREE-BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT IS NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN BOTH THE SOVEREIGNTY AND INDEPENDENCE OF OUR NATION STATE, AND THE SUPREMACY OF OUR CONSTITUTION AND OUR SYSTEM OF LAWS.

The mandate of a Republican controlled Congress, and of a Republican President and of a federal court system--comprising jurists who recognize the supremacy of our laws and of our Constitution over foreign laws and over the decisions of foreign tribunals and who recognize and appreciate the critical importance of the fundamental rights and liberties of the American people, as codified in the Bill of Rights--is this: to maintain our roots as a unique People; to make certain that our Country continues to exist as a free Republic and as an independent, sovereign Nation, beholden to no other Nation or to any group of Nations; and to keep sacred the supremacy of our Constitution and our system of laws, grounded in the sanctity of the Bill of Rights--a Bill of Rights that has no parallel in any other Nation on this Earth. To succeed in this mandate it is imperative that: one, Congress retain a Conservative Republican majority; two, that Donald Trump remain as U.S. President through two terms in Office; and, three, that the U.S. Supreme Court hold a conservative-wing majority and that the lower federal Courts seat a majority of  jurists who recognize and appreciate the supremacy of our Constitution and of our laws and of our sacred rights and liberties, and who render opinions with that principle omnipresent.Obviously, those malevolent forces that seek to undermine the sovereignty of this Nation, that seek to subvert the will of the American People, that seek to undercut and subordinate our Constitution, our system of laws and our fundamental rights and liberties, are working for the precise opposite. They seek to gain Democratic Party majorities in both Houses of Congress in the midterm elections, and, if they can accomplish that, they will undoubtedly pursue efforts to impeach Trump, using the tenuous, ludicrous, tax-payer funded Mueller investigation, chasing after ghosts, as a springboard to destroy the Trump Presidency. These individuals and groups, bankrolled by a shadowy, secretive, ruthless internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist “elite”, hope, as well, to create a liberal wing majority in the U.S. Supreme Court. To do that, they must win back the White House.Those who seek to destroy the sovereignty of this Nation and to undermine the true import and purport of the Bill of Rights are rankled by two specific events that they cannot, and, obviously, will not abide: one, the failure to usher Hillary Rodham Clinton into the Office of U.S. President, which they thought was an assured bet; and, two, the failure to seat Merrick Garland—the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and President Barack Obama’s nominee—on the U.S. Supreme Court. These critical and monumental failures of the internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist “elite” who bankroll and control the Deep State of the federal Government—the forces that would dare crush this Nation and the American people into submission—have suffered an extraordinary setback in their plans for world domination. To reset the clock in accordance with their global strategy, they have been forced to show their hand. The negative forces that manipulate and control the Government of this Nation and that manipulate and control the Governments of those Nations that comprise the EU have emerged from the shadows and have forced their toadies in this Country to surface from the depths of the Deep State of the federal Government, to undermine, at every turn, the efforts of the duly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump. Not content to undermine and undercut the President's policy objectives, which they attack at every turn through the well-orchestrated media circus they control, they attack the man himself, disrespectfully, caustically, and reprehensibly; and, in so doing, they demonstrate as well their disrespect for this Nation, and  for this Nation’s core values, and for this Nation’s system of laws, and for the people of this Nation who elected Donald Trump, who was then inaugurated the 45th President of the United States, on January 20, 2017, succeeding Barack Obama.The election of Donald Trump as U.S. President has thrown a wrench into the well-oiled and greased machine of the Deep State of the federal Government of the United States. This singularly important event has thrown the internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist elites, headed by the international Rothschild clan, into a state of consternation, of befuddlement, of rage and turmoil, of chaos. Their well-laid plans for world domination sees the United States as an important cog in an expansive industrial and financial machine comprising the New World Order, for no other Western Nation has as impressive a military and as impressive an intelligence apparatus, and as adept technological capabilities as those of the United States. As the forces that would crush this Nation and its people into submission have suffered a severe and costly set-back, they intend to set matters aright. The American people bear witness to the raw extent of the power and reach of these forces: one, the naked audacity of their actions; two, the evident contempt in which they hold the American people; three, the bald self-assurance and aplomb by which they plan and orchestrate a campaign of deliberate deception—through the mainstream media—a campaign of disinformation and misinformation through which they hope and trust they can manipulate the American people into accepting a bizarre worldview--one inimical to the needs and desires and well-being of the American people; four, the obscene loathing they express toward our Bill of Rights; five, the demonstrative malevolence they have shown toward the U.S. President and toward his Administration; and, six, the abject hatred they display toward this Nation’s Constitution, toward this Nation’s unique history, toward this Nation’s core values, toward this Nation’s system of laws and morals. And through the levers of media and of the Deep-State of Government that they control, they give mere lip-service and lip-homage to those very things Americans hold most dear.The Arbalest Quarrel has done its part. We have worked to help elect Donald Trump as President of the United States and have worked, as well, to defeat the confirmation of Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court. But our work has not ended. It has, perforce, just begun.We must continue to support President Trump from the forces that, having failed to prevent his electoral success, seek, now, to place obstacles in his path, making it difficult for him to implement the policies he has promised—policies that are at loggerheads with those hostile internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist financial and industrial forces that seek global domination which, in accordance with their plans for world domination, requires the crushing of Western Nation States, including the crushing of our Nation State, the crushing of the sovereignty and independence of our Nation state; and, with that, the subordination of our laws to that of international laws and treaties and the subordination of our Courts to that of foreign Courts and foreign Tribunals; and the undermining of the sacred rights and liberties of the American citizenry. These extremely powerful, extraordinarily wealthy, and abjectly ruthless and cunning globalist forces seek eventually to topple Donald Trump and his administration. They seek also to take back control of the two Houses of Congress. We must therefore work to maintain House and Senate Republican Majorities.Further, we must work toward and anticipation of the confirmation of at least one additional, and, hopefully, two or, better yet, three conservative-wing Justices to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. With the passing of the eminent and brilliant jurist and true American patriot, Justice Antonin Scalia, we have lost a mighty champion of liberty in the vein of the founders of this Nation, the framers of our Constitution. We hope and trust and pray that, before the end of this year, 2018, Justice Anthony Kennedy and/or Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and/or Justice Stephen Breyer will retire. That will pave the way for President Trump to nominate at least one and conceivably two, and optimally three more American jurists, to sit on the high Court who, as with Trump’s nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, hold jurisprudential values and who would apply the same methodology to deciding cases as do Justices Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito, which the late Justice Antonin Scalia had set the course. With strong and true conservative-wing Justices on the high Court, who hold a clear majority, we will see the Court agreeing to hear critical Second Amendment cases and, thereupon, rendering decisions that, with the Court’s untarnished and supreme judicial imprimatur, makes clear the import of the natural, fundamental rights and liberties of American citizens as codified in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution in the manner the framers’ intended.

THE ARBALEST QUARREL LOOKS BACK ON WORK COMPLETED IN 2017 AND THEN FORWARD TO OUR TASKS FOR 2018

WHAT WERE SOME OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2017?

Let us step back for a moment and look at just a few of the tasks we completed in 2017, and remark briefly on tasks we have set for ourselves in 2018. Much of our work, consistent with the primary purpose of the Arbalest Quarrel involved detailed, comprehensive analyses of critical federal and State Court cases impacting the Second Amendment. One of those cases is Soto vs. Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC., 2016 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2626; CCH Prod. Liab. Rep. P19,932. Soto is an active case. The Soto case arises from the deadly attack that occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, when a deranged young adult, Adam Lanza, 20 years old, stormed Sandy Hook Elementary School, fatally shooting twenty children and six adults, before turning a handgun on and killing himself. According to the allegations of the Soto Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint (CM), Adam Lanza murdered these school children and school staff with a Bushmaster AR-15, model XM15-E2S rifle. Defendant Bushmaster prevailed in the lower Superior Court (trial Court), and we analyzed the Superior Court decision in depth. Plaintiffs appealed the adverse decision directly to the Connecticut Supreme Court, bypassing the State Court of Appeals, and the Connecticut Supreme Court agreed to hear argument. We will be analyzing the Briefs of Plaintiffs and Defendants in the case and will also analyze selected amicus (friend of Court) Briefs in that case. Over 50 amicus briefs were filed in that case. We also provided comprehensive analyses in an “assault weapons” case, (Kolbe vs. O’Malley, 42. F. Supp. 3d 768 (D. Md. 2014); vacated and remanded, Kolbe vs. Hogan, 813 F.3d 160 (4th Cir. 2016); rev’d en banc, Kolbe vs. Hogan, 849 F.3d 114 (4th Cir. 2017) ), which we had hoped would be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court—the high Court failing to have granted certiorari in an earlier disastrous “assault weapons” case, Friedman v. City of Highland Park, 784 F.3d 406, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 6902 (7th Cir. Ill., 2015). Alas, the high Court failed to garner four votes, allowing the case to be heard in the high Court. Had the high Court agreed to hear the case, Americans would see a definitive ruling on whether so-called “assault weapons” fall within the core of the Second Amendment’s protection. Obviously, the liberal wing of the Court and at least two "apparent" conservative wing Justices, likely, Anthony Kennedy and the Chief Justice, John Roberts, did not want to resolve this case, and, so, to date, resolution of “assault weapons” as protected firearms within the core of the Second Amendment remains in abeyance, with liberal Circuit Court of Appeal Judges ruling that semiautomatic "assault weapons" do not fall within the core of the Second Amendment and, so, are not protected.In addition, we looked at two Congressional bills that, if enacted, strengthen the Second Amendment. We looked at national concealed handgun carry reciprocity legislation, pending in Congress, H.R. 38, and looked at Congressman Chris Collins’ bill, the “Second Amendment Guarantee Act” (H.R. 3576) (“SAGA”) which has been referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, on September 6, 2017 where it presently sits. We also did our part to sidetrack Obama’s attempt to sit Judge Merrick Garland on the U.S. Supreme Court. When we feel it critical that our representatives in Congress be notified of specific and extraordinary dangers presented to our Nation, we have not hesitated to contact them. When, after the passing of the exceptional U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, we have seen that President Barack Obama wasted little time in nominating a person to serve as a new ninth member of the high Court who would, given the opportunity, assist the liberal-wing Justices—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan—in unwinding case law that Justice Scalia helped to shape in his many illustrious years on the Bench. That person who President Barack Obama had hoped to see confirmed is Merrick Garland, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The Arbalest Quarrel took strong exception to the possibility of seeing Judge Garland sitting on the high Court. We sent a letter to the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, requesting the Senator to refrain from allowing a confirmation hearing to proceed. Had a confirmation proceeding been held, that would have resulted in Judge Merrick Garland sitting on the high Court as an Associate Justice. Of that, we have no doubt, as U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch has articulated that point. According to the liberal political commentary website, "New Republic," Senator Hatch said that there was "no question" that Judge Merrick Garland would be confirmed were a confirmation hearing held. The Arbalest Quarrel explained the singular danger Judge Merrick Garland posed to the preservation of the right of the people to keep and bear arms, codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution if Merrick Garland sat on the U.S. Supreme Court. In our letter we took exception to pronouncements of several academicians who had also written a letter to Senator Grassley. Those academicians argued that nothing in the record of Judge Garland’s service as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals suggests that an inference can be drawn concerning Judge Garland’s jurisprudential philosophy toward the Second Amendment. We disagreed with the pronouncements of those academicians. We pointed to specific examples in the judicial record that establish beyond doubt that Judge Merrick Garland holds great and abiding antipathy toward the Second Amendment; and that Judge Garland’s antipathy toward the Second Amendment is very much in evidence in the judicial record, contrary to the pronouncements of those academicians who promote the Judge’s ascendancy to the U.S. Supreme Court. Our concern was not directed to Judge Garland’s ability as a jurist. We have no doubt that Judge Garland has a bright and, conceivably, brilliant legal mind. But, when that brilliance is coupled with a philosophy at loggerheads with the philosophy of another brilliant Justice, Antonin Scalia, then we know that preservation of the natural, substantive fundamental rights of the American citizenry—particularly the right of the people to keep and bear arms—are in jeopardy. In a series of in depth articles, we have written extensively about Judge Garland’s jurisprudential philosophy. We pointed out that Judge Garland’s judicial approach is clearly antithetical to that of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, and that Justice Scalia’s illustrious work would be undone were Judge Garland to sit on the high Court. In our letter to Senator Grassley, we provided a link to the Arbalest Quarrel website and encouraged the Senator to peruse our analytical articles on Judge Garland, as the letter only touched upon the matters of concern.

THE MISSION OF THE ARBALEST QUARREL 

The mission of the Arbalest Quarrel is to preserve, protect, and strengthen the Bill of Rights, and, principally, to preserve, protect, and strengthen the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Arbalest Quarrel has written dozens of articles on newsworthy and noteworthy events, impacting the Second Amendment. Many of our articles appear in Ammoland Shooting Sports News. Most of the articles we prepare are comprehensive, extremely detailed, highly analytical expositions on Second Amendment issues. Many of our articles are written as part of lengthy, continuing series. Given the exigencies of time and of new and pressing newsworthy matters, we are often compelled to sidestep continuous work on a series, returning to a series later. Since threats to the Second Amendment are constant and continuous, much of the work that we may have left uncompleted in previous weeks or months is and remains pertinent. Some work that we do, involving analysis of active legal cases, such as the Soto case, cannot, of course, be completed until further action is taken by a Court and, in that event, we must await action before continuing discussion. In other cases, such as Kolbe, where we have commenced work, as part of a series, a higher Court, in this case, the U.S. Supreme Court has denied a writ of certiorari, which means that the ruling or rulings of the second highest Court, a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, remains the law in that judicial Circuit. But, as those cases involve an open-ended and critically important issue that the U.S. Supreme Court will, at some point be compelled to tackle, our analysis of lower U.S. District Court and U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal decisions are still relevant and, so, hold more than historical value in terms of their impact on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Kolbe, for example, deals directly with the issue whether semiautomatic weapons, defined as ‘assault weapons’ fall within the core protection of the Second Amendment. As antigun groups intend to deny American citizens the right to legally own and possess “assault weapons,” and, as they seek, eventually, to ban civilian ownership and possession of all semiautomatic weapons, it is incumbent upon us and important to consider the legal arguments they present. Thus, at some point in time when the U.S. Supreme Court does deal with the issue as to the extent of or whether semiautomatic weapons defined as ‘assault weapons’ fall within the core protection of the Second Amendment or whether semiautomatic weapons, as a broad category of firearms, fall within the core protection of the Second Amendment--and the high Court will, at some moment in time have to consider the issue--we will have addressed, in depth, all or virtually all of the salient arguments that litigants happen to make. As we look back at the work over the years, we note our article, titled “The Arsenal of Destruction.” Concerning antigun groups efforts to defeat the right of the people to keep and bear arms, what we mentioned in that article is as true then as it is today. We said: Here is what we deemed then, as now, to be the salient methodologies antigun groups use to undercut the Second Amendment. There are probably more; undoubtedly, the antigun groups are busy concocting others even as we publish this list:

  • ENACTMENT OF RESTRICTIVE GUN LAWS
  • REWRITING/RECONFIGURING/RECONSTITUTING THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO UNDERCUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE INDEPENDENT CLAUSE: “THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.”
  • EFFORTS TO REPEAL THE SECOND AMENDMENT OUTRIGHT
  • INDOCTRINATION OF AMERICA’S YOUTH
  • MILITARIZATION/FEDERALIZATION OF CIVILIAN POLICE FORCES ACROSS THE COUNTRY THROUGH THE MACHINATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
  • DIRECT MAINSTREAM NEWS MEDIA ATTACKS ON THE SECOND AMENDMENT
  • USE OF PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE AMERICAN PUBLIC AND INDOCTRINATION OF THE PUBLIC BY MAINSTREAM NEWS MEDIA GROUPS
  • SYSTEMATIC EROSION OF THE RULE OF LAW IN THE UNITED STATES
  • DENIAL OF GUN POSSESSION TO ENTIRE GROUPS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS
  • ILLEGAL ATTEMPTS BY CITIES AND TOWNSHIPS TO WEAKEN OR OVERRIDE STATE LAWS WHERE SUCH STATE LAWS ARE DESIGNED TO EXTEND SECOND AMENDMENT PROTECTIONS TO THEIR CITIZENS
  • CREATING CONFUSION OVER THE CONCEPT OF ‘CITIZEN’ AND CREATING CONFUSION AS TO THE RIGHTS OF A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES
  • EXECUTIVE BRANCH OVERREACH/USURPATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE FUNCTION BY THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENT IN CLEAR DEFIANCE OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS DOCTRINE SET FORTH IN AND THE MAINSTAY OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.
  • OVERRIDING THE BILL OF RIGHTS THROUGH INTERNATIONAL PACTS, TREATIES, AGREEMENTS, AND CONVENTIONS
  • FALLACIOUS REASONING OF ANTIGUN GROUPS AND ANTIGUN GROUP DECEPTION AS TO THEIR ULTIMATE GOAL: DE JURE OR DE FACTO REPEAL OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
  • ATTACK ON GUN RIGHTS’ ADVOCATES’ MORAL BELIEFS AND ETHICAL BELIEF SYSTEMS
  • BATFE ADOPTION OF ONEROUS REQUIREMENTS FOR GUN DEALERS AND BATFE INTRUSION/ENCROACHMENT ON TRADITIONAL U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LAW MAKING AUTHORITY
  • MISAPPLICATION/MISAPPROPRIATION OF THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS LIABILITY LAW AND LEGAL DOCTRINE TO UNFAIRLY TARGET GUN MANUFACTURERS
  • FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESTRAINT OF TRADE: COERCING LENDING INSTITUTIONS TO REFRAIN FROM GIVING LOANS TO GUN DEALERS
  • MANIPULATION OF THE COMPOSITION OF STATE LEGISLATURES AND OF THE U.S. CONGRESS BY MULTI-MILLIONAIRE/BILLIONAIRE TRANSNATIONAL GLOBALISTS THROUGH THE BANKROLLING OF POLITICIANS—WHO ACQUIESCE TO THEIR WISHES, AND WHO ARE WILLING TO DESTROY THE SECOND AMENDMENT—AND THROUGH THE NAKED, SHAMELESS EXPLOITATION OF ATTACK ADS, TARGETING THE DEFENDERS OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT -- THOSE POLITICIANS WHO REFUSE TO KOWTOW TO THE ANTI-AMERICAN AGENDA OF THE RUTHLESS MULTI-MILLIONAIRE AND BILLIONAIRE TRANSNATIONAL GLOBALISTS.
  • GLOBAL CENSORSHIP/CONTROL OF EXPRESSION ON THE INTERNET: UNDERMINING THE SECOND AMENDMENT BY CONTROLLING MESSAGING WITH THE AIM, ULTIMATELY, OF INSIDIOUSLY DESTROYING THE SECOND AMENDMENT THROUGH AN UNCONSCIONABLE INFRINGMENT UPON THE FIRST AMENDMENT: AS CONTEMPT FOR ONE AMENDMENT OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS SHOWN, SO, AS WELL, IS CONTEMPT FOR THE OTHERS DEMONSTRABLY SHOWN
  • DESTRUCTION OF SOVEREIGN NATION STATES AND OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF SOVEREIGN NATION STATES THROUGH THE CREATION OF, ESTABLISHMENT OF AND INEXORABLE EXPANSION OF AN INTERNATIONAL, NEOLIBERAL INSPIRED WORLD ORDER DEDICATED TO AND WORKING TOWARD THE DESTRUCTION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, THE DESTRUCTION OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES, AND THE ERADICATION OF PERSONAL AUTONOMY

We intended to do an article on each of these 21 strategies within the series. We didn’t complete the series, but we did write on several of these strategies and some of the strategies were touched upon in other articles. For example, our most recent article on the NY Times new “gag order” policy preventing its employees from exercising their freedom of free speech on their own time in vehicles other than the New York Times newspaper, actually is a response to two strategies we delineated on in “The Arsenal of Destruction":ONE: GLOBAL CENSORSHIP/CONTROL OF EXPRESSION ON THE INTERNET: UNDERMINING THE SECOND AMENDMENT BY CONTROLLING MESSAGING WITH THE AIM, ULTIMATELY, OF INSIDIOUSLY DESTROYING THE SECOND AMENDMENT THROUGH AN UNCONSCIONABLE INFRINGMENT UPON THE FIRST AMENDMENT: AS CONTEMPT FOR ONE AMENDMENT OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS SHOWN, SO, AS WELL, IS CONTEMPT FOR THE OTHERS DEMONSTRABLY SHOWN; and,TWO: USE OF PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE AMERICAN PUBLIC AND INDOCTRINATION OF THE PUBLIC BY MAINSTREAM NEWS MEDIA GROUPS.Our principal mission and raison d’etre—as mentioned, supra—is to preserve, protect, and strengthen the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In fact, the preservation of, protection of, and strengthening of the Second Amendment all go hand-in-hand. There exist forces both inside and outside this Country that would like to repeal the Second Amendment. Of course, they realize that repealing, de jure, any one of the Ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution that comprise the Bill of Rights is virtually impossible. As natural rights, there is no mechanism for repealing these rights and liberties anyway, since no man created them. The Framers of the Constitution merely codified the rights that exist intrinsically in each American citizen. That doesn’t mean that a sacred right cannot be ignored or de facto repealed which effectively reduces the right to a nullity even as the words remain intact. Thus, if the words remain, but the intent behind the words is absent, hollowed out, the right, in essence, ceases to exist. We have seen this before. The fundamental right of Americans to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures has been hollowed out, as Government agencies like the CIA and NSA download and keep digital records on everyone and everything. This is patently illegal, but Federal Government agencies do it anyway. The fundamental right of free speech is beginning to be hollowed out, too, as censorship, in the guise of “political correctness” is taking its toll on free speech. The fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms was dying a slow death until the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court in two seminal cases, District of Columbia vs. Heller, 554 U.S. 570; 128 S. Ct. 2783; 171 L. Ed. 2d 637 (2008), and McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U. S. 742, 780, 130 S. Ct. 3020, 177 L. Ed. 2d 894 (2010)), made clear what that right entails. The high Court made poignantly and categorically clear that this right—a right that must be recognized by both federal Government and by the States—is an individual right, a right, then, not connected to one’s service in a militia. Still, those Legislators and Jurists who seek to disembowel the Second Amendment have either ignored the holdings of the U.S. Supreme Court or have actively tinkered with it, working around the edges of the Heller and McDonald holdings to slowly weaken the Second Amendment. But, to weaken the right is tantamount to destroying it; for the rights codified must be understood in the context the framers of the Constitution intended, as absolute imperatives. This doesn’t mean restrictions ought not be enacted that operate as deprivations on some individuals but, this deprivation is justified only if the threat posed by the one threatens the lives of millions of others, or where the threat posed by an individual undermines the sovereignty of this Nation.Consider the Second Amendment. Federal law bars persons adjudged mentally incompetent from owning and possessing firearms. Thus, the absolute right to own and possess firearms infringes the right of a person adjudged mentally incompetent but this is necessary to protect the lives of millions of innocent, law-abiding Americans. Federal law also prohibits illegal aliens from owning and possessing firearms. And, in so doing, we protect the sanctity of the notion of a Nation State comprising a unique citizenry. Antigun groups, though, don’t perceive the Bill of Rights as a set of natural rights, existing intrinsically in the individual, endowed by the Creator to the individual. They see the Bill of Rights in the same vein as do internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist “elites,” as mere man-made creations-- statutes enacted and repealed at the will and the whim of the of the rulers that draft and enact them. As they see nothing positive in the right of the people to keep and bear arms, they see nothing that mandates the preservation and strengthening of that right. So, those who attempt to restrict the right of the people to keep and bear arms do not consider restrictions on the exercise of that right from the standpoint of the restriction's negative impact on the majority of rational, responsible, law-abiding American citizens, who wish to exercise their right, but, rather, see restrictions on the exercise of that fundamental right from the utilitarian consequentialist position. Consistent with utilitarian consequentialism, it is firearms in the hands of law-abiding rational, individual, not the occasional criminal or lunatic, that is perceived as posing the real danger, the real threat. And, what is that threat? It is a threat perceived as directed against society— against an amorphous collective “hive”—a threat perceived, eventually, as one directed against the entirety of the “free” world, a free world constituted as a "New World Order." It is not the criminal or lunatic possessing a firearm that concerns those that hold to the utilitarian consequentialist theory of morality that poses the greater threat to the well-being of society. In a constant flurry of new draconian firearms bills introduced in Congress, we see, in the draft language of these bills, that it is really the average law-abiding individual--the rational, responsible, law-abiding American citizen--against whom restrictive gun measures are really targeted and leveled. These restrictive gun bills are drafted and enacted in clear defiance of the right guaranteed in the Second Amendment.Our mission, our raison d’être, is to call out those disreputable groups and to call out those legislators and to call out those Hollywood film stars and moguls and to call out those mainstream news commentators and journalists and "comedians" and to call out those inordinately wealthy, extraordinarily powerful, extremely secretive, and absolutely ruthless internationalist, trans-nationalist, globalist forces that mean—all of them—to destroy our Nation State and that mean to destroy our Bill of Rights, and that mean to do so all the while claiming their efforts have a rational, ethical basis. But their actions belie their assertions. Their actions belie their true intent. These individuals, these groups, these cold-hearted ruthless internationalist, trans-nationalist, globalist “elites” that control the levers of finance and industry, that control major media organizations, that operate within and control the Deep State of Government within our own Nation mean to destroy the sovereignty and independence of this Nation and they mean to upend and to destroy the supremacy of our laws and of our Constitution.These individuals distort truth; they sow seeds of discord; they confuse and confound the ill-informed masses by challenging the Nation's core values and by interposing false substitutes for those core values. They rail against and dare to rewrite our Nation's history. They attack our Judeo-Christian ethic and our Christian heritage and traditions. They mean to destroy our Nation and our sacred Bill of Rights to pave the way for an antireligious, morally bankrupt trans-global corporate New World Order conglomerate—an amorphous, muddled indistinguishable conglomeration of once proud and unique independent Nation States—a union of populations comprising the entirety of the “free” world, which these internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist financiers and captains of industry plan to rule. We are beginning to see what this portends for the U.S. as they consolidate their power in the EU, with the assistance of their technocrats, their puppets.In their concerted effort to destroy the structure of and the very notion of the sanctity and sovereignty of Nation States, and of the sanctity and sovereignty of our Nation State in particular, we see insidious and perverse attempts by these internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist “elites”—through the mainstream media whom they control and through members of Congress whom they have bought—to play with language—to suggest that the notion, the idea of ‘American,’ of what the word ‘American’ means is simply a matter of personal belief. Why is such a ridiculous notion fostered? It is fostered for a reason. For, if what it means to be an ‘American,’ or, for that matter, what it means to be a Frenchman, or German, or Italian, or Canadian, for example, comes down to personal opinion and belief, then, the bonds between a person and that person’s Country is tenuous, amorphous, fragile, elusive, even illusive, and, ultimately, unimportant. This has serious ramifications for Nation States and repercussions for the people residing in a Nation State. Thus, if a person is to be deemed an American, for example, who simply and essentially believes him or herself to be an American, then, on that basis, alone, may presumptuously presume a right to live in this Country, to emigrate to this Country and to be endowed with all the rights and liberties that the United States Constitution provides.This open-ended concept of what it means to be an ‘American’ is deliberately and unconscionably fostered by those who seek an end to the very notion of a Nation State; who seek to portray people not as citizens of this or that Country but, literally, as “citizens of the world”—who may freely move about as they wish. This “open borders” philosophy is anathema to the concept of the primacy and sovereignty of Nation States which demands that independent, sovereign Nation States have a right and duty and responsibility to maintain and control their borders, and, in so doing, forestall emigration of undesirables to this Country. To allow essentially anyone and everyone to emigrate to this Country, is to denigrate and ultimately destroy the very foundation of the sovereignty and independence of a Nation State. A Nation State’s core ethical and religious and social values are in danger of erosion. That Nation’s historical roots are in danger of erosion. That Nation’s jurisprudential values and core economic principles are in danger of erosion.When educators, along with news organizations and legislators in the United States proclaim that illegal aliens are Americans, the Arbalest Quarrel has stepped in to set the record straight. Co-Founder and President of Arbalest Group, LLC., Stephen L. D’Andrilli wrote a reply to an article written by the Vice President of the United Federation of Teachers that appeared in the Union’s publication. The Arbalest Quarrel's response was published in Ammoland Shooting Sports News. Stephen has penned other cogent responses to the UFT that we, as strong supporters of America’s Bill of Rights, have taken exception with.

THE WORK AHEAD FOR THE ARBALEST QUARREL IN 2018

In 2018 we will continue to analyze federal and State gun laws; federal and State gun bills; and federal and State Court cases. We anticipate seeing one and perhaps two openings on the U.S. Supreme Court. It is imperative that President Trump have the opportunity to nominate one or more individuals to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.It is in the Courts, no less than in Congress that our Bill of Rights and, especially, our Second Amendment, will be preserved, strengthened, and expanded. We will otherwise see our Bill of Rights debilitated, weakened, and restricted.The House and, more importantly, the U.S. Senate must remain firmly in the hands of Republicans and, more especially, in the hands of those who espouse a conservative philosophy, reflective of the views and philosophy and sensibilities of the Founders of our Nation, the Framers of our Constitution, the Creators of our Free Republic—not those Centrists like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, who hold to a decidedly globalist philosophy, who demonstrate globalist sympathies, and whose support of our Bill of Rights is lukewarm at best.The Democrats intend to take control of both Houses of Congress and they intend to weaken our Bill of Rights and to weaken especially the First Amendment Freedom of Speech, and the Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms. They intend, in league with their internationalist, trans-nationalist, globalist benefactors, to weaken, debase and eventually curtail our natural, fundamental rights and liberties. For they mean to draw us insidiously into the arms of a New World Order. They intend to do this through the vehicle of international pacts and treaties and through mainstream news organizations that condition the American public to accept open borders and to accept an amorphous notion of what it means to be a citizen; and by conditioning the American public to accept the legitimacy of foreign courts to hear cases impacting our fundamental rights; and to condition the American public to accept the supremacy of international law over that of our Constitution, and over our system of laws, and over our jurisprudence; and to condition the public to accept historical revisionism, to accept bizarre, alien notions of morality and gender identity; and to condition the public to accept the dismantling of a Nation that is grounded in Christianity and in notions of self-reliance and initiative, individual responsibility. All these things are on the table, as Democrats and many Centrist Republicans seek to weaken the foundation of a Nation as designed and understood by the Founders of it.

IN CLOSING, WE SET FORTH THE FOLLOWING POINTS AND CAUTIONARY IMPERATIVES FOR OUR READERS:

If the American people are to maintain their unique roots, we must work, first and foremost to keep sacred the Bill of Rights, and that means we must understand the import and purport of the Bill of Rights as the drafters intended, and we must insist that rights and liberties be preserved, protected, and strengthened. We must argue for the continued primacy of this Country as a sovereign, independent Nation State and we must insist that the federal Government’s first order of business, as servants of the American people, is to see to the needs of and well-being of, and security and safety of the American people. And, who are the American people? They are the citizens of this Country and those citizens, the American people, do not include anyone who resides here illegally, whatever that person's motive or circumstance for being here. And, no individual who resides elsewhere has a right to emigrate to this Country simply because that person seeks to live here, for good or for ill; and no one who has entered this Country illegally, whether consciously or through no fault of their own, can demand, as a matter of right, as a matter of law, the right to remain here. For law is not ad hoc. If Congress deigns to allow illegal aliens to remain here, then Congress must refrain from granting such individuals, citizenship. For, to grant citizenship to those who have consciously or not ignored our law, or who claim an exception to law that does not presently exist in law will serve only to destroy our system of laws. To change law or to ignore law on a whim sets a poor precedent and such action, in the seeming moral sense of it, will destroy this Country from within.We must hold to our core values. We must not be seduced into accepting notions of moral and legal relativism and we must not fall prey to historical revisionism. These notions are poisonous, pernicious, debilitating. We are a People with one common language, English. No Nation has remained a separate and distinct Nation State that has inculcated, internalized a notion of bilingualism or multilingualism or that has abided bilingualism or multilingualism.No one, whether inside or outside Government, shall indoctrinate the American people. Each American citizen has a right to free expression and to freely express his or her mind. That an individual may wish to express an idea or to possess a physical item that another individual may personally dislike, or even abhor, so what of it? The founders of our free Republic and the framers of our Constitution did not undertake to institute or to insinuate into the natural and fundamental rights and liberties of the American people a notion of “political correctness.” Such a notion is of modern invention and vintage, designed to serve an ulterior purpose. Indeed, had the founders of our Republic thought of such an absurd concept at all they would undoubtedly have held political correctness to be decidedly politically incorrect. Nothing is more devastating or destructive to the citizenry of this Nation or, for that matter, to the citizenry of any nation state, than the sins of hypocrisy and sanctimony. Unfortunately, both are in abundance in this Nation. We can for that thank the arrogance of mainstream media and of those with power and money and influence, both here and abroad, who wish to dictate a mode of thought the rest of us are obliged to adhere to. The American people should be particularly wary of those legislators and those presumptuous “elites” who bandy about such expressions as “rule of law,” and “living Constitution,” and “open borders,” and “citizen of the world” and “job creator,” and “commonsense gun laws,” and “social Darwinism, and “identity politics,” and “political correctness.” These expressions, and there are others, have become trite and dangerous clichés, shorthand simplistic sloganeering, that are either misunderstood and therefore misused, or are otherwise given to suggest or convey something overtly positive, even exemplary, when, in fact, their utilization is meant to harm the American citizen, meant to harm you! Always be mindful of seemingly noble sounding and high-minded verbiage thrown out to the masses for consumption like so much popcorn and roasted peanuts and cotton candy. Be observant, be cautious, think critically before throwing your lot in with everyone else simply because everyone else is “doing it” or “believing it.” You are no longer in high school. There is no longer any need for you to belong to this or that “clique,” in order to "fit in."The framers of the Constitution glorified the right of the individual to be individual and to accept personal responsibility for one’s actions. Our sacred rights and liberties as codified in the Bill of Rights are a testament to that fact. That is our birthright. The right of free speech; freedom of association; the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures; and the right of the people to keep and bear arms. These are not mere platitudes. These are a few of the most important natural rights, codified in the Bill of Rights. They are absolute and unconditional, and they are slowly being eroded. Americans should consider, critically, how the words of a news commentator, or of a Hollywood star, or of a mega-sports star, or of a legislator, or of a financier, or of a government bureaucrat, or of a highly paid comic on nighttime  television meant to cajole or persuade Americans would impinge on or infringe those rights and liberties before you throw your lot in with them. For you may be hoodwinked into giving up everything of real consequence._________________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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THE ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION: OBAMA SAYS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CAN STAY IN AMERICA BECAUSE IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO? BUT, IS IT?

PART 2: EXECUTIVE BRANCH OVERREACH/USURPATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE FUNCTION BY THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENT IN CLEAR DEFIANCE OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS DOCTRINE SET FORTH IN AND THE MAINSTAY OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

SUBPART 3: THE OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL’S OPINION ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

SUB-SUBPART 1: OBAMA SAYS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CAN STAY IN AMERICA BECAUSE IT’S THE RIGHT THING FOR AMERICA TO DO? BUT, IS IT?

Lost in the chorus of sloganeering over immigration is any discussion of the legality of Obama’s executive order, granting amnesty to 5 million illegal immigrants. Obama claims that a legal basis for his executive order exists. But what is it? Does Obama tell us? Curiously, when Obama talks, he glosses quickly over critical points he doesn’t want the public to focus on. And that’s true of his intention to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.Obama happened to mention, in passing, that the Office of Legal Counsel told him he has the legal authority to unilaterally grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. And the mainstream media (MSM), quick to echo the President’s sentiments, is slow to question the accuracy of the President’s assertions and the sincerity of his motives. The MSM simply takes Obama at his word. In so doing, the MSM becomes merely a toady for the President, and, as such, utterly fails to serve the public interest. Neither Obama nor the mainstream media troubles to tell the American People what the Office of Legal Counsel actually said. Obama, an attorney himself and purported Constitutional law expert doesn’t want to talk about the law. Rather, Obama talks incessantly about morality. Obama says granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens is the right thing to do. Some Americans might disagree with Obama’s notions of morality. But, whether you agree with Obama’s brand of morality or not is beside the point. What we are concerned with here is law, not one person’s notions of morality.So, let us consider what the Office of Legal Counsel actually says. Let us consider the purported legal authority of the Chief Executive to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.We begin with a simple truth: letting millions of people remain in this Country because it would be nice for us to do so – individuals, who had no business being in this Country in the first place – isn’t a tenable basis for letting them remain here.Keep in mind, at the outset of this discussion and analysis, three critical points.The first critical point is that the opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel is just that: an opinion. The opinion does not have the force of law because the opinion is not handed down by a court of law after an adversarial proceeding. Still, the opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel has more import than dubious, simplistic, bombastic, moralistic pronouncements by Obama.  For, the opinion sets the stage for the Chief Executive’s arguments in Court in the event Republicans in Congress ever demonstrate the courage to throw down the gauntlet. At the moment Congressional Republicans are merely huffing and puffing smoke. And Obama suspects Congressional Republicans don’t have the backbone to challenge him on illegal immigration.The second critical point is that our Founders gave considerable thought  to the matter of naturalization and understood the singular importance of it by explicitly referring to it in Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution. The Founders made clear that Congress, alone, has the power to create rules for naturalization. No other Branch of Government has such power. Yet Obama seeks to assume that power unto himself, as Chief Executive.The third critical point is this: the laws our Nation adopts for those who are to become citizens have a decisive impact on what this Nation is; what this Nation may become; how successful this Nation shall be. We ignore our own laws at our peril. And, we undermine the strength of our citizenry by admitting, ultimately, as new citizens of our Nation, the worst among people – those who would dare to cross our borders illegally. For how can such people claim to be law-abiding, honorable individuals, who break the first of our laws, crossing our borders illegally – and then daring to claim what they are not: responsible individuals, respectful of our Nation’s laws – those who come to this Nation under cloak of darkness -- their very presence here, a lie?  The opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel is extraordinarily long and detailed. The person who drafted the report, Karl R. Thompson, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, talks about a lot of things, but one thing he doesn’t talk about is morality. There isn’t one word about it in the entire length and breadth of the report. And that makes sense. That is as it should be. For, the issue of amnesty raises a legal issue, not a moral one. So, Obama’s rhetorical utterances to the Public are irrelevant. What is relevant – the only thing that is relevant – is whether Obama has the legal authority to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. Once again, the Constitution certainly doesn’t give him that power. That power resides only with Congress.Now, the Office of Legal Counsel doesn’t suggest that the authority to enact laws governing naturalization and citizenship reside in the Office of the Chief Executive. Clearly, it does not. Rather, what the Office of Legal Counsel seems to opine, at least according to Obama’s terse and tacit assertion about it, is that Obama’s executive action, granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, does not rise to the level of law-making. For, if it did, Obama’s action would definitely lie beyond his authority as Chief Executive. But, if Obama’s executive action is no more than an exercise of administrative discretion, then such action would fall within his legal purview. So, which is it? On scrutiny of the opinion, the Office of Legal Counsel actually equivocates on this very point. But Obama goes his merry way, claiming his power to act unilaterally on illegal immigration, in the bold unprecedented manner he wants and does, is clear and unequivocal. And there's the rub. Obama is dead wrong. And that, perhaps, explains why Obama says next to nothing about the law to the American public and all too much about morality.Obama is less a competent leader of a nation and more an able stage magician. He deliberately, cleverly, and perniciously, directs the public's attention away from what is important, namely the laws of immigration and a Chief Executive's duties under the U.S.  Constitution, and toward something totally irrelevant, an odd sermon on morality as he or his enablers define it. Thus, he completes his conjuring trick.Let’s take a look at the opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel.Two specific questions are raised: (1) whether, given limited resources, it is legally permissible for the President to prioritize the illegal aliens the DHS first gets rid of; and (2) whether it is permissible for DHS to give temporary relief from removal to certain illegal aliens who are the parents of children who are present in the U.S.  Those are the two questions that Obama asked the Office of Legal Counsel to answer. Those are the only questions that Obama asked the Office of Legal Counsel to answer. But what were Counsel’s  answers?In providing answers to the President, the Office of Legal Counsel first looked at the impetus for the questions.  The Office acknowledged that 11.3 million illegal aliens have taken up residence in this Country and that the DHS only has resources sufficient to remove 400,000 of them each year. So, in the absence of additional resources DHS has to prioritize what illegal aliens it rids the Country of. And the legal questions, especially, the first one, go to the issue of prioritization.The President asks the Office whether he can decide, irrespective of Congress, who among the illegal aliens can stay here, at least for a while, although, in fact, indefinitely, and who among them must be removed immediately. The crux of the first issue is: how far does Executive discretion extend? We will explore this question in depth in the next installment. In a subsequent post we will deal with the second of the two questions, pertaining to temporary relief for a specific class of illegal aliens.One further point to ponder:In dealing with immigration here, understand, no one is seriously contesting the propriety of immigration proper. After all, we are a Nation of immigrants. What we are looking at here is whether people who entered our Country illegally, with impunity, should be forgiven their transgression, and allowed to remain. In the context of the desire of millions of illegal immigrants to remain this Country, we must remember that many millions of individuals throughout the world desire to become American citizens. And the vast majority of those wishing to become American citizens do respect our laws. They wait their turn. They wait patiently to become citizens in accordance with the laws of naturalization Congress has enacted.To give preference to those who disrespect our laws is to denigrate those who respect and honor our laws. To give preference to those who disrespect our laws is, as well, to undercut the rule of law. It is to denigrate our parents and grandparents and great grandparents – individuals who came to this Country through legal channels; individuals who sought to learn the English language; individuals who sought to adopt American culture, and customs, and traditions, rather than to force America to adopt theirs. Those who come to our shores in the dark of night, rather than in the light of day, do not concern themselves about our laws, our culture, our customs, our traditions, our history, our language. Is that not all too obvious?[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2015 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour) and Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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THE ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION: OBAMA GRANTS AMNESTY FOR MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. WILL HE GRANT THEM FULL CITIZENSHIP TOMORROW?

PART 2: EXECUTIVE BRANCH OVERREACH/USURPATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE FUNCTION BY THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENT IN CLEAR DEFIANCE OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS DOCTRINE SET FORTH IN AND THE MAINSTAY OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

SUBPART 2: PRESIDENT OBAMA GRANTS AMNESTY FOR MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TODAY; WILL HE GRANT THEM FULL CITIZENSHIP TOMORROW?

HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CALLED TO TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE

On Tuesday, December 2, 2014, Jeh Charles Johnson, Secretary of DHS, testified before the House Homeland Security Committee. What prompted the Congressional Hearing is well known. President Obama had unilaterally granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. He had threatened to do so, after the 2014 midterm elections. And immediately following the midterm elections, Obama did in fact order DHS to suspend deportation proceedings on 5 million illegal immigrants on U.S. soil. In so doing, he has acted contrary to the will of Congress. Congressional Republicans insist that Obama explain his actions.Over 11 million illegal immigrants currently reside in the U.S. Potentially all of these illegal immigrants are subject to deportation, pursuant to present immigration law. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is tasked with their removal. Yet, President Obama has called for an immediate halt to deportation of roughly half of them.At Tuesday’s Hearing, Representative Michael McCall, R-Texas, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, expressed outrage at the Obama Administration’s actions that effectively bypass Congress. Upon calling the Committee Meeting to Order McCall wasted no time asserting that the President’s actions “undermine our Constitution and threaten our Democracy.”Representative Bill Keating, D-Massachusetts, asked Secretary Johnson, pointedly, whether the President’s actions amount to granting amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants? Johnson replied that the current situation does amount to amnesty.But, what does ‘amnesty’ mean? Black’s Law Dictionary (Ninth Edition), defines ‘amnesty’ as “a pardon extended by the government to a group or class of persons, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but have not been convicted.” Black’s Law Dictionary (Ninth Edition) also says that, “unlike an ordinary pardon, amnesty is usually addressed to crimes against State authority – that is, to political offenses with respect to which forgiveness is deemed more expedient for the public welfare than prosecution and punishment. Amnesty is usually general, addressed to classes or even communities.” The President, not Congress, has granted amnesty to literally millions of illegal immigrants. Congress can do so. The President cannot. See previous Article on immigration. The President does so anyway. The unstated basis for the President’s unilateral action is expediency and public welfare. But, illegally crossing U.S. borders in the first instance or re-entering the U.S.  illegally, once again, after deportation, are both criminal offenses under present U.S. immigration law.Moreover, we may rightly ask whether presumed “expediency” is a sound basis for the President’s actions when such actions disrupt the rule of law and undercut the U.S. Constitution. And we may well ask whose public welfare the President has in mind by granting amnesty. Is he not less concerned for the welfare of American citizens and more concerned for the welfare of millions of immigrants who crossed our Nation’s borders illegally in obvious defiance of our Nation’s immigration laws? It would seem so!

DOES THE PRESIDENT’S GRANT OF AMNESTY TO FIVE MILLION ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CONFER CITIZENSHIP ON THOSE FIVE MILLION ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS?

This question is singularly important and has been given scant, if any, attention in the face of the President’s grant of amnesty. But, the American public should consider the ramifications of the President's grant of amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. For, where amnesty is awarded to those so undeserving of it, will they not flex their muscles and, in the future, request – indeed, at some point demand – full citizenship, with all that the word, ‘citizenship’ entails?To be sure, granting amnesty does not ipso facto confer citizenship. But, might not the President’s actions operate as a step toward full citizenship for these five million illegal immigrants? Is that not the tacit assumption behind the President’s unilateral actions?

WHO IS A CITIZEN?

To understand who is a citizen we must first get a handle on what the word ‘citizen’ means? Once again, let us turn to the legal definition of ‘citizen.’ Black’s Law Dictionary (Ninth Edition) defines the word ‘citizen’ as “a person who, by either birth or naturalization, is a member of a political community, owing allegiance to the political community and being entitled to enjoy all its civil rights and protections.”The paramount question before us, aside from the obvious pertinent ones -- directed to the purported legal basis for the President's actions, granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, and the political rationale for granting amnesty to so many individuals who crossed our borders illegally, in contradistinction to the laws of naturalization enacted by Congress -- is whether the President’s unilateral actions create a defacto class of citizens. What we need to ask is: what legal rights will accrue to these five million illegal immigrants through the President’s unprecedented act of amnesty? And, having arrived here illegally, we may also wish to consider to whom these people owe their allegiance? Do they owe allegiance to the U.S. or to their native Countries? And, if they are not at present entitled to all the rights and protections of bona fide American citizens, what rights and protections, if any, are they entitled to? And, if they are in fact entitled to the same rights and protections as those enjoyed by American citizens, are they not, then, essentially American citizens?Even if the President denies he has created or intends to create a quasi-class of citizens through the grant of amnesty to five million illegal immigrants, might not these five million illegal immigrants sue for full rights and protections somewhere down the road if they do not in fact enjoy all rights and protections under the U.S. Constitution by virtue of the President’s grant of amnesty to them?Can we not imagine a slew of civil rights lawsuits filed by, or on behalf of, these five million illegal immigrants at some point in the future? Would these illegal immigrants not claim that their rights under the Constitution must be met? As incongruous as that may sound at the moment, we should reflect on the true implications of the President’s unsound actions in granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.

WHAT LIES IN STORE FOR AMERICANS?

Clearly, the President’s actions have opened a Pandora’s Box of troubles for Americans. Whatever complications exist over the mere presence of millions of illegal immigrants in this Country, such complications pale in comparison to what lies ahead for Americans as a result of Obama’s unlawful actions granting amnesty to five million illegal immigrants in the first place.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2014 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour) and Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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THE ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION: USURPATION OF THE POWERS OF CONGRESS; OBAMA REWRITES IMMIGRATION LAW

PART 2: EXECUTIVE BRANCH OVERREACH/USURPATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE FUNCTION BY THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENT IN CLEAR DEFIANCE OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS DOCTRINE SET FORTH IN AND THE MAINSTAY OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

SUBPART 1: OBAMA REWRITES IMMIGRATION LAW

WHAT ARE THE POWERS OF CONGRESS?

Article 1, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution sets forth clearly, concisely and categorically: “all legislative Powers . . . shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” Among those legislative Powers, Article 1, Section 8 says, “the Congress shall have Power to establish . . . a uniform rule of Naturalization.”  The term ‘naturalization’ means ‘immigration’ and the power to regulate immigration implies the power to vest citizenship in a person. This means that Congress has authority to enact federal legislation establishing the rules for naturalization and the rules for conferring citizenship. But, does this mean the President also has power to establish a uniform rule of Naturalization?Unless specific language in the Constitution says otherwise, we must infer that Congress alone has control over immigration and the conferring of citizenship. And the Constitution does not confer control over immigration and the conferring of citizenship on any Branch of Government, other than the Legislative Branch: Congress. So, then,

WHAT ARE THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT?

Article 2, Section 1 says, “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” Article 2, Section 3 mandates that the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed. . . .” This means that the President has the singular duty to make sure the laws of Congress are adhered to. Nothing in Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution suggests the President shall share law making functions with Congress. Yet, President Obama says he can do this.We must assume that President Obama, a Harvard Law School graduate and Constitutional Law Professor, has a firm grasp of the Constitution of the United States. He must know that Congress, alone, and not the President, has power to establish a uniform law of Naturalization. Yet Obama in defiance of Congress has granted, through Executive fiat, amnesty for five million illegal aliens. By that act Obama has usurped a Power that resides solely in Congress. Does that usurpation of power constitute an impeachable offense? Article 2, Section 4 makes clear that, “the President . . . shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Executive Office usurpation of the Powers of Congress certainly falls into the domain of impeachable offenses.

THE COSTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Contrary to Obama’s remarks about the purported benefits illegal immigrants bring to this Country, the cost to Americans is astronomical. “By some estimates, illegal immigration costs the United States $45 billion a year. Not only does society bear the financial costs of illegal immigration, but it is also burdened with the loss of jobs and a decrease in the average household income. The labor market is more than willing to hire illegal immigrants under the table to avoid paying American workers a higher wage. Many illegal immigrants, in turn, accept payment below the federal minimum wage. Consequently, American workers are forced out of their jobs and are unable to locate jobs elsewhere because the only jobs they are qualified for are being taken by illegal immigrants.” “NOTE: Taking Back the Power: Federal vs. State Regulation On Postsecondary Education Benefits For Illegal Immigrants," Rebecca Ness Rhymer,” 44 Washburn L.J. 603 (Spring, 2005).Moreover, most Americans oppose amnesty for undocumented workers. “Americans also feel the financial burden of illegal immigration in other areas, such as social security, criminal justice programs, housing, public education, and health care. With illegal immigration posing a threat to workers and their families, it is understandable that two-thirds of Americans oppose measures designed to make it easier for illegal immigrants to cross the borders in hopes of securing United States citizenship. In 1986, the federal government, intending to curb illegal immigration, implemented a program which granted amnesty to illegal immigrants already within United States borders and increased measures to block further illegal entry. The program sanctioned employers whose hiring of illegal immigrants spread the use of ‘forgery-proof’ residency documents. After 3.1 million illegal immigrants received amnesty, subsequent measures to enforce the program failed. The result did little to curb illegal immigration.” Id.Notwithstanding Americans’ opposition to amnesty programs for illegal immigrants, and notwithstanding the lack of Congressional authorization to give amnesty to illegal immigrants, and notwithstanding the failure of past Congressional amnesty programs, Obama has, nonetheless, decided, unilaterally, and contrary to the authority of the Chief Executive to do so under our Constitution, to give amnesty to millions of these people anyway.

HOW OBAMA HAS REWRITTEN THE UNIFORM LAWS OF NATURALIZATION AND VESTING OF CITIZENSHIP

To understand how Obama has rewritten the uniform laws of naturalization and the vesting of citizenship we need to look at a couple of the Naturalization laws that Congress has enacted in prior years.The idea of granting amnesty to illegal immigrants is nothing new, but Congress alone has authority to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants if it chooses to do so, not the President. While naturalization programs go back to the dawn of the Republic, Congress has most recently experimented with amnesty during the last quarter of the Twentieth Century. This was a time – continuing to the present moment – when millions of aliens have crossed and are continuing to cross the Nation’s borders illegally. Amnesty for illegal aliens took the form of providing temporary asylum for some illegal aliens. The program failed miserably as it simply encouraged rather than discouraged ever more illegal entry into the Country.  So, subsequent acts of Congress were directed to denying amnesty to undocumented aliens.Let’s take a look at the two most recent immigration programs.The first such fairly modern program was the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). This Act did in fact grant temporary amnesty to certain qualifying illegal immigrants, did in fact grant permanent residency for certain qualifying agricultural workers, and did impose legal penalties on employers who hired undocumented workers. The program also funded border patrol in the hope of preventing more undocumented workers from venturing onto U.S. soil. See, generally, “Comment: Economic Effects of Immigration: Avoiding Past Mistakes and Preparing for the Future,” 14 Scholar 869 Natalya Shatniy (2012). IRCA failed because the INS was unable to satisfactorily enforce the Act. Id.See also, “NOTE: The Political Discourse of Amnesty in Immigration Policy,” Bryn Siegel, 41 Akron L.R. (2008). “IRCA is widely recognized as a failed attempt to regulate undocumented immigration. The failure of IRCA to control illegal immigration now stands as the central hurdle in any campaign for a legalization statute.  Known commonly as the ‘first amnesty,’ IRCA has a pervasive legacy. Following IRCA, illegal immigration continued to rise and many undocumented immigrants in the United States remained without legal status when the opportunity to apply expired.  The critical failure of IRCA in terms of inspiring sympathetic supporters was the relative ease of the legalization process.”So, Congress decided to end leniency toward illegal aliens.Congress enacted a new immigration program: the “Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996” (IIRIRA). Congress enacted the 1996 program, IIRIRA, to correct problems inherent in the Act of 1986, IRCA. The new program, IIRIRA, imposed stricter penalties on immigrants remaining in the U.S. after expiration of their authorized period of stay. And the 1996 Act restricted deportees from reentering the U.S. for several years after deportation. Id. The stricter penalties were designed to discourage unauthorized immigration. “Comment: Economic Effects of Immigration: Avoiding Past Mistakes and Preparing for the Future,” 14 Scholar 869 Natalya Shatniy (2012).The 1996 IIRIRA program, together with The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), “imposed a number of restrictions on illegal immigrants’ in the United States. Specifically, Congress created this legislation to reduce the increasing availability of public benefits to illegal immigrants, which serve as incentives for keeping their illegal status.  Not only did the PRWORA and the IIRIRA restrict illegal immigrants’ access to federal public benefits, such as social security and health care, but they also restricted access to state and local benefits, including the limitation on eligibility for preferential treatment for higher education purposes.” “NOTE: Taking Back the Power: Federal vs. State Regulation on Postsecondary Education Benefits for Illegal Immigrants,” Rebecca Ness Rhymer, 44 Washburn L.J. 603 (Spring, 2005).

UNDER PRESENT LAW HOW MAY A PERSON BECOME A U.S. CITIZEN?

“There are currently four ways to become a naturalized U.S. citizen: (1) permanent U.S. residency for five years, (2) permanent U.S. residency for three years and a spouse who is a U.S. citizen, (3) serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, or (4) being a child of a U.S. citizen. The majority of immigrants become a naturalized U.S. citizen through permanent residence by obtaining a "Green Card." A Green Card can be obtained through family, employment, asylee or refugee status, and other special programs that apply to a very small class of immigrants. In order to obtain a Green Card, you must first acquire a visa in order to enter the United States. In 2010, there were 482,052 immigrant visas issued.” See, “Comment: Economic Effects of Immigration: Avoiding Past Mistakes and Preparing for the Future,” 14 Scholar 869 Natalya Shatniy (2012).Under present immigration law, enacted by Congress, amnesty for illegal immigrants doesn't exist. A person who enters the U.S. in the hope of becoming a U.S. citizen must first obtain a visa. Id. That means a person must enter the U.S. legally. Visas are not issued to individuals who cross a U.S. border illegally.

WE HEAR SO MUCH ABOUT THE “DREAM ACT.” DOESN’T THE “DREAM ACT” PROVIDE AMNESTY FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS?

The answer is, “no,” because it was never enacted. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors of 2010 (DREAM ACT) which is trumped up in the news – “a law that would have provided a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants living in the United States who succeed academically and/or through service in the United States military” – failed. See “The State of the Ordinary Family: A Symposium: Article: The Impact of Recessionary Politics on Latino-American and Immigrant Families: SCHIP Success and DREAM Act Failure," Mariela Oliveras, 55 How. L.J. 359 (Winter, 2012).The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors of 2010 (DREAM Act) might be considered a revamped Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) that had failed decades ago. Democrats in Congress pushed for it. Understandably, Congressional Republicans pushed back. As IRCA had failed abysmally, Congressional Republicans, justifiably, saw nothing to warrant resurrecting it in the form of the so-called "DREAM Act."

THE FAILURE OF CONGRESS TO ENACT THE “DREAM ACT” PROVIDED THE IMPETUS FOR OBAMA TO UNILATERALLY GRANT AMNESTY TO MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS.

Frustrated that Congress wouldn’t enact the DREAM Act, Obama decided to take action without Congress -- threatening to do so only after the Midterm elections, hoping that Democrats would retain control of the U.S. Senate. That didn't happen. Realizing that the Dream Act -- or some form of it -- wouldn't be enacted anytime soon, if ever, Obama decided to act on his threat.Curiously, Obama previously admitted, correctly, that he cannot legislate where Congress fails to do so. He now argues, inconsistently, that Executive amnesty for millions of undocumented aliens falls within his purview as Chief Executive. Supporters of Obama’s action may call it “administrative expediency.” But Obama’s action amounts to an Executive Order of clemency for millions of undocumented aliens who should be deported. In effect the Order is an unlawful legislative act on the part of the Executive. It is not a legitimate administrative action. Rather, Obama's Order is designed to thwart immigration law.What Obama’s immigration Order says is that illegal immigrants won’t be deported if they don’t pose a threat to national security, public safety or border security. What Obama's immigration Order means is that immigration officials are prohibited from doing their job -- deporting illegal aliens. Obama believes that he has the legal authority to do this because immigration officials work for the Executive, not Congress, and because he believes that telling immigration officials not to do their job, deporting illegals, is somehow different than telling Congress straightforwardly that he won't faithfully execute immigration law -- that he won't, then, give any thought to the intent of Congress.

HOW DOES DEPORTATION OF ALIENS WORK AND IN WHAT MANNER DOES OBAMA BELIEVE HE CAN LEGALLY OVERRIDE CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY?

Obama believes he can legally get around what, to his mind, is an uncooperative Congress. Obama argues he isn't willfully disobeying Congressional authority because his immigration order only goes to the matter of deportation, not amnesty. And deportation authority, unlike the matter of granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, is an Executive function. So Obama is trying to make the case that he isn’t really giving amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants at all. He is simply not enforcing deportation. Indeed, “the most common form of protection {for illegal immigrants} has been the non-enforcement of deportation rather than the grant of a specific temporary status.” See, "ARTICLE: Temporary Protection: Towards a New Regional and Domestic Framework," Susan Martin, Andy Schoenholtz, and Deborah Waller Meyers 12 Geo. Immigration L.J. 543 (Summer, 1998).This is just equivocation. Whether Obama, on his own, were actively to bestow amnesty on millions of illegal immigrants (in effect, wrongly invoking Executive clemency for illegal immigrants by implicitly rewriting present immigration law) or simply were to order his  immigration officials to refrain from enforcing deportation rules, Obama is telling illegal immigrants that they can stay in the United States. In fact Obama has ordered immigration officials to stop deporting millions of illegal immigrants whom Congress has dictated, through present immigration law, must be deported. Obama is thus telling millions of illegal immigrants that  they need not fear deportation because immigration officials will not deport them, as immigration officials have been ordered by Obama not to deport them. However one chooses to describe Obama's action here, Obama has clearly thwarted the will of Congress. That is obviously Obama's intention and that is certainly what he has done. That will certainly make millions of illegal immigrants happy. But whom does Obama, as President of the United States, represent: illegal immigrants or bona fide American citizens? And, whose welfare is Obama, as President of the United States, supposed to be concerned with: the welfare of illegal immigrants or the welfare of bona fide American citizens? It appears that Obama is concerned more for the welfare of  people who ought not remain in this Country, who should never have come to the Country in the manner they did -- in defiance of our laws, exhibiting contempt for our People -- and he seems concerned less for the welfare of bona fide American citizens. Illegal immigrants are not honest, law-abiding people. Their very presence here is a testament to their disrespect for our laws, our culture, our citizenry. Obama caters to that!Moreover, through his actions, Obama hasn't merely condoned illegal immigration, he has actively encouraged it. And he is inviting more of the same.Americans will see millions of illegal immigrants flooding across our borders in the future, many more from Mexico, from Countries of Central America, from Countries of South America, and from Countries around the world. This is just what Congress -- Congressional Republicans at least -- sought to prevent enactment of IIRIRA in 1996.Obama's action undermines America's immigration laws and constitutes a direct challenge to the authority and power of Congress, under the U.S. Constitution, to establish the rules of Naturalization and Citizenship for all Americans. And, what does Obama's action say to foreigners who have waited for years to become American citizens, through proper legal channels, through adherence to the rule of law? What does Obama's action say to the  millions of Americans whose grandparents and great grandparents came to this Country legally through Ellis Island? How much respect can a person have for a Country's rule of law when that person has already broken the Laws of the Land through illegal entry into this Country? Such a person doesn't care. And Obama doesn't care either.Obama says his policy will not prevent the deportation of  "criminals." That is an incongruous remark since all illegal immigrants are by definition criminals. The phrases, 'illegal entry' and 'illegal reentry,' denote 'crimes' under U.S. immigration law. For a historical perspective on this, see, generally, "Article, Re-thinking Illegal Entry and Reentry," Doug Keller, 44 Loyola U. Chi. 65 (Fall 2012)What Obama is doing, essentially, is pushing the DREAM Act through by Executive Action/Executive fiat since Democrats in Congress were unsuccessful in their efforts to enact the DREAM Act. Indeed, his action, tying the hands of immigration officials so they aren't permitted to do their job, deporting millions of illegal immigrants, extends the Dream Act well beyond what even the Dream Act was designed to do if Congress had enacted it.

OBAMA HAS NOT ACTED ALONE

To Argue Obama has acted alone in granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants is not precisely true. Congressional Democrats encouraged the President to act and, in so doing, they, too, have acted irresponsibly. Moreover, these elected officials have undermined their own authority. They have undermined the authority and power of  Congress as an independent Branch of Government -- a Branch critical to the operations of and well-being of the Republic. Their action constitutes a betrayal to the American public they were elected to serve.Congressional Democrats complicity in the President's action is clearly in evidence. Consider: “In April 2011, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and twenty-one other Democratic senators published a letter they sent to President Barack Obama urging him to use executive discretion and authority to stop deportations and removals of undocumented young people-who grew up in the United States or have been residing in the United States for many years-who would have benefitted from the DREAM Act.” See, “Symposium: Noncitizen Participation In The American Polity: Dreams Deferred: Deferred Action, Prosecutorial Discretion, And The Vexing Cases(s) Of Dream Act Students, Michael A. Olivas, 21 Wm. & Mary Bill of Rights J. 463 (December, 2012).“The Obama Administration has apparently determined that any forms of immigration reform will have to be modest, and in the nature of non-legislative, adjudicatory, administrative review and discretionary deferred action.” Id.Deportation of aliens is an Executive function to be sure. But, that does not mean the Chief Executive – the President – can take it upon himself unilaterally to suspend deportation of millions of illegal aliens. That is an abuse of Executive discretion because deportation is a tool that Congress uses to effectuate the laws it has enacted. It is not a device to be used by the Chief Executive to thwart the will of Congress.Still, Congressional Democrats persevered in their own irresponsible actions. Senator Charles (“Chuck”) Schumer wrote a personal letter to then Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, attempting to pressure her to exclude millions of illegal aliens from deportation. But, Napolitano, a lawyer herself, responded with a letter of her own, barely containing her anger, “insisting that no category of Prosecutorial Discretion (PD) would be employed for groups of individuals: ‘I am not going to stand here and say that there are whole categories that we will, by executive fiat, exempt from the current immigration system, as sympathetic as we feel towards them.’” Id. Yet, three years later, we find Obama compelling Executive departments and Agencies to do just that: defying Congressional Mandate by excluding entire categories of individuals – literally millions of them – from deportation.

OBAMA HAS PREVIOUSLY EXPERIMENTED WITH AMNESTY

On June 15, 2012, Obama initiated a new policy, providing temporary amnesty to 800,000 illegal immigrants who came here as children -- a policy known as "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" (DACA). "Note, 'You may say I'm a Dreamer, but I'm not the Only One,' a1: Categorical Prosecutorial Discretion and Its Consequences for US Immigration Law," Maria A. Fufidio, 36 Fordham Int'l L.J., 976 (June, 2013).  Opposition to DACA came not only from Republicans in Congress but from State governments and even from agents within the Department of Homeland Security. Id.What does DACA do? DACA "defers removal action for two years and provides individuals with work authorization if they meet other eligibility criteria for eligibility." Id.We now see what DACA really was and where DACA was obviously headed: universal amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants. The President's DACA policy was, then, merely a dress rehearsal for his latest initiative. For, where DACA granted temporary amnesty to 800,000 illegal immigrants, the President has now granted amnesty to 5 million illegal immigrants. It would not be a stretch to infer from the President's actions, that he intends, ultimately, to bestow amnesty to the 11 million plus illegal immigrants who currently reside on U.S. soil and to the thousands  -- perhaps millions  more -- who are crossing U.S. borders today and who, undoubtedly, will continue to cross U.S. borders and enter our ports, illegally, in the coming weeks, months, and years.

WHERE DOES ALL THIS LEAVE CONGRESS AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?

Not surprisingly, Senate and House Republicans are livid and the American public should sound off too.It may be academic why Obama waited almost three years to thwart the will of Congress. Likely, Obama hoped that Congress would enact the DREAM Act or something like it. Pressured by House and Senate Democrats, and by millions of undocumented aliens who shouldn’t have a voice at all, Obama decided to usurp the authority of Congress. Even now Obama says a Congressional enactment on immigration would override his Executive action. So saying, Obama is admitting he has usurped the authority of Congress. Moreover, immigration legislation already exists. That legislation does not provide for general amnesty. Obama doesn’t like it. Democrats in Congress don’t like it. And eleven million plus illegal aliens don’t like it. But most Americans -- bona fide citizens -- do like it. And it is the law.Obama likes to blurt out slogans. He says the present immigration system is broken. But, is it? What does he mean by the word, 'broken?' Does he mean the system is broken because it doesn't sanctify the presence of "border jumpers" in the U.S.? One might say, just as nonsensically, that our criminal justice system is broken because it preys on individuals who commit crimes.Apparently, illegal immigrants, some members of Congress, and the United States President believe they can, together, thrust their will on the American People, contrary to the import and purport of the United States Constitution and contrary to the authority of Congress, which alone, has power, under the Constitution, to establish the laws of naturalization and citizenship. Hopefully, some members of Congress will remember where their duty rests.

WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

The American People must understand that usurpation of the U.S. Constitution – even by those who believe, possibly, they are acting with the best of intentions – undermines the Republic. The Obama Administration is testing the waters by granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, contrary to dictates of the present immigration law. But, Obama is testing the waters in ways far beyond the issue of immigration. If Congress fails to take strong measures against the Obama Administration and fails to do so immediately, then precedent will exist for further encroachment upon the Powers of Congress.Would a President dare to argue, for example, the First Amendment, Second Amendment, or Fourth Amendment Rights might be legally curtailed on the ground of a President’s personal convictions? We see an inkling of this -- and in matters of Fourth Amendment privacy rights, more than an inkling -- even now. If a President believes his Office is unassailable and that he, personally, is invincible, then the Rule of Law ceases to exist; the Constitution weakens; the Republic falls.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2014 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour) and Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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THE ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION: THE HISTORY OF POLICING IN AMERICA: AN INTRODUCTION

PART 3: FATHERLAND, MOTHERLAND, HOMELAND: THE ORIGINS OF A POLICE STATE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

SUBPART 3: THE HISTORY OF POLICING IN AMERICA: AN INTRODUCTION

The militarization and federalization of police forces is not a recent occurrence. It isn’t a singular event. And, it isn’t an anomaly. It’s a calculated strategy through which the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Defense (DOD) and Justice (DOJ) on behalf of powerful, secretive, sinister, ruthless forces both within the United States and outside it seek to undermine the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and bring an end to our Republic. Once the Second Amendment of our Bill of Rights topples, the other Nine Amendments will fall of their own accord. In the absence of our sacred Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution will have lost a crucial leg upon which the very structure of our free Republic stands. Never, since its inception in the 18th Century, has the Bill of Rights suffered a more ferocious assault upon its sacred principals than in the 21st Century – hardly an Age of Enlightenment.

WHAT PROOF EXISTS THAT POWERFUL, SECRETIVE, RUTHLESS FORCES ANTITHETICAL TO OUR FREE REPUBLIC EXIST; THAT THEY HAVE CONSPIRED TO DESTROY OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, AND, ONCE HAVING ACCOMPLISHED THAT TASK, SEEK TO DISMANTLE OUR SOVEREIGN NATION STATE?

You may have heard of the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, among others. The mainstream media (MSM) won’t talk about these groups. The MSM won’t investigate the aims and goals of these groups.  The MSM won’t discuss how these groups work secretly to coordinate foreign and domestic policies; how these groups manipulate public perception; how these groups manufacture lies; how these groups infiltrate the institutions of this Country. The MSM won’t discuss these matters at all, won’t even mention them. The MSM won’t do this because the MSM is an instrument of these groups.Still, the public can obtain an inkling of the machinations of these groups: the strategies they employ to control society: the arsenal of destruction. One strategy is the militarization and federalization of the police forces in this Country.

WHAT PROOF EXISTS THAT POLICE FORCES ACROSS THE COUNTRY REALLY ARE MILITARIZED AND FEDERALIZED OR, AT LEAST, ARE RAPIDLY BECOMING MILITARIZED AND FEDERALIZED?

In the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014, the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, held a public hearing on September 9, 2014. Representatives of DHS, DOD, and Department of Justice (DOJ) offered testimony. Police use of military equipment was the subject of the hearing. The topic of the hearing may seem banal. The import of it isn’t. Apart from “SWAT” teams – the creation and purpose of which raises some interesting issues of its own – why, generally, would rank and file police officers, operating in thousands of police forces across the Country, need military equipment: sniper rifles, night vision goggles, armored vehicles, fully automatic weaponry, military uniforms and military armor?Today, the subject of militarization and federalization of police in American society is viewed alongside discussions of police brutality, race relations, “broken windows” theory,  Fourth Amendment privacy rights, and Fourth Amendment privacy concerns – matters that reflect and encompass policing strategies, theories, philosophies, and topics of recent vintage, extending from the mid-twentieth century, through the first decade of the 21st – up to this very moment.But, to understand how we got to this point we must grasp the historical role and function of police in American society. For, you shall see, the militarization and federalization of civilian police forces is not simply a matter of discerning changes in police equipment. It is more – much more.

HOW DID WE GET FROM THERE TO HERE?

It may seem a trifling matter, even quaint, to ask this question. After all, every community in America has a police department of some kind and, seemingly, always had a police department. The public accepts concepts such as ‘State police power,’ ‘police departments,’ ‘policing,’ and ‘police officers’ as “givens,” without need for definitive explication or even a cursory explanation.But, if you stop to think about it – really stop to think about it – you begin to realize the need to ask this question and a slew of other questions -- questions the MSM does not ask and does not investigate and, so, does not try to answer.Why do we have police officers and police departments at all? What is their purpose in society? How did they come to be? How did the concept of ‘police power’ come into being?  Does the ‘police power’ reside only in the individual States? Or, does the ‘police power’ also reside with the Federal Government? If that power only resides in the individual States, how did that power come to be transferred to the Federal Government? Was it through subterfuge? Did the individual States willingly sell their “soul” to the Federal Government in exchange for military hardware? To whom do the police agencies of the individual States really answer? What was the role of policing in colonial America? Did the public itself serve, at one time, as “the police?” If so, at what point did policing transform into an independent segment or organ of society and why? What was the original function of policing in American society? What was policing supposed to accomplish? Once policing became a unique profession, whom did the police serve? How did policing evolve? What is the function and role of the police today? Is the primary role of the police today one of protecting the public from transgressors? Or, is the primary role of police one of protecting certain wealthy, powerful segments of the society against the public, where the public is itself deemed, inherently, to be the transgressor or, at least, deemed to be a potential transgressor?

OUR HYPOTHESIS

Policing, ultimately, is about control: control of the masses. And control of the masses is the sine qua non of the “Police State.”But, is this hypothesis true? To test this hypothesis we must take a close look at the history of policing.We begin with a look at policing in Colonial America.

DID POLICE DEPARTMENTS AND POLICE OFFICERS EXIST IN COLONIAL AMERICA?

The answer is, “no.” There were no police departments in the colonies or early States. In fact, there were no professional law enforcement officers. The peace officer, most commonly a constable, was usually a low status ‘freeman’ pressed into a tour of duty for a year. He was not paid a salary; rather, he was a part-time officer who received small fees for performing various services, probably while attempting to maintain his usual occupation. Although constables in some cities might have been loosely organized under a ‘high constable,’ and might have been augmented by a nightwatch, peace officers were not numerous; the usual pattern was one constable for each parish, ward, or similar local jurisdiction. Thus, the constable often depended on the assistance of bystanders to execute an arrest – in fact, the constable’s authority to command the assistance of others may have been the most distinctive attribute of his office. Constables were expected to preserve order by keeping an eye on taverns, controlling drunks, apprehending vagrants, and responding to ‘affrays’ (fights) and other disturbances but they were not otherwise expected to investigate crime. Instead, the mobilization of criminal justice depended almost entirely on private initiation of criminal prosecutions. Except for homicides, which might be inquired into by a coroner’s inquest or grand jury, the initiation of arrests and searches commenced when a crime victim either raised the ‘hue and cry’ or made a sworn complaint. How and how often (if at all) the hue and cry was used in late eighteenth-century America is not well understood, but it appears to have been reserved primarily as a response to ‘fresh’ crimes, especially robbery and escapes.” Recovering the Original Fourth Amendment,” Thomas Y. Davies, 98 Mich. L. Rev. 547, 621 (December, 1999)In the earliest days of the Republic the duty of policing resided in the public. The public took responsibility for law and order. “The evolution of American policing was a slow and selective process.” “Evolving Strategies: A Historical Examination of Changes in Principle, Authority and Function to Inform Policing,” Julia E. Scott, Police Journal 83 2 (June 2010). The process was slow and selective because the public feared centralized power and control. “The unification of the English colonies as an independent nation in the West brought a greater need for communal security, and heightened the necessity for a governing authority and laws with which to maintain order, than prior to America’s autonomy. Ratification of the United States Constitution offered a well-defined Federal influence, administered through three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial, and provided the central authority necessary to administer justice. In the United States, the laws and ‘elaborate machinery’ needed to enforce them had not yet been tested; thus law enforcement was administered in the only manner with which citizens were familiar: the parish-constable system.” Id.The rise of the professional police officer and the rise of centralized police departments – the modern police system – replacing the informal parish-constable system – was a development, oddly enough, owing much to the philosophy of policing in English society. “American policing is generally ascribed to an Englishman, Sir Robert Peel.”“Appointed as the British Home Secretary, Peel introduced the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829. The Act was designed to reform the antiquated parish-constable system of policing that had failed to effectively repress the rising incidence of violent and property crime in England.” Peel is considered the father of modern policing. Peel’s philosophy of policing is codified in a set of 26 principles. They are:

  1. Absence of crime best improves police efficiency
  2. Principle objective is crime prevention
  3. Organization must be stable, efficient, military-like
  4. Police headquarters centralized
  5. Establishment of rank with assigned duties
  6. Separation of police management from judiciary
  7. Modification of system to meet local needs
  8. Creation of a divisional reserve
  9. Police records are necessary (to allot divisional strength)
  10. Recruits hired on a probationary basis
  11. Police applicants to be judged on their merits
  12. Police should be even-tempered; a quiet determined manner
  13. Each officer will be assigned a number
  14. Proper training is the root of police efficiency
  15. Strict discipline of officers will ensure high behavioral standards
  16. Deployment by shift and beat
  17. A “beat card” will be issued to each officer
  18. Promotions will be filled from lower-rank officers
  19. Good appearance commands respect
  20. Distribution of crime news is essential
  21. Power of police depends on public approval
  22. To maintain public respect police must secure public cooperation and obey laws
  23. Public cooperation diminishes proportionately with police use of physical force
  24. To preserve public favor, police must demonstrate impartial service for the law
  25. To maintain a relation with the public that denotes the police are the public and the public are the police
  26. Daily reporting of police activity

As you can see, Peel’s list includes several administrative mechanisms, normative values, and, perhaps most revealing, a military structure.What we have today – the militarization and federalization of police – is not, then, a creature that just happened suddenly and mysteriously. Its seeds were planted over 180 years ago. The fear that Americans have today over the increasing power of police forces in American society echo those of Americans and the English, too, almost two centuries ago.In the next installment we will continue our investigation into the roots of the modern policing and the rise of the Police State.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2014 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour) and Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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THE ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION: CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

PART 3: FATHERLAND, MOTHERLAND, HOMELAND: THE ORIGINS OF A POLICE STATE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

SUBPART 2: CREATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

An inverse relationship exists between power wielded by Government and a Citizenry's freedom from Government's exercise of that power. As Government accumulates power, there is a concomitant loss of freedom and liberty in the Citizenry. This is axiomatically true. The Founders of the American Republic knew this. As power waxes unchecked in Government, the liberties and freedoms of Americans, written in stone in the Bill of Rights, wanes. There is irony in this. The Federal Government, created to serve the American People, turns on the People and requires the People to serve it. In so doing, the Government betrays the People, destroys personal autonomy, and undercuts the rule of law.The Founders sought, through creation of a three branch system of Government, to prevent autocracy from taking root. The powers of Government are specific and limited. The powers not specifically bestowed on Government reside in the States and the People. The Rights and Liberties set down in the first Ten Amendments, comprising the Bill of Rights, of the U.S. Constitution, coupled with the specific and limited powers of the three salient Branches of Government as set forth in the first three Articles of the U.S. Constitution, if adhered to, ward against Government excess.The People see through abridgment or curtailment of rights and liberties held by them. The Executive has secured unfettered power for itself, unto itself. Congress, in whom the Founders bestowed certain powers to prevent Executive overreach, is either oblivious to or complicit in this. Deference shown to another Branch of Government is laudable; acquiescence is regrettable, if, at times, forgivable; abject subservience is not.Congress has abdicated its authority. Congress has allowed the Executive Branch to wage war without its approval. And Congress has enacted laws permitting the Executive Branch to run roughshod over the rights and liberties of the American People. In so doing, Congress is sealing its fate and the fate of the American people.In the first decade of the 21st Century, Congress enacted a plethora of Statutes negatively impacting the Bill of Rights. Although aimed, ostensibly, at bolstering internal security, these Statutes clearly impinge on and infringe the rights and liberties of Americans. Two of the earliest include the 2001 “USA Patriot Act” and the “Homeland Security Act of 2002.” The latter Act authorized the creation of a vast bureaucratic structure, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). The stated purpose of the former is “to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes.” The two work in tandem. Both threaten personal autonomy and undermine individual liberty.

DHS: THE BIRTH OF A MONSTER

Richard Armey, a Republican Congressman, sponsored the Bill that became the “Homeland Security Act of 2002” (Public Law 107-296; 116 Stat. 2135). A majority of Republicans in the House supported it. Most Democrats did not; nor did the President, George W. Bush, at least initially. He saw a new cabinet level office problematic and said so. See, “Crisis Bureaucracy: Homeland Security and the Political Design of Legal Mandates,” Dara Kay Cohen, Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, and Barry R. Weingast, 59 Stan. L. Rev. 673 (December, 2006). Yet, a majority of House Republicans and every Senate Republican (save one who abstained) voted for enactment. So, President Bush reluctantly signed it into law on November 25, 2002. He has probably found it felicitous, and Obama certainly so. It has given the Executive Branch immense new powers. Republicans who generally and rightly bemoan the growth of Big Government were peculiarly pleased with their action here.What did the American Public receive? The Public received a vastly expanded Government bureaucracy, a lumbering monolithic structure, consolidating several government agencies, duplicating many police and intelligence functions, expending tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer monies on programs that operate against Americans’ own interests, spreading its tentacles across the American landscape. DHS has flooded the States with money, taxpayer dollars, militarizing the States’ respective police forces, creating de facto agents of the Federal Government, driving a wedge between the States’ police agencies and their own residents.

“A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME. . . .”

Prior to the attack on the twin towers, no one inside the U.S. Government or outside it used the word, ‘homeland,’ to describe the United States. And, ‘homeland’ never appeared as an appellation for a Government office, bureau, agency, or cabinet level department; nor did the media refer to the United States by it. Now, though, it’s part of the Government lexicon. The mainstream news media uses it incessantly, drilling it into the public psyche. Much thought must have gone into its creation.How did the word arise as a political descriptor? Neither the news media nor the Government explains this. So, let’s hazard a guess. The word is curiously wholesome sounding, non-threatening, almost soothing, and deceptively vague – a marvel of propaganda. But, the word belies its innocuous tone. As applied to a vast, ponderous, monstrous bureaucratic structure, the word, ‘homeland,’ is neither quaint nor sweet. The word’s usage today alludes to an earlier era. Its progenitors invoke totalitarian regimes. Recall the application of similar words to other polities: ‘fatherland’ as an appellation for Germany under the Third Reich, and ‘motherland’ as an appellation for Stalinist Russia.The propagandists who came up with the word, ‘homeland,’ as a component of the “Department of Homeland Security,” (“DHS”) were clever. The word is a marvel of social conscious engineering. It subtly suggests a transformative process within the United States, overtly positive, but covertly negative: the devolution of a Nation State from its origins as a Democratic Republic to plutocratic or autocratic governance.Use of ‘homeland’ as a descriptor for the United States and for a new cabinet level department is not, then, accident or happenstance. Use of the word 'homeland' is deliberate. Use of the word, ‘homeland,’ subtly ushers in a new political order: the rise of the Police State.What does the “Department of Homeland Security” connote? If you know nothing about the structure of the Department, the name may suggest a vast network of internal, domestic control mechanisms. And, indeed, the Department is diffuse, a patchwork quilt, touching upon multiple facets of American life and conduct, expanding into all spheres of American life.The mission of DHS is set forth, thus: “to secure the nation from the many threats we face. . . . Our duties are wide-ranging, but our goal is clear – keeping America safe.See www.dhs.gov/about-dhs. The mission statement seems straightforward and noble if also self-serving. But the phrases, "our duties are wide-ranging," and “keeping America safe,” have ominous overtones. In fact, DHS intends, condescendingly, to protect the American public from itself. That means, inter alia, arms control. Keeping America safe is a cloak for antiterrorism and national security measures which "are wide-ranging." Implementation of antiterrorism measures means impinging on and infringing America's sacred rights and liberties. Keeping America safe requires keeping tabs on the public, disarming the public, controlling the public. These are the policy objectives of DHS. CONTROL OF THE CITIZENRYA definite tension exists between DHS counterterrorism and national security mandates and America’s Bill of Rights. In a 2009 report, the DHS said the fear of gun regulations and bans is linked to a rise in right-wing extremist groups. See, “Quick on the Draw: Implicit Bias and the Second Amendment,” Adam, Benforado, 89 Or. L. Rev. 1 (2010), citing a DHS study. So, if DHS dubs a person "a right-wing extremist,"  ergo a "terrorist," that person may, potentially, be denied his right to keep and bear arms.But, who or what constitutes a right-wing extremist? If a person commits an act of violence against another because of one's race or religion, and is duly convicted of a felony in a court of competent jurisdiction, that person may reasonably expect to lose the right to keep and bear arms. State Statutes provide for that. But, if a person merely has a fascination with firearms, professes a dislike for illegal immigrants, associates with others of like kind, and proclaims distrust of the Federal Government, under what legal theory does DHS purport to dispossess him of his firearms? Under what legal theory does DHS purport to limit that person’s right to associate with others? Under what legal theory does DHS purport to invade that person’s privacy? DHS could assert that person to be a right-wing extremist and, potentially, a “terrorist.” And, that, apparently, is enough. But, for all that, what might give birth to seeming extremism in a Nation's citizenry? May not extremism, existent in or perceived in, a Nation's Citizenry be due to a corresponding extremism linked to Government's unreasonable, illegitimate, unconscionable intrusion on its Citizenry? May not such extremism in a Nation's Citizenry be directly linked to extremism in a Nation's Government? Might not the one be the cause of the other? Is not the very existence of DHS an absurdly extreme response to a decidedly weak external threat? Or, perhaps the relative strength or weakness of such external threat to a Nation is beside the point. Perhaps such postulation of this or that external threat is only a pretext upon which a Government -- this Government, the U.S. Government -- seeks to exert its control over its Citizenry -- that autocratic  or plutocratic, totalitarian rule may take shape, grow, express itself,  flourish, operate unimpeded -- that after 200+ years a Republic -- this Republic -- may be decidedly and decisively laid to rest.  So threats to a polity are exaggerated or simply manufactured. DHS is a vehicle through which Government fosters threats to hasten the end of -- not preserve -- our Democratic Republic. And, so fear of gun bans -- fear of dismantling of the Second Amendment -- is not an unreasonable fear in a Citizenry that realizes loss of its inalienable rights. The loss of such rights would not be taken lightly by the Citizenry; nor should it be. Extremism, an extreme response to the potential loss of a Citizenry's inalienable rights, would not be unexpected. And an extreme response would not be unwarranted. Extremism would, in fact, be the reasonable expression of a Citizenry's outrage toward its Government's betrayal. Government sees the extremism -- the extreme outrage exhibited toward it or enacted against it -- as a threat to it, and clamps down upon the populace. The threat to the polity, posed by the Citizenry against its Government, is no less the threat of the polity, exerted by the Government, against its Citizenry. The two go hand-in-hand.The Citizenry, the internal "other," not the external "other," is seen as the "real threat" to Government. The Citizenry, as a body, is viewed as the "Terrorist." At that moment the Security Police State is realized. The dream of the Security Police State for those who wish it is fulfilled. The Republic is undone. Citizens are merely subjects, "proles," individuals who have no rights -- individuals who have, at best, privileges, granted to them by the Government -- privileges that, as grants, can and would be revoked by the Government at any time.DHS tends to posit threats indiscriminately, under the guise of “keeping America safe.” It attempts to target ever more Americans as potential terror threats, and, in so doing, seeks to limit Americans’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, Americans’ First Amendment right of free speech and right of association, and Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to privacy. DHS mandates butt up against the Bill of Rights. See, generally, “National Security Interest Convergence,” Sudha Setty, 4 Harv. Nat'l Sec. J. 185 (2112). Sudha says unequivocally that “Americans will see their rights hemmed by antiterrorism measures.” That’s cause for consternation.Consider, in 2009, “the TSA {Transportation Security Administration, an agency transferred to and consolidated in DHS from the Department of Transportation} detained a man . . . who intended to fly from St. Louis to Washington D.C. carrying . . . cash he had generated selling bumper-stickers for ‘Campaign for Liberty,’ a Ron Paul-led organization. As the state of Missouri had warned the TSA that illegal militia members were likely supporters of third-party organizations and candidates, he was temporarily detained.” See, “Failing to Secure the Skies: Why America has Struggled to Protect Itself and How it Can Change,” Ian David Fiske, 15 Va. J.L. & Tech. 173 (Fall, 201).DHS is a destroyer of Americans’ sacred rights and liberties because its policy considerations are aimed at the twin, ill-defined and unusually broad mandates of counterterrorism and national security – mandates at odds with the Bill of Rights. Case in point: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”). FEMA, like TSA, is now a component of DHS. You would think an agency whose purpose is disaster relief wouldn’t have anything to do with the regulation of civilian weapons. DHS changed that. In emergency situations – presumptively entailing insurrection – the first order of business of FEMA, as a component of DHS, is population suppression, not disaster relief. That became abundantly clear in the aftermath of Katrina. “Disaster Mythology and the Law,” Lisa Grow Sun, 96 Cornell L. Rev. 1131 (July 2011).Although President Bush required DHS to backpedal from its outrageous stance during Katrina, DHS still functions like the Department of Defense (“DOD”). No tenable distinction exists between “terrorist” acts and natural disasters. Its massive domain, though, is “internal security,” not external military operations. DHS has been tasked with creation of an Incident Command System (“ICS”) that mirrors the DOD framework. See “Law and Lawyers in the Incident Command System,” Clifford J. Villa, 36 Seattle Univ. L. R. 1855 (Summer, 2013).

WHAT SHOULD CONGRESS DO TO REIN IN DHS?

The impact on Americans’ rights and liberties in the era of DHS will continue to be severely tested. DHS will take draconian steps that upend the Bill of Rights. DHS will do this under the guise of “keeping America safe,” consistent with its broad counterterrorism and national security mandates. While DHS may, occasionally, have to backpedal, Congress should place constraints on DHS before the fact. Having created this multi-billion dollar monolithic nightmare, Congress owes the American people that much.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2014 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour) and Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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THE ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION: CONTROL OF THE CITIZENRY

PART 3: FATHERLAND, MOTHERLAND, HOMELAND: THE ORIGINS OF A POLICE STATE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

SUBPART 1: CONTROL OF THE CITIZENRY

When historians consider the date the United States, a Free Republic, became a Police State, there will be disagreement aplenty. Many, if not all historians, will acknowledge, though, that transformation of the United States from a Free Republic, as envisioned by the Founders, to a Police State did not occur instantaneously. The change, historians likely will agree, occurred incrementally although with rapidity – indeed – with ferocity during the first decades of the 21st century. Historians will likely emphasize the curtailment of Rights and Liberties expressly enshrined in the Bill of Rights. This is one indicium of the transformative process. The other indicium is the unprecedented usurpation of and accumulation of powers in one branch of the Federal Government, the Executive, and the simultaneous reduction of power – indeed – abdication of authority of another branch of the Federal Government, the Legislative. Historians will remark upon an important reversal: the institutions of Government that were created to serve the Public had turned on that Public, and the Public had become subservient to the institutions of Government.Control of the Public is key. The Public is perceived as a potential threat to the institutions of Government. To reduce that threat the Public must be controlled. The Bill of Rights must be dismembered: privacy – gone; freedom to speak one’s mind and to freely associate with one’s fellows – gone; and the right to keep and bear arms – gone.It is curious that, as the American citizen’s rights and liberties are slowly restricted and eventually erased, the powers of the Police State grow exponentially and those powers become paramount.The greatest concern to an authoritarian government is an armed citizenry. That must be dealt with first and foremost, and relentlessly by adherents of the Police State. An autocracy cannot function where the citizenry of the State is armed. Thus, an armed citizenry must be suppressed.The Government’s mechanism of repression is twofold: restrict the citizenry’s access to firearms and, contemporaneously, monitor and control the citizenry through the tripartite agencies of intelligence, police, and the military.In the past, in the Free Republic that once existed in the polity called the United States, the agencies of intelligence, police, and the military were clearly defined and demarcated. That is no longer the case. Police forces are now militarized. The military is taking on policing functions. And intelligence is ubiquitous – the distinction between internal security and foreign intelligence increasingly muddied. Every American citizen is now perceived as a potential threat to the “homeland” – no more or less so than a foreign national or stateless person. The Government doesn’t say that. But, it is so.The abdication of Congressional responsibility, together with the usurpation of power in the hands of the President, is painfully obvious. What powers the President doesn’t usurp overtly and wrongfully from Congress, Congress dutifully hands over to the President in a flood of Statutes – Statutes that clearly impinge and infringe upon the Bill of Rights. One of the most pernicious Statutes to date is “The Homeland Security Act of 2002,” 107 P.L. 209; 116 Stat. 2135. We will take a close look at that Statute and the manner in which the very existence of the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) operates to destroy the individual integrity of police agencies, the integrity of the military, and the integrity of intelligence agencies. And we will take a close look at the manner in which the muddying of the integrity of those three discrete functions, as they operate today in America, jeopardizes the very sanctity of and continued existence of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2014 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour) and Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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THE ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION: HOW ANTIGUN GROUPS SEEK TO DESTROY THE SECOND AMENDMENT

TWENTY-ONE MECHANISMS FOR DEFEATING THE SECOND AMENDMENT

OUR RATIONALE FOR DOING THIS MULTI-PART SERIES: FURTHER POINTS

There are forces at work today that seek to destroy our Bill of Rights. They seek to destroy, in particular, Americans’ right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment. Globalist cabals, through their toadies, have, to date, designed, crafted and implemented close to two dozen major strategies to undermine Americans’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. We refer to these strategies as the Arsenal of Destruction. Although seemingly disconnected, the Arsenal of Destruction comprises a singular, cohesive program through which the globalist cabals, through the Government they control, seek to undermine and eventually sever the Second Amendment from the U.S. Constitution.Much is at stake for Americans. If the Second Amendment falls, the other Nine Amendments most certainly will fall. For, the Second Amendment secures the other Nine Amendments. It is the binding glue that holds our Bill of Rights together.Once the Bill of Right topples, the Republic is undone.Many Americans don’t recognize this. Indeed, some Americans express no concern over this. For them the Second Amendment is an embarrassment – an artifact of an earlier time in our Nation’s history – a time when the import of the declaration – the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed – might have had significance but doesn’t any longer.  And, for a bizarre few Americans, the Second Amendment is more than an embarrassment – it’s a disgrace – an assertion of defiance to progress and to their notion of a civilized society. For still other Americans, the Second Amendment, and, for that matter, the remaining Nine, have no significance whatsoever. If they recall the Bill of Rights at all, the concept brings to mind an obscure question on tests once taken in grade school or high school, a lifetime ago.These disturbing reactions aren’t accidental. They are emblematic of the success of the globalists’ Arsenal of Destruction. The Arsenal of Destruction is an insidious and clever plot to sever our ties to our own unique heritage – a heritage purchased through the blood and toil and sacrifice of our Forefathers; a heritage our Forefathers sought to preserve through ratification of our sacred Bill of Rights. The Arsenal of Destruction, comprising close to two dozen strategies designed to undermine the Second Amendment has been meticulously designed, crafted and manufactured for especial use against Americans. These strategies are the latest in a line of attempts created at the behest of secretive forces both inside the U.S. and outside it to tear down the Second Amendment upon which the entirety of the Bill of Rights stands – upon which it obtains its true strength. By eroding the Bill of Rights, the bulwark of our Republic, the forces that seek a one World ruling body, hope to create homogeneity among all Western Nations. Once accomplished, the individual Nation States will vanish, and in time, the very notion of ‘Nation State’ will be consigned to memory and rendered nothing more than a historical oddity.More and more Americans live in a perpetual state of doubt and fear. Americans look to Big Government to protect them. And that Government foments and preys upon Americans’ weaknesses. The price for this false reliance on Government is the loss of Americans’ salient rights and liberties.The Arsenal of Destruction implemented to destroy the Bill of Rights in general and the Second Amendment in particular is cloaked under carefully cultivated terminology designed to induce irrational fear: “national security,” “gun violence,” “public order,” “terrorism.” These phrases and other similar phrases are mere inventions, artfully crafted, carefully utilized, and assiduously repeated by the mainstream news media like mantras to keep the American public off balance, afraid, confused. These memes seep into the public mind, infiltrate the public psyche, overwhelm the public consciousness.Americans hear more about what they are expected to fear and less about how, in accordance with their fundamental rights and liberties, they might expect to be treated. More often discussions over our sacred rights and liberties are glossed over by the mainstream news media, if mentioned at all.For the sake of feigned security from manufactured bugaboos, Americans forsake their right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment, forbear from speaking their minds under the First Amendment, and forswear the right to be left alone under the Fourth Amendment. As we explore the Arsenal of Destruction in the next several articles, you would do well to consider our discussion in the context of our present Government – what it has become, who it serves, to whom it answers. Consider well the powers wielded by and usurped by that Government – such powers the Founders of our Republic sought to confine, the powers they sought to check, for the Republic they sought to preserve.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2014 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour) and Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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THE ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION: ANTIGUN GROUPS -- TWENTY-ONE MECHANISMS USED FOR DEFEATING THE SECOND AMENDMENT (PART 2)

PART 2

PREFACE

In Part 1 of this Article series we laid out twenty-one salient strategies the Globalists have both concocted and implemented through their toadies to weaken the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In this post we provide our rationale for this series – to make abundantly clear why we are doing this, to explain what really is at stake here for the American public. In Part 3 and subsequent parts of this Article series we provide an analytical account of the strategies. You will see not only how each of these strategies works, but you will, hopefully, gain an understanding of how they mesh. And, you will appreciate the expansiveness of each of these strategies; their sinister nature; the obvious scorn the creators of these strategies have for the American People. You will come to realize, indeed, the noxious, utter audaciousness of their entire enterprise.

INTRODUCTORY SYNOPSIS: PURPOSE OF ARTICLE

This Article is presented in multiple parts. Its purpose is two-fold: first to consolidate and provide you with a detailed compilation of the principle strategies the obscenely wealthy, powerful, ruthless globalist cabals, through their toadies, have devised and implemented to wreak havoc on America’s Second Amendment and, second, to place those strategies in the broader context of the ultimate goal, the endgame for these silent, extraordinarily secretive cabals: the destruction of the U.S. Constitution and, with its destruction, the dissolution of our Country as an Independent, Sovereign Nation State. On September 2nd we posted Part 1 of this Article. In that Article we gave you a detailed list of the principle strategies, designed to thwart the import and purport of the Second Amendment. With the posting of Part 1, we completed the first aspect of our two-fold purpose for doing this Article series. In this post, Part 2, as pointed out above, we provide you with our rationale for doing this series. We then move to the nitty-gritty – the second part of our two-fold purpose for doing this series.In our next post, Part 3, we begin the second task, proper: giving you a comprehensive, coherent, cohesive, compact look at the nature of the various strategies themselves: how they in fact work; what they are designed to do. We give you cogent, irrefutable, empirical evidence for each of them. Some of these strategies employed for destruction of the Second Amendment are well known; others less so, some, perhaps, not at all; and a few may not even be recognized for what they really are – destroyers of the Second Amendment in particular and of the rest of the Bill of Rights, generally. We look at all of them and describe the essence of each of them. Once we have completed that task, the second of our two-fold purpose for this Article series will be met.The strategies the globalists, through their toadies, employ for the destruction of the Second Amendment are in various stages of implementation. Most of them are designed to be ongoing – cumulative enterprises in their own right, involving refinement and tinkering in accordance with public reaction. If viewed as a whole, the strategies exhibit a curious mosaic, emblematic of something more and other than a mere mechanism directed to destruction of the Second Amendment alone. For, when viewed as a unified whole, these strategies -- this arsenal of destruction -- demonstrate the desire of and extent to which these powerful transnationalist, secretive, plutocratic cabals desire not only the destruction of the Second Amendment of the United States but the erasing of the Bill of Rights, and the replacing of the Bill of Rights with something other, something banal, something completely innocuous, something completely devoid of anything remotely like our Second Amendment. Then, too, these sinister globalist, plutocratic cabals are ambiguating the very notions of ‘citizen’ and ‘nation state.' Their intentions are sometimes plain; more often hidden; and clearly not benign. Indeed, one of the strategies we list is in fact the most damning of all. It is coextensive with their endgame: the disassembling of America – the destruction of America as a culturally significant, independent, Sovereign Nation State.We wish to impress upon you, to make you acutely aware of, to sensitize you to the insidious nature of, the sheer audacity of, the vast scope of the globalist cabals’ agenda, calling for a One World Government. To accomplish this enormous and ignoble feat, well underway with the creation of the European Union, the globalists understand the need to denigrate the U.S. Constitution, commencing with the fracturing of our Bill of Rights. And, in that regard, they realize the attendant need to dispose of the Second Amendment in particular. Thus, the idea thrust on a somnolent American public – that erosion of the Second Amendment is necessary to reduce gun violence – is a blind – an absolute fiction. The ludicrousness of this antigun position, broadcast loudly and ever more incessantly through the bullhorn of the mainstream news media, will become clear, will become dispositive beyond disproof – not through the tit-for-tat recitation of statistical data – but by waking you up to a new perspective – one where you can truly appreciate the dangers to our Republic that the antigun effort poses, given the vast scale of the antigun effort landscape and the extent of its reach. When seen from the vantage point of an eagle rather than from the narrow vantage point of an ostrich, the false idea that antigun measures are nothing more than an expression of the desire for reduction in gun violence will dissolve of its own accord. That false idea will be seen for the shallow absurdity that it is. The globalist cabals’ penultimate goal is substantially more ambitious. They seek nothing less than the undermining and dismantling of the United States Constitution, commencing with the undercutting of the Bill of Rights. Thus, the cabals give particular attention to the Second Amendment – the first step in that direction; and once the Second Amendment has been dismantled, the Bill of Rights ended, and the United States demoted to the ranks of a mere appendage to a One World Government -- and with the confining of, the strangling of Western Civilization's populations -- the globalist cabals' ultimate wish will have been realized, their final goal attained.As we delve into the arsenal of destruction, keep uppermost in mind, then: the effort to destroy our Second Amendment is not the endgame for these cabals. It is, rather, merely one goal in a larger pursuit: the destruction of the entirety of the Bill of Rights and of the rest of the U.S. Constitution. The endgame involves dismantling the United States so that the United States no longer exists as an independent, Sovereign Nation State. And, with its demise as an independent, Sovereign Nation, so too will end the very concept of ‘citizen of the United States.’  The globalist cabals' New World Order may then, at that point, as originally envisioned, have been realized.So, why do we concern ourselves here with the Second Amendment specifically and not with the Bill of Rights generally? We do so because the globalists are most concerned with the mere fact of the Second Amendment. It is important for you to understand, indeed, for all Americans to understand, that the Second Amendment is the cornerstone, the linchpin of our free Republic. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution – more so than any other aspect of our Constitution – is, to date, among all other constitutions of purported Western democracies, the most accurate expression of a free People – of what it truly means to be an American. It is the clear, unmistakable expression of what it means to be an American. So, the globalists must deal with it, must eradicate it, must destroy every vestige of it.Take a look at the constitutions of any other Western nation. It is highly unlikely you will come across anything remotely like the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.This Amendment, more so than any other, is the best defense – the only real guardian against tyranny. The tyranny that we face today, though, is unlike any tyranny our Founders might reasonably have imagined. It is a tyranny springing not merely from ruthless plutocratic powers within the Republic who seek to erode the basic rights and protections of the People as set forth in the first Eight Amendments of the Bill of Rights and who seek, too, to usurp the powers retained by the States and by the American People as guaranteed under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of our Bill of Rights. Rather, it is a tyranny of and by a secretive cabal of plutocratic powers both within the United States and outside it. What these ruthless powerful, cabals are engineering is not simply an independent Country that happens to be governed by a plutocratic dictatorship. The Grand Design is broader in scale and much more sinister. These cabals are orchestrating the demise of the United States as an independent Sovereign Nation State.As the creation of the European Union has served to undercut the economic independence of the individual Nation States of Western Europe and as the creators of the EU are, even now, working on undercutting the political framework of those Nation States as well – which will mark their demise – so, too, in this Country, we are seeing early signs of erosion of the notion of the United States as an independent political entity. First we shall see the creation of a North American Union (“NAU”). Such Union will require the disassembling of the Constitutions of the constituent Countries, Mexico and Canada, of the NAU. Disassembling of the United States Constitution will be the most difficult – a most monumental task, and such task is undoubtedly a top priority of the globalists. Why is this so? It isn’t simply because the Constitution embodies a Bill of Rights. Many Countries have a bill of rights. But ours is quite unique, given its clear, cogent, emphatic import and purport: it is backed in particular by the Second Amendment that has no parallel or antecedent in the Bill of Rights of any other nation we have come across; for the Second Amendment of the United States cannot lawfully be disengaged from the American People by the Federal Government. It is not subject to simple legal foreclosure. It can only be lawfully repealed under the strictures of Article V of the U.S. Constitution, and that is virtually impossible as repeal  of any Constitutional Amendment was made deliberately difficult by our Founders and for good reason: to prevent usurpation of the essential rights and liberties of the People. Lastly, the Second Amendment acts like a “Notice Provision” to would-be dictators, for the Second Amendment isn’t merely an expression of the personal autonomy of the individual American citizen, and the Second Amendment isn't merely an acknowledgement of the citizen’s right of self-defense, and the Second Amendment isn’t merely the Founders’ order to the federal government and to its standing army that the American citizen is not to be interfered with -- that he has the inalienable right to be left alone. Yes, the Second Amendment is a written expression of all these natural rights. But, it is also something more – much more – something that isn’t intimated, let alone explicitly expressed in the constitution of or in the bill of rights section of such constitution of any other Western Country. For, unlike any other provision of our Bill of Rights -- and certainly unlike any provision even remotely like our Second Amendment that might be written in the constitutions of the  few Western Nations were those Nations to have articulated  such a provision in their constitutions at all – the Second Amendment is the ultimate Guardian of the Republic; the absolute Fortress of the American People against Tyranny. No other Constitution, in any other Country that we are aware of, boldly informs its federal government that the government exists solely and exclusively at the pleasure of and for the benefit of its People and that the People – the People alone – reserve for themselves the right to effectively dismantle that government once that government turns toward autocracy and tyranny. And, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives the People the means to do so. This simple truth gives the plutocrats, the globalists -- those secretive entrenched interests -- deep concern. An armed public is not to be lightly dismissed. So, an armed public must be dealt with. The Arsenal of Destruction is the means to do so. When one looks at the sheer number of and complexity of and manner in which these various strategies are designed to insinuate themselves into the fabric of American society, the manner in which they may operate together as well as singly to attack each American's right to keep and bear arms, and the clear insistent, omnipresent manner in which they undermine the Second Amendment, the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn is that this effort is not accidental. This effort to undercut the Second Amendment isn't simply and solely a response to "gun violence." Rather, the strategies to undercut the Second Amendment are part of a plan that has been carefully orchestrated. There is a concerted effort afoot by secretive moneyed interests to undercut the moral, cultural, and historical fabric of this Nation. And this is taking place clearly, and callously and cleverly: partly seen and partly shielded. Americans are losing their basic rights as citizens. Their power over their own Government is being quietly, purposefully derailed.In other Countries, if the people can keep and bear arms, that the people may do so at all, is only and solely at the pleasure of that Country’s government: the king, or other despot. It isn't an inalienable right. It isn't any kind of right. It isn't a right at all. It's merely a privilege. And it's a privilege that can be taken away as easily as given: one that the government creates and one the government can, in, and with, and at its imperial discretion, break. This means, of course, that governments of other purported Western Democracies – every one of them – have the seeds of “lawful” tyranny within them. Any Country that can lawfully deny its citizens’ right to keep and bear arms out-of-hand is potentially one that may rule autocratically. Such a Country is one in which the People serve at the pleasure of the State, not the other way around. Such a Country is one in which the People are merely subjects of the State, not citizens of the State. There is a critical difference. Such a Country where the People are essentially subjects, not citizens, is a Country that is not in the least beholden to its People. In such a Country, tyranny exists "up around the corner, just around the bend."Once an autocracy is established, the first thing it does is gather the weaponry of the citizens who might happen to have weapons. That is how an autocracy works: through the disarming of the public. It is how autocratic governments have always worked. It is an autocracy’s first order of business.  Can that happen in the U.S.? Not likely! Certainly, not easily! Clearly, not lawfully! The globalists’ toadies, though, use deception. They are very good at it. They have had a lot of practice at it.If a problem arises, the globalists are adept at designing workarounds – specially adapted to an intractable, intransigent, wary, and, from their perspective, incorrigible American Public. They know, well enough, the tenacity – indeed, temerity – of the American spirit. Such spirit will be very difficult to break. The globalists don’t care. They are very patient. They move ponderously, inexorably ahead. What they have planned for the U.S. – for Western Civilization generally – has been in operation for decades. They have many resources: not least of which are money, manpower, organization, control of all major business sectors, control of technology, and control of all news outlets. And they have a surplus of intangible resources, as well, that include cunning, amorality, ruthlessness, and absolute contempt for the sanctity of the individual. So, there is a contest of equal forces here: the indomitability of the American Spirit versus the rapacious internationalist, plutocratic, neoliberal, oligarchic Ego.And now you know: the transnational globalist cabals, through their toadies, must undermine the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to realize their ultimate goal of a One World Government. Once the Second Amendment has been dismantled -- once that task has been accomplished – if that task can be accomplished – the Will of America withers and dies.So, as the globalists proceed on their merry way, we see their Arsenal of Destruction is thus directed to that end: To break America’s Will. But, to break America's Will, they know that they must first break America’s Back. And, to break America’s Back they must first destroy the Second Amendment.The sine qua non of America is its Second amendment. Once gone, the rest is easy for the globalists. A dire fate for America is not, however, a foregone conclusion. It need not be if Americans remain ever vigilant. And, it is our wish to assist you in maintaining that vigilance. Awareness of the globalist cabals' Arsenal of Destruction assists you in maintaining that vigilance.In our next post, Part 3 of this Article series, to be published forthwith, we will take a close look at the first strategy in the globalists' Arsenal of Destruction – an oblique end run around the Second Amendment:

MILITARIZATION/FEDERALIZATION OF CIVILIAN POLICE FORCES ACROSS THE COUNTRY THROUGH THE MACHINATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS) AND DEFENSE (DOD)

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THE ARSENAL OF DESTRUCTION: TWENTY-ONE STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY ANTIGUN GROUPS TO DEFEAT THE SECOND AMENDMENT

PART 1

INTRODUCTION: COMPILATION OF ANTIGUN STRATEGIES TO DEFEAT THE SECOND AMENDMENT

Suppose someone wishes to destroy the Second Amendment. How does someone do that? Antigun groups and their allies in Congress, in local and State Governments around the Country and Globalist antigun cabals around the world have devised myriad ways to do this. Yet, when giving thought to the means the antigun establishment employs to undermine the Second Amendment, you may fail to realize how vast in scope this is. We have, in the past, provided our readers with an inkling of the methods the antigun establishment employs to undermine the Second Amendment. But we wish now to deal with this singular matter in depth.When thinking about the techniques the antigun groups use for undermining America’s Second Amendment, the public tends to compartmentalize, isolate and conflate antigun group efforts and this suggests that antigun efforts to dismember the Second Amendment embrace essentially one technique: the enactment of restrictive gun control laws. The idea is false; but it isn’t the public’s fault for thinking it true. Propagandists are busily at work on behalf of the antigun movement. And, as they work on behalf of the antigun movement, the aim of the propaganda industry is to keep the public off balance, blindly groping for meaning in all of the profusion and confusion of data.The propagandists work behind the scenes. They seek to instill in the public mind the idea that gun ownership and possession in America is simply wrong; that Americans who wish to own, acquire, and to possess guns exhibit inappropriate and, indeed, bizarre behavior; that the wish to own and possess a firearm in a civilized society, such as America, is an example of unsound reasoning; that such thought is antithetical to the well-being of a civilized society; that a person must be up to no good to want to own and possess guns and ammunition; and that the mere desire to own firearms is evidence of psychologically odd and even wholly bizarre, deviant behavior.Propagandists have devised substantial programs to redirect American Public thought away from a pro-gun mythos that is hardwired into Americans; a mythos that is the cornerstone of the American belief system; a mythos that is deeply etched in American law. But to eradicate the notion of the propriety of gun ownership and gun possession in America, the propagandists hit a wall: and it is that gun ownership in America is tied to the core ethos of what it means to be an American: the idea of personal autonomy. The idea of personal autonomy is deeply rooted in American culture and history. It is a curious fact, too that as efforts are underway to de-gun America and to degauss the very thought of owning and possessing a firearm, the U.S. Government makes ever more use of the military to extend its reach abroad, and it makes use of an increasingly militarized, federalized police force at home to quell “public disorder.”As we take a close look at the various strategies employed to destroy Americans’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and as we look at the ways in which propagandists strive first to convey to and second to convince the American Public that the Second Amendment is not only unnecessary but that it is, in fact, outmoded – obsolete – it is important for you to keep in mind that gun dispossession efforts are not underway simply for their own sake. What is at stake is, in fact, our way of life – America as a free republic. For, it is our free republic that is being undermined. That is really what destruction of the Second Amendment means and why it is really under attack. This idea will become clear enough to you as we investigate the various ways in which the antigun groups undermine our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.Antigun groups embrace a substantial arsenal of techniques to undermine the Second Amendment. Each technique is actually carefully designed and assiduously implemented for maximum effect. Together, these mechanisms operate as an inexorable battering ram to chip away at the core principle of the Second Amendment: “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The Arbalest Quarrel has previously pointed to a few of the techniques and mechanisms antigun groups employ in their insidious goal to undercut and ultimately to destroy America’s unique and sacred Second Amendment. This Article will point to and discuss in much more detail the multi-various methods employed by the antigun establishment to destroy our sacred Second Amendment.Below, we set out, and in subsequent articles we discuss, the nature of the various techniques antigun groups are currently employing to undercut the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. By first articulating and then by explaining how these techniques are used by the antigun groups, you will get a better picture of just how expansive these techniques are and you will see, too, how ambitious and how creative the antigun groups are as they work toward undercutting, dismantling, and, ultimately, destroying the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.Here is what we deem, at present, to be the salient methods the antigun groups use to undercut the Second Amendment. There are probably more; undoubtedly, the antigun groups are busy concocting others even as we publish this list:

  • ENACTMENT OF RESTRICTIVE GUN LAWS
  • REWRITING/RECONFIGURING/RECONSTITUTING THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO UNDERCUT THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE INDEPENDENT CLAUSE: “THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.”
  • EFFORTS TO REPEAL THE SECOND AMENDMENT OUTRIGHT
  • INDOCTRINATION OF AMERICA’S YOUTH
  • MILITARIZATION/FEDERALIZATION OF CIVILIAN POLICE FORCES ACROSS THE COUNTRY THROUGH THE MACHINATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
  • DIRECT MAINSTREAM NEWS MEDIA ATTACKS ON THE SECOND AMENDMENT
  • USE OF PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE AMERICAN PUBLIC AND INDOCTRINATION OF THE  PUBLIC BY MAINSTREAM NEWS MEDIA GROUPS
  • SYSTEMATIC EROSION OF THE RULE OF LAW  IN THE UNITED STATES
  • DENIAL OF GUN POSSESSION TO ENTIRE GROUPS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS
  • ILLEGAL ATTEMPTS BY CITIES AND TOWNSHIPS TO WEAKEN OR OVERRIDE STATE LAWS WHERE SUCH STATE LAWS ARE DESIGNED TO EXTEND SECOND AMENDMENT PROTECTIONS TO THEIR CITIZENS
  • CREATING CONFUSION OVER THE CONCEPT OF ‘CITIZEN’ AND CREATING CONFUSION AS TO THE RIGHTS OF A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES
  • EXECUTIVE BRANCH OVERREACH/USURPATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE FUNCTION BY THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENT IN CLEAR DEFIANCE OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS DOCTRINE SET FORTH IN AND THE MAINSTAY OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.
  • OVERRIDING THE BILL OF RIGHTS THROUGH INTERNATIONAL PACTS, TREATIES, AGREEMENTS, AND CONVENTIONS
  • FALLACIOUS REASONING OF ANTIGUN GROUPS AND ANTIGUN GROUP DECEPTION AS TO THEIR ULTIMATE GOAL: DE JURE OR DE FACTO REPEAL OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
  • ATTACK ON GUN RIGHTS’ ADVOCATES’ MORAL BELIEFS AND ETHICAL BELIEF SYSTEMS
  • BATFE ADOPTION OF ONEROUS REQUIREMENTS FOR GUN DEALERS AND BATFE INTRUSION/ENCROACHMENT ON TRADITIONAL U.S. CONGRESSIONAL LAW MAKING AUTHORITY
  • MISAPPLICATION/MISAPPROPRIATION OF THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS LIABILITY LAW AND LEGAL DOCTRINE TO UNFAIRLY TARGET GUN MANUFACTURERS
  • FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESTRAINT OF TRADE: COERCING LENDING INSTITUTIONS TO REFRAIN FROM GIVING LOANS TO GUN DEALERS
  • MANIPULATION OF THE COMPOSITION OF STATE LEGISLATURES AND OF THE U.S. CONGRESS BY MULTI-MILLIONAIRE/BILLIONAIRE TRANSNATIONAL GLOBALISTS THROUGH THE BANKROLLING OF POLITICIANS  -- WHO ACQUIESCE TO THEIR WISHES, AND WHO ARE WILLING TO DESTROY THE SECOND AMENDMENT -- AND THROUGH THE NAKED, SHAMELESS EXPLOITATION OF ATTACK ADS, TARGETING THE DEFENDERS OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT -- THOSE POLITICIANS WHO REFUSE TO KOWTOW TO THE ANTI-AMERICAN AGENDA OF THE RUTHLESS MULTI-MILLIONAIRE AND BILLIONAIRE TRANSNATIONAL GLOBALISTS.
  • GLOBAL CENSORSHIP/CONTROL OF EXPRESSION ON THE INTERNET: UNDERMINING THE SECOND AMENDMENT BY CONTROLLING MESSAGING WITH THE AIM, ULTIMATELY, OF INSIDIOUSLY DESTROYING THE SECOND AMENDMENT THROUGH AN UNCONSCIONABLE INFRINGMENT UPON THE FIRST AMENDMENT: AS CONTEMPT FOR ONE AMENDMENT OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS SHOWN, SO, AS WELL, IS CONTEMPT FOR THE OTHERS DEMONSTRABLY SHOWN
  • DESTRUCTION OF SOVEREIGN NATION STATES AND OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF SOVEREIGN NATION STATES THROUGH THE CREATION OF, ESTABLISHMENT OF AND INEXORABLE EXPANSION OF AN INTERNATIONAL, NEOLIBERAL INSPIRED WORLD ORDER DEDICATED TO AND WORKING TOWARD THE DESTRUCTION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, THE DESTRUCTION OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES, AND THE ERADICATION OF PERSONAL AUTONOMY

As you can see, some of the antigun strategies are clear enough, but several others may not seem so. Yet, the strategies that are the least visible are all the more devious and effective in undermining the Second Amendment. This will become clear to you as we proceed in our investigation of the antigun establishment’s arsenal (strategies) of destruction. We will be dealing with each one of the twenty-one strategies of destruction of the Second Amendment in individual articles to be posted on a regular basis during the next two months. Be mindful that this discussion is not offered simply to pique academic interest, or to satisfy one’s idle curiosity, or, worst of all, merely for amusement.What we are discussing here are strategies that have been actually implemented in one form or another. What we are positing here is that antigun collaborators are utilizing what operates -- seemingly at the moment at least -- as a shotgun approach toward undermining and defeating the Second Amendment -- an approach that, one realizes, is actually a cohesive, unified set of interlocking strategies -- a master plan -- designed to significantly curtail civilian citizen gun ownership and gun possession in the United States. What we are suggesting here is that antigun think tanks are even now busily at work coming up with ever more novel, clever and -- to some -- enticing strategies aimed at defeating the Second Amendment. They are devising new twists on older strategies and applying old techniques to new strategies. And they are constantly coming up with novel methodologies through which their sponsors' endgame -- the dismembering of and destruction of the Second Amendment and, with it, the end of our free Republic -- will finally be realized. For, the existence of the Second Amendment is a concrete stumbling block, a frustrating constraint to the ultimate goal of these cabals: a New World Order for Western Civilization -- a World Order founded upon a corporate transnational, fully global, economic initiative -- one that tramples the Bill of Rights, that denies to the individual his inalienable right to be individual, that forbids him his right to be left alone, and that, at once, requires -- in fact, mandates -- the fracturing of, and eventual dissolution of, the very cherished concepts of 'citizen' and 'Nation State.'The antigun collaboration teams are brainstorming new ideas for defeating the Second Amendment in part to guarantee the success of their efforts: if one strategy doesn’t work, so it is reasoned, another one most assuredly will. And, several strategies together, it is also assumed, will surely serve to defeat the indomitability of the American spirit as encapsulated in the Second Amendment. The antigun collaboration teams are also mixing and matching and hatching ever more antigun ownership and possession schemes in their effort to undermine and to defeat the Second Amendment, in part, at least, simply to keep the American public off balance – to keep the public guessing, to keep the public confused as to what is on the horizon for the United States, as its very sovereignty is undermined at the behest of secretive and ruthless transnational globalist interests.We look forward to your feedback.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2014 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour) and Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved. 

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