SCHOOL SHOOTINGS SERVE AS PRETEXT FOR GUN BANS TARGETING THE AMERICAN CITIZENRY.

SINCE THE SANTA FE, TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTER DID NOT USE A SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPON TO KILL OR INJURE HIS VICTIMS, WILL ANTIGUN GROUPS NOW SEEK TO BAN ALL FIREARMS?

Antigun groups must be throwing a temper tantrum. When the Santa Fe High School shooter committed his horrific act of murder and mayhem in May 2018, he had the temerity to use the wrong weapons. Antigun groups fully expected the shooter to destroy innocent lives utilizing a semiautomatic long gun— a firearm often referred to by the politically charged but specious expression, ‘assault weapon’—thereby keeping with the antigun zealots’ running narrative. But the shooter killed or seriously injured innocent students, teachers, and a police officer, with a shotgun and with a revolver, not an "assault weapon." Moreover, the weapons utilized by the shooter did not belong to the shooter and the shooter did not procure them from a gun dealer, through the internet, or through a third party at a gun show. No! The weapons belonged to the shooter’s father who had failed to properly secure his weapons from his severely mentally disturbed son. The failure of parental responsibility, here, is, in the first instance, where blame for the tragedy rests and where blame should properly be placed.

WHAT WEAPONS, SPECIFICALLY, DID THE SHOOTER USE IN COMMITTING HIS HORRIFIC ACT?

Specifically, the shooter utilized his father’s Remington model 870 pump action, manually operated shotgun, along with his father’s .38 caliber revolver to maim, injure, and kill innocent people. The police have not, apparently, identified, or otherwise officially released  the specific make and model number of the .38 caliber handgun utilized by the gunman as of the posting of this article. No matter. It is clear enough that the weapons the gunman utilized were not the typical firearms of choice for committing murder and mayhem—semiautomatic long guns—as antigun proponents and their echo chamber, the mainstream media, constantly and erroneously, maintain. But, that fact didn’t stop some individuals from surmising, without bothering to first verify, the nature of the weapons used.Apparently, in an attempt to get ahead of the curve, John Cornyn (Senator-Texas) said, as reported by the Houston Public Media Service, that, “. . . the 17-year-old student accused in a fatal shooting at a Texas high school used a semi-automatic pistol and a sawed-off shotgun to kill 10 people. The Republican from Texas says investigators are still determining whether the shotgun’s shortened barrel is legal.” Well, contrary to Senator Cornyn's conjecture, which he asserted as fact, the American public quickly learned that the shooter did not use a semiautomatic handgun, after all, and that the shooter likely did not use a so-called “sawed off shotgun” either. The killer used a common revolver handgun as mentioned above. And, as for Cornyn’s ludicrous, off the cuff remark about the shooter having used a “sawed off shotgun,” if that were the case, how long would it take “investigators” to determine whether the “shortened barrel is legal?” It is, of course, possible, but highly, and presumptively, unlikely, that the Remington Model 870 pump action manually operated shotgun the shooter’s father owned had a barrel length less than the limit prescribed by the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. A cursory check of the Remington website does provide the prospective buyer of the popular Model 870 pump action shotgun with in depth data about the shotgun along with substantial graphics. The Model 870 shotgun is available in a myriad of configurations and in several barrel lengths, from 14 inches to 30 inches, to meet a user's specific needs, whether employing the weapon for sporting uses or for self-defense.

DID THE SANTA FE TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTER USE A SHOTGUN WITH A BARREL LENGTH LESS THAN 18 INCHES—A  SO-CALLED “SAWED OFF SHOTGUN”—AS U.S. SENATOR, JOHN CORNYN, MAINTAINS?

If, in fact, the shooter’s father’s Remington Model 870 had a barrel length of less than 18 inches, then ATF approval for a shotgun with a barrel length of 18 inches, or less, would be necessary. As pointed out by the ATF, in the atf.gov website, “A shotgun subject to the NFA [National Firearms Act] has a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length. The ATF procedure for measuring barrel length is to measure from the closed bolt (or breech-face) to the furthermost end of the barrel or permanently attached muzzle device.”The website, gundata.org discusses, assiduously, the matter of barrel length of both rifles and shotguns.“Simply put, on the whole, a rifle barrel should be no less than 16" and a shotgun barrel should be no less than 18". While the overall gun length for either a rifle or a shotgun has to be 26" according to the ATF, paying extra for an exception can make a difference. Even though black powder guns don't have this limitation, guns that fire ‘smokeless powder’ do have to adhere to ATF and federal guidelines.That's why shotguns like the modern Mossberg 500 and 600 series riot shotguns will measure out to these specifications. While sawing off a double barreled shotgun or cutting a M1A1 to lengths as short as 12" is possible to make them a lot more cancelable, especially under a dustcoat, the government says that a short shotgun or short rifle isn't legal unless you apply for a specific license.It is possible to apply for a license for a short rifle or short shotgun with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms). The fee is either $200 or $5 depending on circumstances and the way the gun is manufactured, but owning a gun shorter than the ‘standard’ legal limits is possible. For a gun manufacturer, adhering to the legal limits is mandatory and if you find a shortened gun at a gun show or even at a private sale, be aware of your rights and the applicable laws.” 

A QUANDARY FOR ANTIGUN PROPONENTS

Unlike sophisticated semiautomatic weaponry, manually operated pump action shotguns and manually operated revolver handguns have been around for a long time, approximately 130 years. The pertinent question is this: how have antigun proponents and the mainstream media spun the narrative in the call for further gun restrictions since the Santa Fe, Texas school shooter, here, didn’t use what antigun proponents, along with the mainstream media, often refer— contemptuously, pejoratively, slyly, and clearly erroneously—to as an “assault weapon?” It should be abundantly clear to anyone with half a brain, that, for your average, garden variety killer, who desires to create carnage, any weapon at hand will do. Unless a killer happens to be a psychopathic “professional” assassin or a psychotic member of a drug cartel, either of whom would likely have the contacts, wherewithal, and grim determination to acquire access to specialized, unlawful weapons, the kind of weapons that fall in a domain well beyond those weapons commonly available to the law-abiding American public—an American public that generally acquires firearms through a licensed firearms dealer—a killer will use whatever weapon he is able to get his hands on. That was certainly the case with the Santa Fe Texas shooter. But, given the circumstances of that recent school shooting incident in Santa Fe, Texas, antigun proponents are in a quandary as to whether to stay with their present running narrative—that non-semiautomatic weapons only are okay for law-abiding, rational, average American citizens to possess because semiautomatic weapons and full auto or selective fire weapons are weapons of war that have no place in a modern civilized society—or to sharply alter the current narrative, admitting to the American public, at long last, what it is they are truly after: a ban on civilian ownership and possession of all firearms—to turn the entire Nation into a “Gun-free Zone.”Clearly, antigun proponents’ calls for increasingly tight restrictions on civilian access to so-called assault weapons—meaning, of late, virtually all, not merely some, semiautomatic weapons—suggests a marked reluctance on their part to show their hand too soon, by calling for a total, or, otherwise, comprehensive ban on civilian ownership and possession of firearms of all types. Antigun proponents and zealots have traditionally preferred an incremental approach to gun bans and gun confiscations—one category of firearms at a time, and ever widening the domain of Americans who are precluded lawfully from owning and possessing any firearm—in order to slowly acclimate the public toward acceptance of a gun-free Country.In fact, antigun proponents—a few of them, ostensibly gun owners, posturing as supporters of the natural, fundamental, and unalienable right of the people to keep and bear arms—disingenuously claim by mere assertion, and rarely if ever by hard argument—that some firearms are specifically designed for self-defense, and so, are deemed the good weapons; and that other weapons—various kinds of semiautomatic firearms, the so-called “assault weapons”—are designed for war; and that this latter category of  firearms therefore fall, presumptively, into the bad kind of weaponry that, as antigun proponents vehemently exclaim, civilians should not have access to.Antigun proponents evidently like to recruit and trot out seemingly avid “antigun gun owners” who, in accordance with the central theme and narrative, argue for reinstating a national ban on “assault weapons,” a catchall expression that is increasingly becoming synonymous with all semiautomatic firearms, not merely some semiautomatic weapons. Antigun proponents falsely assert that no one is trying to take all firearms  away from the civilian population of the Country, just some of them—the bad sort, the ones they have corralled under the brand of “assault weapons” or “weapons of war.” They assert that banning such weapons of war is okay because, after all, law-abiding, rational Americans can still keep true self-defense weapons, like .38 revolvers and shotguns handy at the ready, at home.But is that assertion true, especially when it is clear that so-called weapons for self-defense, or for sport, or for plinking at targets, like revolver handguns and shotguns, are capable of offensive use, as well, and with devastating effect, when in the hands of irresponsible individuals; or in the hands of gangbangers; or in the hands of the common criminal; or in the hands of  severely disturbed individuals, such as the shooter who murdered, maimed, and injured several innocent individuals in a Santa Fe, Texas high school? Do not these self-described antigun gun proponents, after all, deviously, deceptively, insidiously, mislead the American public by proffering a seeming reasonable compromise solution to curtailing gun violence and at once "permitting" lawful gun ownership? Are American gun owners expected, honestly, to suspend their skepticism? How many times in the past have American gun owners heard antigun proponents and antigun legislators preface their antigun diatribes with the assertion that they do, of course, support the Second Amendment, when clearly we know that they do not? So, whom are these antigun proponents and antigun legislators really fooling?LET US TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT A COUPLE OF SEEMING “PRO GUN” ANTIGUN GUN PROPONENTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT CIVILIAN GUN OWERNSHIP AND POSSESSION AND CONSIDER THE EFFICACY OF THEIR REMARKS, CONCERNING REVOLVERS AND SHOTGUNS IN LIGHT OF THE SANTA FE, TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL INCIDENT.Consider the assertions of one antigun zealot, Ashley Addison, who claims, incongruously, to support the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Addison refers to herself as a definitive gun owner. In the weblog, scarymommy.com (an obvious antigun forum, merely masquerading as a weblog supportive of the Second Amendment), this self-proclaimed gun owner claims that she owns only the right and proper sort of weapons—that is to say, weapons for self-defense. Addison says:“I’m a gun owner. I have two pistols, a rifle, a shotgun . . . and a (now-expired) concealed carry permit. I’ve been shooting since I was a kid. I also support every single gun control measure out there. . . . But an AK-47 (and other assault weapons) is not an ideal weapon for personal defense, and it serves no purpose for “home protection.” It was designed for military use. A a [sic] 12-gauge shotgun is a better, more realistic choice for home defense. I’ve never seen any peer-reviewed study/expert/article anywhere that can refute this. Bottom line: Assault-style weapons should never be in the hands of civilians.” Would Addison be so quick to assert that she does, in fact, “support every single gun measure,” as she bluntly says in her blog post if that means having to relinquish her shotgun, since, as anyone with any knowledge of the operations of firearms knows that a “self-defense” weapon can be used offensively and that a self-defense weapons, namely a revolver handgun, and a shotgun were in fact utilized by the Santa Fe, Texas shooter to murder, quite effectively, several innocent young people, and in short order? Would Addison continue to suggest that a 12-gauge shotgun is somehow a good weapon—a safe and humane kind of weapon—one particularly suitable for civilians to wield, but that a semiautomatic “assault-style weapon” is not, when considered in light of this recent mass shooting in Santa Fe, Texas. Is the distinction that Addison draws a sound one? One website, internet armory.com has this to say about the shotgun:“The shotgun is, by far, the deadliest and most formidable, effective firearm ever created for short range personal defense. No other firearm will devastate, disable, or discourage an aggressor as reliably as a shotgun.  No other firearm is as likely to obtain decisive hits on an assailant as a shotgun loaded with buckshot.”When used at shortrange—for example, a school room—Addison’s remark about shotguns (for civilian use) versus assault-style weapons (for military or other non-civilian use is not only patently ridiculous but truly bizarre. One must ask: Does Ashley Addison know what she is talking about? And, by the way, Ashley, shotguns have been and continue to be used by the military and by the police.The point is that any firearm in the wrong hands is deadly. A psychopath or lunatic can create monstrous horror, wielding any firearm. Moreover, while some firearms or firearm configurations are useful or ideal for a particular purpose, any weapon in the wrong hands can dispatch many innocent people, quickly and effectively, as factual accounts of recent shooting incidents bears out.In another “scarymommy.com” blog post, a second female, also a self-described “gun owner,” and purported supporter of the Second Amendment, Marissa Bowman, writes: “The fact of the matter is that guns in America are not going to disappear — at the very least not anytime soon. [Is Bowman suggesting they should disappear? If so, she is hardly the supporter of the Second Amendment that she claims to be]. Our Second Amendment rights guarantee that, and more importantly, our social structure is keeping it in place. Until we can guarantee safety for all children — not just our own — parents like me feel it necessary to utilize the right to have added protection for our family. “That does not mean, however, that anyone should be able to own whatever type of gun that they want and without restrictions. As a part-time solo mom whose partner is frequently away for his job, I absolutely feel it’s necessary to own a gun which I keep in my home. My family’s safety is simply not up for political debate. The Smith & Wesson M&P Bodyguard (.38 Special) that I carry makes me feel as though I can protect and defend my children in a moment’s notice, which in turn makes me feel empowered as a mother.”In light of the Santa Fe, Texas school shooting, the incongruity of the claims of Addison and Bowman are abundantly clear. The notion that some firearms are acceptable for Americans to own and possess and that some are not is demonstrably weak. The fact of the matter is that, in any confined public area where people are cowering, or even in an open area where people are densely packed and running hither and yon into each other, in panic, a would-be killer can use any firearm, or, for that matter, even a knife, to injure or kill a substantial number of people, quickly, effectively, and unceremoniously. It is therefore dubious for a person to claim that law-abiding, rational Americans have a right to acquire some firearms, but not others--with antigun groups and antigun legislators, along with the mainstream media, being the ultimate arbiters as to what firearms some members of the American citizenry, and, increasingly, an ever dwindling number of the American citizenry--to own and possess. We know where this leads. Given a plethora of ad hoc, inconsistent, and unsound arguments propounded, almost daily, concerning what firearms the law-abiding citizen may own and possess, along with a call for increasing restrictions on one's use of his or her personal property, and further restrictions on American civilians who are deemed worthy of owning and possessing a firearm what must inevitably come to pass is the virtual extinction of ownership and possession of any firearm in this Country.

HOW HAVE ANTIGUN WRITERS FOR MAINSTREAM PUBLICATIONS RESPONDED TO THE SANTA FE SHOOTING INCIDENT, WHERE THE KILLER DID NOT USE A SEMIAUTOMATIC FIREARM, BUT A BASIC DOUBLE-ACTION REVOLVER HANDGUN AND A MANUALLY OPERATED PUMP ACTION SHOTGUN?

Had the shooter utilized a semiautomatic long gun qua “assault weapon,” the antigun groups would merely claim, as they have been doing for some time, that no one needs such a weapon for self-defense, and that Congress should therefore enact another “assault weapons” ban. Of course, antigun groups seek, ultimately to forbid civilian ownership and possession of any firearm, but they would seek to do so incrementally, and in a linear fashion. As the NFA (National Firearms Act of 1934) operates, essentially, as a practical matter, as a general ban on civilian ownership and possession of fully automatic and selective fire weapons, as well as operating essentially, and as a practical matter, as a ban on civilian ownership and possession of so-called, “sawed off shotguns,” the desire of antigun groups is, as is evident, to see enacted an NFA style set of federal laws applied to semiautomatic weapons, that is to say, “assault weapons”—meaning, an NFA style set of federal laws applied to every conceivable semiautomatic firearm. Once that goal has been accomplished—if it were accomplished—then the American public should make no mistake, as antigun groups would not stop there. They would then go after civilian ownership and possession of remaining firearms: including revolver handguns, shotguns, lever action rifles, black powder muzzleloaders, and any other type of fully functional firearm that  the average, law-abiding, rational American citizen, and civilian, may happen to own and possess.

HOW IS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA DEALING WITH THE SANTA FE TEXAS SHOOTING IN LIGHT OF THE FACT THAT THE SHOOTER DID NOT USE A SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPON TO WREAK HAVOC IN A PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL?

With this latest mass shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, will antigun zealots now call for stringent curbs on civilian ownership and possession of all manner of weaponry? Consider how this is beginning to play out.A contact reporter for the Chicago Tribune, in an article, caustically titled, “No matter what type of gun is used in school shootings, innocent people end up dead,” Dahleen Glanton, writes,“This time, the school shooter did not use an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to slaughter his classmates. That must be quite a relief to gun lovers.This killer’s weapons of choice were a shotgun and a .38-caliber handgun — two of the most common firearms available. What more proof do we need, gun lovers will ask, that the problem isn’t with guns but rather with people? . . .With so many mass shootings in schools and other public places, there is no question that gun lovers have been feeling as though they are under attack. They have tried their best to fend off arguments by the rest of the country that every gun is not protected under the Second Amendment. With so many people dying, we desperately need them to wake up and join us in the struggle to keep our children safe. Only then will politicians feel secure enough to take action.We cannot let them off the hook. Guns in general, and semi-automatic rifles in particular, remain the greatest threat to safety in America.Pagourtzis might not have been armed with a high-powered weapon when he allegedly entered that classroom Friday, but gun laws are so lax in Texas that he certainly could easily have gotten his hands on one. In fact, he could have walked down the street with an AR-15 strapped to his shoulder and likely no one would have thought it was odd.If anything, the shooting exemplifies what anti-gun advocates in cities like Chicago have been saying too. It is far too easy for a legal gun to turn into an illegal gun.”We make a couple observations here. Firstly, the reporter for this mainstream Press newspaper is acting in typical lockstep with previous mainstream reports of mass shootings, maintaining a consistent antigun narrative. But, she acknowledges, as she must, that the Santa Fe, Texas high school shooter did not use a semiautomatic long gun. But she then moves to propounding bald counterfactuals, apparently to maintain the consistent antigun movement narrative, blasting the presence of semiautomatic long guns in the civilian population, asserting that the shooter could have gotten his hands on an “AR-15,” given, what the reporter refers to as lax gun laws in Texas—a point the reporter doesn’t bother to clarify and expound upon; nor does this reporter explain how the shooter could have gotten his hands on a semiautomatic rifle, but didn’t. Actually the shooter quite effectively murdered and injured innocent young people at Santa Fe High School with a pump action shotgun and a revolver handgun. He need not have bothered to get his hands on an AR-15 if he had thought about the matter at all. Secondly, the shooter gained access to his father’s firearms because his father failed to properly secure them. Note: This is the same, virtually identical and disturbing scenario, by the way, that played out, tragically, in Newtown, Connecticut, at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in 2012.A mother, Nancy Lanza, failed properly to secure her firearms from her psychotic son, Adam Lanza. Now, no one would seriously suggest that Connecticut has had lax gun laws, either prior to the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, or at any time since the tragedy. In both the Newtown, Connecticut mass shooting incident and in the recent Santa Fe, Texas mass shooting incident, the primary cause for the tragedy can and should be laid at the feet of irresponsible adults and heads of families who knew or should have known of, and certainly better than anyone else, the dangers posed by failing to properly secure firearms from children or from disturbed family members who happen to be residing in the household, and by failing to properly secure any other object that could be feasibly used as a deadly weapon by children or by severely mentally disturbed family members. What we see instead is that neither the irresponsible adult family member, nor the psychotic son is cast as the principal culprit and villain. Rather, the firearm that an obviously psychotic young man acquired and used to murder, maim, and injure innocent individuals—be it a semiautomatic rifle in one instance, or a shotgun and revolver handgun in the other—is cast as the primary cause for the ensuing tragedies and cast, too, as the basic and principal villain and "fall guy." The antigun proponent's narrative can take one of two forms.Consider: one of two narratives must play out when we see antigun proponents and commentators placing blame squarely on an object, rather than on the sentient entity who wields it, that is to say, when we see antigun proponents and commentators placing blame on an object rather than upon the agent who wields the object. Antigun proponents and antigun commentators tend either to fall back on the same, ever recurring narrative, namely  that the primary cause for gun violence rests upon the so-called assault weapon, even if a semiautomatic weapon was never in use by a killer or antigun proponents and antigun commentators must construct a new narrative. If antigun commentators wish to stay with the typical narrative, namely that semiautomatic weapons must be banned even if semiautomatic weapons were never used in the shooting incident, as was the case in the recent Santa Fe, Texas incident, then an argument calling for a general ban on civilian ownership and possession of semiautomatic weapons and mass confiscation of semiautomatic weapons is nonsensical in the extreme, as a narrative that does not fit the factual situation must invariably devolve into a recitation of senseless, hypothetical "what if" scenarios as we see in the Chicago Tribune article, and as we also see in the New Yorker article, infra. The narrative becomes decidedly discordant if predictable; for the proverbial deadly object qua "assault weapon" doesn't factor into the fact pattern. It cannot. If, on the other hand, antigun proponents and commentators wish to construct a new narrative, admitting to the public what antigun proponents most assuredly discuss among themselves, namely, that firearms of all types must eventually be banned, not just so-called, “assault weapons”--aka “weapons of war, then the antigun proponent and commentator isn't compelled to resort to spurious and specious hypotheticals, which has not place in a news account anyway; and the narrative is internally consistent. But the true intent of the antigun movement would be laid bare for all to see. The true aims of the antigun movement would be clear and irrefutable. In that case, the "cat" would definitely be "out of the bag,"  as the antigun proponent or antigun commentator  would be clearly and categorically articulating the antigun movement's ultimate goal: the disarming of the American citizenry en masse. Neither narrative would sit well with American gun owners; nor should it. For, any attempt to arbitrarily ban civilian possession of firearms--whether a gun ban and gun confiscation scheme embraces one type of firearm or all types--would, in either case, be true folly and wholly unacceptable to the American gun owning public because gun bans and gun confiscation schemes are altogether incompatible with the import and purport of the fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms as codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Semiautomatic weapons, revolvers, and shotguns are all in common use by millions of average, honest, law-abiding, and rational American citizens. These weapons all fall within the core protection of the Second Amendment and cannot lawfully be taken away from Americans. The late, eminent U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority in the seminal Second Amendment Heller case made abundantly clear that, presumed State public safety concerns do not and cannot legally override fundamental, primordial Constitutional rights. The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the Land; and basic, natural rights and liberties, as a critical component of the U.S. Constitution, are not and never shall be subordinate to State or Federal Statute, much less to public opinion polls or to orchestrated public demonstrations.As the right of the people to keep and bear arms is not and never has been a right bestowed on Government to the people but exists forever within the American people, that right cannot be legitimately, legally tampered with. To obliterate the natural and fundamental right codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, by arrogantly attempting to turn a sacred right into a mere privilege, easily dispensed with, is an anathema to our history, traditions, values, ethical sensibilities, and legal, social, economic, and moral foundational understanding. Such an effort would, as well, illustrate the antigun movement's naked, and absolute, unbridled disdain for seminal Second Amendment, U.S. Supreme Court rulings.Another writer for a mainstream news publication, John Cassidy, a columnist for the New Yorker, in an article titled, “Everything About the Texas School Shooting Seems Horribly Familiar,” makes similar comments to those of Dahleen Glanton, writing for the Chicago Tribune. Cassidy, too, maintains the usual antigun proponent's narrative, attempting to shoehorn counterfactuals into a factual account of the mass shooting. So, despite the weapons that the Santa Fe, Texas gunman used during his murderous escapade, a shotgun, and .38 caliber revolver, which did not include semiautomatic weapons, Cassidy eschews keeping to the facts, contrary to what a reporter should be doing--recounting facts, not contemplating, "what ifs." Cassidy argues that the shooter could have used a semiautomatic weapon to seriously injure or kill innocent young people, even if the shooter, as we know, didn’t. The account comes across as weak, even silly. John Cassidy exclaims:“About the only atypical aspect of the shooting was that Pagourtzis reportedly used a Remington Model 870 shotgun and a .38-calibre revolver, rather than a semi-automatic rifle, to kill his ten victims and wound ten others. This was probably because his father didn’t own an AR-15 or any other weapon of war. (Pagourtzis told police he used his father’s guns. It wasn’t immediately clear whether his father knew that they were in his possession.) Enthusiasts of semi-automatic weapons will presumably use this detail to fortify their case against banning such weapons—the argument being that there are firearms of all kinds (more than three hundred million in private hands across the U.S., according to some estimates) and banning one particular type of gun won’t prevent a dedicated shooter from carrying out a massacre.In the world of Second Amendment devotees, this qualifies as a legitimate case to make. So does the argument, which Donald Trump and the N.R.A. have made, that the real issue with school shootings isn’t the fact that disturbed adolescents have such ready access to deadly weapons but that schools don’t have enough armed teachers to stop gun-wielding intruders, or enough ready escape routes for students and staff to take as they flee the gunfire. ‘We have to look at the design of our schools moving forward and retrofitting schools that are already built,’ Dan Patrick, the Republican lieutenant governor of Texas, said on Friday. ‘And what I mean by that is there are too many entrances and too many exits to our over eight thousand campuses in Texas . . . Had there been one single entrance, possibly, for every student, maybe he’—Pagourtzis—'would have been stopped.’ Rather than descending further into the world of deliberate denial, it is perhaps worth stating a few facts: this was the second school massacre in three months, and the second gun massacre in six months in Texas.”“Descending further into the world of deliberate denial?” How does fortifying schools against shooters translate into denial. Clearly, John Cassidy is, himself, in denial. It isn’t the millions of law-abiding, rational Americans who happen to own firearms and who strongly support our Bill of Rights—all Ten of them—who are in denial. In fact, in those States that have implemented truly effective school safety plans against shooters, utilizing armed teachers and other armed personnel, there has been not one incident of a school shooting. But, antigun proponents, like John Cassidy choose, apparently, to ignore that fact, assuming he bothered to investigate the matter at all. He presents, as self-evident, true the false and absurd notion that the answer to school safety rests, simply and solely on banning civilian ownership and possession of firearms en masse.Cassidy’s argument boils down essentially to this: killers murdered young people with guns; so, once Congress bans firearms from the American citizenry, commencing with a ban on semiautomatic rifles, the problem of mass murders in schools will be resolved. Cassidy is wrong. The problem of mass murders in schools or in other public venues won’t end, not by a long shot! Because violence exists in the minds of people, not in objects. That simple truth seems forever to elude antigun proponents who are obsessed with eliminating “The Gun” from society, irrespective of the root causes of violence.John Cassidy, as with Dahleen Ganlon, seems fixated on the notion that the Santa Fe shooter would, of course, have taken up an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle if the shooter’s father happened to have one. Antigun proponents, like John Cassidy, love to slither here and there—perhaps unaware that they are doing so—from reporting on events taking place in the world to reflecting on possible circumstances that might have, or could have, or conceivably would have, occurred, but didn’t; and they conclude their polemics with express or tacit normative remarks about the way the world ought to be. Since, the antigun movement is hell-bent on removing from civilian possession all semiautomatic weapons, first and foremost, commencing with a broad ban on all semiautomatic weapons that this or that antigun proponent wishes to call an "assault weapon," the movement's proponents and the commentators and reporters of the mainstream media who echo the movement's tactics and strategies, do not wish to muddy the waters by talking about the weapons that a particular killer happened to use, rather than the ones that the antigun proponents' would have wished for the gunman to have used in order to keep with the "game plan." Time would come, when, after semiautomatic weapons have been confiscated, remaining categories of firearms can be confiscated and banned as well.As with all or most antigun zealots, John Cassidy knows little if anything concrete about firearms, and likely cares not one whit to educate himself. As for so-called weapons of war, a little history lesson is in order here. Revolver handguns as well as shotguns have seen use in war. Both weapons are used by many police departments and they have use in sport and for self-defense, as are semiautomatic weapons. And, as the Arbalest Quarrel has pointed out in the previously posted article, any weapon can be used for good or ill, dependent on the wielder of the weapon. The Santa Fe School shooting, the Parkland, Florida school shooting, and the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting were easily preventable. Failures by governmental authorities and/or by parents of shooters led to tragedy. Those who own and possess firearms have the responsibility to properly use and care for them and to properly secure them. The vast majority of gun owners are responsible gun owners. There is no sane reason to target their firearms for confiscation.In any event, the answer to curbing gun violence does not devolve to imposing debilitating, draconian gun restrictions on millions of responsible gun owners. That would destroy our free Republic and likely led to outright civil war, as the American citizenry would see first hand, an unlawful attempt by Government to wrest control of the Nation from the citizenry.There is a more direct and effective response to school safety. It is a twofold approach; and it is an approach that does not create havoc with our Constitution and with the natural rights of Americans. First, at the State, County and local Government levels, a clear and honest assessment of school safety must be made. Once that assessment is completed, a plan must be devised and then implemented with proper testing. The New Yorker columnist, John Cassidy, may see this as a trivial matter. We do not. Second, firearms must be removed from the hands of those who act irresponsibly, and there must be a concerted effort to remove firearms from the criminal elements in our society. Laws already on the books need to be enforced. The Nation does not need more firearms’ laws. Unfortunately, the antigun movement in this Country seeks to disarm the vast responsible American citizenry. School shootings serve merely as a pretext for broad-base gun bans and eventual mass gun confiscation. It is the vast responsible, law-abiding American armed citizenry that the antigun movement is truly targeting, for it is the vast law-abiding armed citizenry that those who seek to disarm Americans truly fear, as it is the vast, law-abiding armed citizenry that, as the Founders of our Republic intended, they cannot, ought not, and must not control. For, it is only in an armed citizenry that true Government encroachment on the rights and liberties of the American citizenry is effectively, categorically, constrained and contained. It is not the criminal element, then, and it is not the occasional lunatic that goes off on a shooting spree that the antigun movement and their silent, secretive, ruthless Globalist benefactors truly fear.It is the average, law-abiding American citizen and gun owner that these anti-American elements fear and therefore seek to control. The banshee shriek and wail calling for a ban, eventually, on civilian ownership and possession of guns generally and a ban on civilian ownership and possession of semiautomatic firearms—pejoratively and idiotically referred to by antigun proponents as “assault weapons” and as “weapons of war”—particularly, at this juncture, and the claim made that only through mass gun control and eventual mass gun confiscation will this Nation, its people, and its children be safe from violence are, on close inspection specious, even ludicrous, pronouncements even if, superficially, these boisterous, obstreperous pronouncements happen to sound palatable and convincing, as, of course, they are meant to. This propaganda—for propaganda it is—is directed to the weak-willed and the uniformed among us—individuals who are looking for a panacea to violence in society, as violence is claimed to be endemic in society, and they are told it need not be, if only the public accedes to giving up their firearms.Through it all, the American public is being fed a false narrative. It is a narrative carefully crafted and then directed to the American public through mass media organizations, controlled by transnationalist billionaires who seek to alter, forever, the framework of the Nation, a free Republic that the Founders of our Nation, the framers of our Constitution and of our sacred Bill of Rights, bequeathed to us. The transnationalist billionaires seek to destroy our Nation for their own benefit, for their own selfish  ends. The goal, of these extraordinarily powerful, insanely wealthy, highly secretive, and absolutely ruthless individuals, is not suppression of gun violence, despite the claims of antigun groups, their willing tools. To the contrary; it is repression of the American citizenry. That, unfortunately, is the sad, but irrefutable truth. The American public should not be deluded to think it not so._________________________________________________Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

I AM A GUN AND THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO SAY

I am a Gun. I am not a person. I, myself, am incapable of harming anyone. Only a person is capable of harming another person. I cannot, myself, harm a person. And I cannot force a person to use me for an evil purpose. In the hands of a rational, competent, law-abiding person, I serve a greater good. In the hands of an irrational, incompetent, lawless individual, I serve a dark end. But, I, myself, must be held blameless because I am not a person.Many ill-informed individuals are quick to cast aspersions on me. They will say or suggest that I am evil incarnate. I am not. I do not have the power of choice. I do not have “free will.” Only a human being has the power of choice; only a human being has free will. I do not. Only a human being can choose to do good or ill, in accordance with that person’s “will.” I cannot. Still, there are those who believe, falsely, that I am evil, and strenuously make that claim. That truly puzzles me; for, only a person who misuses me can be deemed evil.Those who denigrate and demean me fail to realize the enormous positive benefit that I have brought and continue to bring to this Nation. The United States could not exist but for me. The founders of this free Republic used my great great grandfather, the flintlock, to forge a mighty Nation. During the Second World War, my cousins—including, among others, the M1 Garand Rifle, the Thompson submachine gun, and the Browning Automatic Rifle—in the competent hands of our Nation’s troops, helped to defeat two of our most powerful and intractable foes: Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. I have also assisted and continue to assist our police officers in helping protect our communities from lawless elements.AND, I AM, TO THE COUNTLESS AVERAGE, LAW-ABIDING, RATIONAL, RESPONSIBLE AMERICAN CITIZENS--AS THE FRAMERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION INTENDED--THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS AVAILABLE THROUGH WHICH THESE CITIZENS ARE ABLE TO PRESERVE AND DEFEND THEIR LIFE, SAFETY, AND WELL-BEING AND THE LIFE, SAFETY, AND WELL-BEING OF THEIR FAMILIES—FROM THOSE RUTHLESS, TERRIBLE, EVIL ELEMENTS IN SOCIETY WHO SEEK TO DO HARM.Going back far earlier in time, my ancestors, the matchlock and wheel lock firearms, gave to the common man the ability to grapple effectively with powerful nobility, who wore formidable suits of armor, wielding massive lances and swords, sitting atop powerful steeds.There is much to commend me. Unfortunately, history’s revisionists dismiss me out-of-hand, selectively  focusing only on those who have misused me. In recent months, young men who gained access to me, and who should never have gained access to me, have committed monstrous acts. Those monstrous acts have been wrongly ascribed principally to me, rather than to the individuals who have misused me. I am well aware of the horrific acts that deranged young people have done. Their monstrous acts should not have occurred and would not have occurred but for crucial missteps by irresponsible people who failed to properly secure me.In 2012, a severely mentally unstable young man, Adam Lanza, gained access to his mother’s firearms. Had I been able, I would have warned Nancy Lanza, Adam’s mother, to properly secure me so that her mentally disturbed son could not gain access to me. She failed to do so. Her irresponsible act in failing to properly secure me led directly to her death at her son’s hands. This sad, deranged young man, Adam Lanza, then carried me to a public school, Sandy Hook Elementary School, located in Newtown, Connecticut. In his hands, Adam Lanza used me to kill innocent children and teachers. But for Nancy Lanza’s irresponsible actions, this horrific incident would never have happened and could never have happened. Major media organizations wrongly blamed me for the tragedy.A similar horrific event occurred, in February of 2018. Another deranged young man, Nikolas Cruz, wrongfully gained access to me, and used me to murder or seriously injure many innocent students and teachers—this time at another public school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, located in Parkland, Florida. Once again media people, reporting on this event, at the urging of those individuals who profess a pathological hatred toward me, blame me for the senseless tragedy, claiming that it is I, rather than this young man, Nikolas Cruz, who is the principal cause of the tragedy.Legislators, members of the mass media, and members of groups who call for my eradication, fail to realize that it is not I that cause violence. To cause violence I must have the desire to do violence, and once having the desire to do violence, I must then act on that desire. But, I am incapable of desire, and I am incapable of action. People, alone, are capable of desire and people alone are capable of acting on their desires. People are causal agents of harm. I am not a causal agent, but merely an object, a tool. Yet, I am blamed for the evil actions of those who misuse me. On careful reflection, though, it is clear that it is the killer, Nikolas Cruz, 19 years old, and it is those agents of Government who knew or should have known of the danger Nikolas Cruz posed to the community, who are the principal causes for harm done to others.There were multiple warnings and warning signs of the danger Nikolas Cruz posed to the community, but Governmental authorities failed to heed those warnings and those signs. Had I been able to, I would have spoken up, alerting the School Board, alerting the FBI, and alerting the County Sheriff’s Office, of the imminent danger posed by Nikolas Cruz. The tragedy that occurred was easily preventable. Yet, local, County, State, and Federal authorities are not held to account. I, however, am held to account. I, the Gun, am deemed responsible for the myriad failings of people.Irresponsible, lawless acts, uncorrected, tend to repeat themselves—an endless loop of tragedy occurring ever again. So it is that yet another severely disturbed young man, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, went on a shooting rampage at a high school, in Santa Fe, Texas. That tragedy unfolded recently. How did this happen? Quite simply, the young man’s father failed to properly secure me. The father breached a duty of care owed to the community to prevent his son from gaining access to me. That failure led to horrific tragedy.The pattern is disturbingly familiar, replaying itself over and over again, and each time, the tragedy was preventable, and would have been prevented but for the failure of adults residing in the community, and but for the failure of Governmental authorities to act to thwart the tragedy. And, once again, the blame for the tragedy is laid at my feet. I, who cannot do any act, good or ill, but for an agent who wields me, is ever the scapegoat.Of course, the vast majority of gun owners are responsible. They treat me with respect. They handle me competently; and they properly secure me, preventing those who must not gain access to me, from doing so. Yet, there are individuals in Government, in industry, and even foreigners who bear a personal grudge against me and who hold me in contempt. And there are groups, comprising individuals whose sole purpose for existence is to eradicate me. These individuals think that by dispossessing millions of average, law-abiding, rational, responsible American citizens of me, the Gun, that violence will stop. It will not stop.A person need merely consider that, in many Western nations where Government has essentially banned me, violence continues unabated. Sociopathic and criminal elements in society still obtain possession of me and use me to seriously injure or kill innocent people. And, even if horrible, evil people do not have immediate access to me, that does not prevent them from causing horrific violence just the same. Those people who desire to harm others will always find a way and means to do so. And, they have done so, repeatedly, constantly, using knives, and bombs, and even cars and trucks to murder and maim innocent people.Still, the drumbeat continues for my banishment from so-called “civilized” society. Those individuals who detest me argue that violence can be stemmed simply by outlawing me. But, arbitrarily denying the average responsible citizen from owning and possessing me will do nothing to prevent lawless and deranged individuals from doing harm, whether by wielding me, or by wielding or utilizing another object. And, when all is said and done, I am just that—an object, a tool, nothing more. Those who seek to blame me, profane me, debase me, denigrate me, castigate me, would do well to recall a quotation from the classic 1953 Western film, “Shane,” where the protagonist offered this sage advice concerning me, as he addressed the wife of a rancher:“A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it.”Those who desire to ban me outright would do well to remember that banning me will do nothing to prevent the occurrence of and recurrence of evil acts. Evil cannot be legislated away, even as some people seem to believe that it can be legislated away or would like to believe that evil can be legislated away through the simplistic, implausible, unconscionable, and constitutionally impermissible, unlawful expedient of denying to the average, rational, responsible, law-abiding American citizen the fundamental right to own and possess me. At the end of the day, evil remains, and monstrous acts of violence will, unfortunately, continue to occur because evil exists in the heart of those people who seek to do evil, and there are, lamentably, all too many of those in the world. Evil does not and never did exist in me, “The Gun.”_________________________________________________Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

AFTER THE PARKLAND FLORIDA HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING, ANTIGUN FORCES LAUNCH VIRULENT MULTIPRONGED ATTACK AGAINST CIVILIAN POSSESSION OF SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPONS.

ANTIGUN GROUPS LAUNCH MASSIVE ANTIGUN CAMPAIGN TO RESTRICT AND CONSTRICT THE AMERICAN CITZENS' EXERCISE OF THEIR NATURAL AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, UTILIZING SEVERAL VENUES: MAINSTREAM MEDIA PROPAGANDA; CONGRESS, STATE LEGISLATURES; LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL BODIES; AND THROUGHN THE COURTS.

INTRODUCTION

Coming on the heels of the tragic incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, this past February, the American people have witnessed an incessant barrage of virulent antigun messaging, along with an extensive vicious campaign, on multiple fronts: through the Press, through local, State and Federal Government, and through the Courts. And, all of it aimed toward denying the average law-abiding, rational, responsible firearm owner of his or her natural and fundamental right to keep and bear arms, codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Antigun activists, including advocacy groups, legislators, and mainstream media organizations and the secretive wealthy, powerful Globalist interests financing their efforts, see an opening. They are reinvigorated. They believe they can convince the public to accept further constraints on the Second Amendment. Antigun groups and like-minded individuals, in the media, in entertainment, in government, and in the Courts are all pushing once again, and more forcefully, to constrain Americans’ access to firearms, commencing with attacks on civilian ownership and possession of semiautomatic firearms. These antigun elements are clearly pressing for federal firearms’ legislation, modeled on the National Firearms Act of 1934, that, given the NFA’s onerous licensing requirements and monetary expense, has, for most Americans, effectively operated as a ban on civilian ownership of fully automatic and selective fire weapons. In a series of articles, commencing with a look at a draconian local ordinance, we will analyze and comment on recent legislative and judicial actions and efforts, in various jurisdictions, to restrict, or further restrict, or to ban outright public possession of semiautomatic firearms, misidentified and pejoratively referred to as “assault weapons” or “weapons of war.” We begin this series with an analysis and commentary on an amendment to a local community’s restrictive firearms’ ordinances.

PART ONE

THE VILLAGE OF DEERFIELD, LOCATED IN LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 25 MILES NORTH OF CHICAGO, AMENDS A FIREARMS’ ORDINANCE, BANNING, ALTOGETHER, WITHIN ITS JURIDICTIONAL BORDERS, CIVILIAN POSSESSION OF SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPONS, DEFINED AS ‘ASSAULT WEAPONS.’

IN THE VILLAGE OF DEERFIELD, ILLINOIS, RESIDENTS HAVE 60 DAYS TO GET RID OF THEIR PERSONAL PROPERTY—SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPONS DEFINED AS “ASSAULT WEAPONS”—OR FACE ONE THOUSAND DOLLAR FINE PER DAY FINE.

On April 6, 2018, the Village of Deerfield amended a firearms ordinance, to take effect, June 13, 2018, that bans, outright, the ownership and possession of firearms, defined, in Illinois Statute, as ‘assault weapons.’ The impetus for this action, set forth in the ordinance reads, in part: “the corporate authorities of the Village of Deerfield find that, since the enactment of Village of Deerfield Ordinance No. 0-13-24 (July 1, 2013), assault weapons have been  increasingly  used  in an  alarming  number  of  notorious  mass  shooting  incidents  at public schools, public venues, places of worship and places of public accommodation including but not limited to, the recent mass shooting incidents in Parkland, Florida (Margery Stoneman  Douglas High School; 17 people killed), Sutherland Springs, Texas (First Baptist Church; 26 people killed), Las Vegas, Nevada (Music Festival; 58 people killed), and Orlando, Florida (Pulse Nightclub; 49 people killed). . . .” The Ordinance No. 0-18-06, amends Chapter 15 (morals and conduct), article 11 (assault weapons), section 15-87 (safe storage of assault weapons) and section 15-88 (transportation of assault weapons) of the municipal code of the village of Deerfield to regulate the possession, manufacture and sale of assault weapons in the village of Deerfield. There is a notable carve-out to the outright ban on possession of firearms, defined as ‘assault weapons.’ Village officials have exempted, inter alia, law enforcement officers, agents or employees of the Village; of the State of Illinois; of any other State, or federal law enforcement officers. Retired law enforcement officers are also exempted from the outright ban but must comply with storage requirements related to such weapons.

SHOULD AMERICANS, OTHER THAN THOSE WHO RESIDE IN DEERFIELD, ILLINOIS BE CONCERNED?

Granted, the Village of Deerfield is a small community in a State not known for supporting the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but, even, by the severely restrictive firearms standards of Illinois law, and the severely restrictive nature of the Deerfield Ordinance, as originally enacted, the present incarnation of the Village of Deerfield Ordinance is even more extreme. To get a handle on just how extreme this Ordinance is, consider a couple of passages.As originally enacted, the Ordinance sets forth, in paragraph “(a)”, titled, “Safe Storage,” that: “It shall be unlawful to possess, bear, manufacture, sell, transfer, transport, store or keep any assault weapon on the village unless such weapons is secured in a locked container or equipped with a tamper resistant mechanical lock or other safety devise, properly engaged. . . .” The redraft of the Ordinance strikes out the entirety of the paragraph except for this sentence: “It shall be unlawful to store or keep any assault weapon in the Village.” The Ordinance, as amended, explains further how an individual who had previously lawfully acquired an “assault weapon,” and who had lawfully acquired a large capacity magazine (LCM), defined in Illinois law as a magazine capable of holding 10 rounds of ammunition or more, may legally dispose of both. An individual may either:“Remove, sell or transfer the Assault Weapon or Large Capacity Magazine from within the limits of the Village; Modify the Assault Weapon or Large Capacity Magazine either to render it permanently inoperable or to permanently make it a device no longer defined as an Assault Weapon  or Large Capacity Magazine; or Surrender the Assault Weapon or Large Capacity Magazine to the Chief of Police or his or her designee for disposal as provided in Section 15-91 of this Article.”Suppose a person wishes to retain his or her “assault weapon” and LCM. That person, who does not fall within a stated exemption, cannot do so she cannot do so. Moreover, the penalties for failure to abide by the Ordinance are as harsh as the Ordinance that denies one the right to maintain control over his or her own personal property. The Ordinance sets forth that:“Any person who is found to have violated this Article shall be fined not less than $250 and not more than $1,000 for each offense. and a separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues. Every person convicted of any violation under this Article shall, in addition to any penalty provided in this Code, forfeit to the Village any assault weapon.”An individual has “60 days” from the effective date of the Ordinance, April 2, 2018, to comply with the Ordinance or be penalized. “The Chief of Police or his or her designee shall have the power to confiscate any assault weapon of any person charged with a violation under this Article. The Chief of Police shall cause to be destroyed each Assault Weapon or Large Capacity Magazine  surrendered or confiscated  pursuant to this Article. . . .”The Ordinance hasn’t gone unchallenged. On its website, the Village of Deerfield points to a lawsuit filed by the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation. The Arbalest Quarrel hasn’t had, as of the posting of this article, an opportunity to review the lawsuit, but the Village of Deerfield says: “the sole legal issue . . . is whether the Village lawfully ‘amended’ its prior assault weapons ordinance under Illinois law . . . [and, inter alia, that] the lawsuit effectively concedes the lawfulness of the Village’s assault weapons ban under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”The short answer to the question whether Illinois precludes County and local governments within the State to enact rules, codes, regulations, or ordinances contrary to State firearms laws is this: “partially.” The Illinois Preemption Statute, pertaining to Firearms, 430 ILCS 65/13.1, titled, “Preemption,” sets forth, in respect to firearms, designated, ‘assault weapons,’ the following:“Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this Section, the regulation of the possession or ownership of assault weapons are exclusive powers and functions of this State. Any ordinance or regulation, or portion of that ordinance or regulation, that purports to regulate the possession or ownership of assault weapons in a manner that is inconsistent with this Act, shall be invalid unless the ordinance or regulation is enacted on, before, or within 10 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly. Any ordinance or regulation described in this subsection (c) enacted more than 10 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly is invalid. An ordinance enacted on, before, or within 10 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly may be amended. The enactment or amendment of ordinances under this subsection (c) are subject to the submission requirements of Section 13.3 [430 ILCS 65/13.3]. For the purposes of this subsection, ‘assault weapons’ means firearms designated by either make or model or by a test or list of cosmetic features that cumulatively would place the firearm into a definition of ‘assault weapon’ under the ordinance.” Presumably, the Village of Deerfield Ordinance, as originally enacted, is consistent with Illinois Statute. The question here is whether the recent amendment to the Deerfield Ordinance coheres with Illinois Statute.

A FEW OBSERVATIONS:

I. THE VILLAGE OF DEERFIELD ORDINANCE OPERATES IN BLATANT DEFIANCE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS.

The Village of Deerfield Ordinance goes much further than the New York Safe Act and the laws of similar jurisdictions that ban possession of firearms, defined as ‘assault weapons,’ insofar as individuals who lawfully acquired the weapons prior to enactment of the "assault weapons" ban timely register the weapons in accordance with State law and abide by other restrictions, pertaining to the weapons. Thus, the NY Safe Act has a so-called “grandfather” provision, as do the laws of various other States, albeit the provision in the NY Safe Act, for example, does not,  allow the owner of such “grandfathered” firearm to transfer that weapon to another person. Be that as it may, the Village of Deerfield provision goes one step further as there is no “grandfather” provision in the amended Ordinance. Hence, even those weapons that a person lawfully acquired before adoption of the amended Ordinance, cannot lawfully retain those weapons in the Village of Deerfield. The gun owner must get rid of them or render them inoperable if that gun owner chooses to retain custody over them.

II. CAN THE VILLAGE OF DEERFIELD ORDINANCE WITHSTAND A CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE ON THE GROUND THAT THE ORDINANCE VIOLATES THE CORE OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT?

The Second Amendment issue goes to whether semiautomatic weapons defined in law, as ‘assault weapons’ fall within the core protection of the Second Amendment. Two cases on whether so-called “assault weapons” fall within the core protection of the Second Amendment went up to the U.S. Supreme Court on a writ of certiorari. One of them, Kolbe vs. Hogan, 849 F.3d 114, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 2930 (4th Cir. 2017), en banc, cert. den., 138 S. Ct. 469, 199 L. Ed. 2d 374, 2017 U.S. LEXIS 7002, 86 U.S.L.W. 3264, was denied a hearing and review by the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment. An earlier case involving the issue, Friedman vs. City of Highland Park, 784 F.3d 406, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 6902 (7th Cir. Ill., 2015), cert. den., 136 S. Ct. 447, 193 L. Ed. 2d 483, 2015 U.S. LEXIS 7681, was denied a high Court hearing but over a vigorous dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas, with the late Justice Antonin Scalia joining Thomas in his angry comment. It is likely, given the remarks of Justice Thomas, referencing the seminal Second Amendment case, District of Columbia vs. Heller, 554 U.S. 570; 128 S. Ct. 2783; 171 L. Ed. 2d 637 (2008), that, had the high Court taken up the issue in either the Friedman case or Kolbe, the conservative wing Majority of the Court would find that so-called “assault weapons” do fall within the core of the Second Amendment, consistent with the rulings and reasoning of the Majority Opinion in Heller. But, it was the possibility of just such a ruling that obviously precluded the garnering of four votes necessary to obtain a high Court hearing on that salient issue, at the heart of the case. And, so, the American public is, once again, facing a continuing whittling away of Second Amendment protections, as forewarned by Justice Thomas, who observed that the Second Amendment has been reduced to a second-class right.

III. CAN THE VILLAGE OF DEERFIELD ORDINANCE WITHSTAND A CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE ON THE GROUND THAT THE ORDINANCE AMOUNTS TO AN ILLEGAL EX POST FACTO LAW?

An ex post facto law is a law that criminalizes an action that had previously been lawful. The framers of the Constitution absolutely abhorred the enactment of such laws, referred to as ex post facto laws. Ex post facto laws are facially illegal. This means not only that our Constitution is the supreme law of the Land, but that legislation must always be appraised for lawfulness within the context of the U.S. Constitution. Restrictive gun legislation—all gun legislation that negatively impacts the Second Amendment—is immediately suspect.Many legislators, be they members of Congress or assembly people in State or local Government, seem to forget the fact that the Constitution is supreme. Legislative enactments are not supreme and often abut dangerously against the sacred rights and liberties codified in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. But this failure to respect the U.S. Constitution has had a decidedly unfortunate multiplier effect. For, as Federal and State Statutes, and local codes, regulations, and ordinances chisel away at our fundamental rights and liberties, the populace accedes to the incremental slow destruction of their rights and liberties.The action of the Deerfield Village government may be seen as a microcosm of disastrous actions of Congress, ostensibly operating—so Congressional members say—for the benefit of the public, when they are benefitting themselves or secretive parties who have no interest in securing the rights and liberties of Americans.  So, firearms, designated as “assault weapons,” are banned simply on the “say-so” of those in charge, and the possession of such weapons constitutes a criminal act that heretofore had fallen within lawful bounds of local or State law.Justice Thomas and the late eminent Justice Scalia expressed constant consternation at the arrogance of legislators who denigrate the sacred rights of the citizenry under the guise of protecting the public order. Redress is required._________________________________________________ Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

THE ANTIGUN MESSAGE OF TEACHERS’ UNIONS MISSES THE MARK ON GUN VIOLENCE.

Antigun activists must take Americans for fools. When a terrorist, gangbanger, lunatic, or your garden variety criminal seriously injures or murders innocent citizens, be it with a knife, a bomb, a car or truck, a baseball bat, or a firearm—no matter the object—the answer to stemming violence of all kinds is ever the same: “Get rid of the Guns!” That’s the long and short of it. Many members of the American public feed on such misguided, imperious and impertinent anti-Second Amendment slogans, manufactured by and pressed into service by the destroyers of our sacred rights and liberties, taking them to heart. The mainstream Press obliges, churning these slogans out regularly, incessantly. The verbiage may change a bit, but the message does not.Members of the public, who succumb to the antigun rhetoric and propaganda, espouse enactment of ever more restrictive firearms legislation—firearms legislation targeting the law-abiding American civilian population. Individuals who buy into the rhetoric and propaganda believe strongly, although wrongly, that the solution to societal violence is as simple to understand and to effectuate as recitation of the antigun slogans themselves. It isn’t. Contrary to the implication behind these anti-American slogans, no simple cause exists for today’s endemic violence. Accordingly, no simple solution exists for curbing it.But, one point is poignantly clear if a person would just stop to consider it. It is a point antigun advocates won’t mention. It is one antigun advocates would never countenance; and it is a point the mainstream Press—the willing bullhorn of the antigun establishment—would not so much as intimate. Societal violence is a manifestation of human conduct, not inanimate, non-sentient objects.Guns do not go on shooting sprees on their own volition. Knives do not stab individuals on a personal whim. Cars and trucks do not, themselves, ponder jumping curbs to run down bystanders. Yet antigun advocates convey the impression that inanimate objects, firearms, especially, are the innate causal agents of violence—that they “work” a sort of sorcery on individuals who, themselves, become merely the vessels for carrying out acts of violence. So, it is guns—those in the hands of law-abiding, rational American citizens and civilians—that are targeted for unceremonious eradication.“Get rid of guns!” That is the battle cry. And, the antigun advocates count on the public’s wholesale acceptance of their agenda, shaping and molding opinion to their cause; playing on emotion; stoking fear and anger. There is no reflection; no consideration; no debate. Antigun propagandists, activists, and zealots want none of it, believing that serious reflection, consideration, debate to be unnecessary, irrelevant or, more to the point, dangerous, as even a modicum of thoughtful reflection would bring immediately to light, the legal and logical weaknesses of their position.Americans who fall prey to and buy into simplistic antigun messaging and proselytizing operate unthinkingly, mindlessly, reflexively, like a village mob, brandishing pitchforks and torches, hell-bent on destroying Dr. Frankenstein’s monster—believing that ridding the Nation of firearms will in fact stem gun violence and curb most societal violence. They fail to realize that the “monster” they seek to destroy will not be destroyed—cannot be destroyed—because it is no more than a creation of the antigun propagandists. It is a shadowy figment, existing not in the “gun” at all, but in themselves. The monster manifests in and takes on form and substance, and life, as they wish it to—in their own weak, benighted natures.Of course, some Americans, certainly the antigun perpetrator activists who seek public acceptance of their antigun agenda, would like to see civilian gun ownership and possession substantially curtailed and eventually eliminated from American society, even though realization of their goal wouldn’t reduce societal violence one iota. They know this. Indeed, if pressed, they would likely acknowledge this. Antigun activists’ abhorrence of guns rests as much on aesthetic grounds as on social and political ones. They simply do not like guns; see no benefit to having them in “civilized society;” and, so, do not accept that American people have a fundamental, natural right to keep and bear arms. For antigun activists, zealots and those members of the public that fall prey to the messaging, the idea that Americans have a natural fundamental right to keep and bear arms is repugnant; an anathema; not simply arguably wrong, but heretical, even nonsensical.Yet, many more Americans—most Americans—believe fervently in the right of the people to keep and bear arms, as did the founders of our free Republic, the framers of our Constitution, who sensibly realized the importance of codifying that sacred right in the Second Amendment. This is an article of faith. The antithesis of which—that no American has an unalienable right to keep and bear arms—is truly heretical. So long as the concept of natural rights remains a bedrock principle of our Nation, all the chanting, ranting, and prattling, for yet more restrictive gun laws, will be rendered moot, as well such sanctimonious posturing should.On April 5, 2018, the United Federation of Teachers (“UFT”)—a teacher’s union that represents New York City Schools—posted two articles in its publication, in support of the antigun “March for our Lives” demonstration that took place in Washington, D.C. Similar antigun protest marches took place in New York City, and elsewhere around the Country, drawing hundreds of thousands of high school and middle school students, as well as public school educators and administrators. The mass shooting incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, served as the impetus and pretext for the marches. Michael Bloomberg’s antigun advocacy group, “Everytown for Gun Safety,” and other groups, sympathetic to the goals of Bloomberg’s group, provided funding, organization, and logistical support for the students.UFT President Michael Mulgrew, who authored one of the articles appearing in the Union’s publication, titled, “Time for common sense on guns,” says that the protestors “demand sensible gun laws to keep weapons out of our communities,” and that students “don’t want to live with fear and [that] they are tired of waiting for Washington, D.C. to stand up to the National Rifle Association.” To emphasize his own abhorrence of firearms, the UFT President added this weak attempt at a play on words: “teachers should be marking papers, not being trained in marksmanship.” Rachel Nobel, UFT Staff Reporter, who authored a second article, that appeared in the same April 15 publication, titled, “Taking a stand against gun violence,” reiterated the UFT President’s comment that arming teachers was a bad idea. She asserted: “Many teachers had come to protest President Donald Trump’s proposal for licensing teachers to carry weapons in schools.” In her article Rachel Nobel quotes Larry Sachs, a teacher at PS 57, who asserted, “If taking one gun off the street saves your child from being shot, then it’s worth it.” As can be seen, a cascade of antigun slogans tumbles through these UFT articles.The overuse of slogans, in support of the position for further gun restrictions against the civilian populace of this Country, is aptly and abundantly illustrated in the titles of the two UFT articles and in the articles’ content. Slogans invariably fill mainstream news and opinion articles as well. Slogans serve, at best, as a feeble substitute for vigorous, sustained argument. At worse, they are inane, doing the American citizenry a disservice, playing simply to one's emotion, rather than to one's intellect. Use of slogans rather than cogent argument promotes intellectual laziness--both in the author of an article and in the reader. Author and reader are encouraged--nay, expected--to suspend critical judgment.The principal, albeit tacit, point of the two UFT articles is that popular support exists for yet further gun restrictions. Apparently, the UFT President and UFT Staff Reporter, and, evidently, many teachers and school administrators across the Country, believe that, although this Nation suffers from hundreds of Federal, State, and local restrictive firearms’ statutes, codes, regulations, and rules, many more are needed. Obviously, those who espouse further restrictive gun measures won't be satisfied until civilian possession of firearms in this Country is ended.Of course, tens of millions of American citizens do not support further gun restrictions. But, even if we assume, for purpose of argument, that more Americans than not, do support ever more gun control, does popular support, in and of itself, constitute a sound argument for it? No, it doesn’t!Among the informal fallacies known to antiquity, argumentum ad populum, is a common one. The argument, “appeal to popularity,”—also referred to in common parlance as “appeal to the people”—rests on the fallacious claim that, because a significant number of people believe a proposition to be true, the proposition is true.In the present case, the idea conveyed is that, because hundreds of thousands of people, taking part in the recent antigun protest demonstrations, believe that further restrictive firearms’ measures will reduce gun violence, it follows that further restrictive firearms’ measures will, in fact, reduce gun violence, and that further restrictions on civilian ownership and possession of firearms will reduce all forms of societal violence. These notions are false, blatantly so. No matter. Yet, the mainstream media insists on presenting these false notions as fact; as self-evident truth.This is a prime example of the argumentum ad populum fallacy. The fallacy proceeds from the idea that popular opinion constitutes good and sufficient evidence to support a claim. Consensus, among the masses, though, does not, in and of itself, provide evidence in support of the truth of a proposition. Shouting loud and long does not make a claim true, or “truer,” contrary to what many Americans —including all too many young people, who are particularly sensitive to emotional messaging—may happen to think.Apparently, many young Americans, as well as all too many older ones, feel that whoever shouts the longest and the loudest is one whose judgment is correct, and who, therefore, is to be believed over someone—anyone—who operates through calm reflection, who articulates a point clearly, cogently, softly, rather than through bombast.The American public should not, in any event, be subsidizing, with its tax dollars, student protests during school days and hours. Better it would be if high school students debated the issue of societal violence, calmly and intelligently, in the classroom, not in the public forum. Doing so would allow for more sensible and productive use of time.Yet, rather than seeing teachers and school administrators beseeching students to operate through restraint, we see all too many of them taking part in group excesses, along with these students. We see teachers and administrators, at the behest of the leadership of antigun groups, indulging students’ baser instincts; unconscionably encouraging, abetting, and exploiting raw emotion in young people, rather than encouraging restraint on emotions.Teachers should be cultivating each student’s critical faculties, cautioning each of them of the dangers in allowing emotions to hold sway over rational intellect, especially in moments when the rational mind is overwhelmed by senseless tragedy. But, that is where personal strength, fortitude, and indomitability of spirit come into play—where a person checks his or her emotions at the door, preventing those who hide an ulterior motive from making use of a student’s understandable anger and fear, to promote an insidious and deceptive agenda—one detrimental to the preservation of our Nation’s sacred rights and liberties. Oh, but wouldn’t that be a shame!_________________________________________________Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.   

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS STUDENTS CHAFF AT, RATHER THAN APPLAUD, SCHOOL SECURITY MEASURES IN THE WAKE OF TRAGEDY.

PART SEVEN

THE DEAFENING, MIND-NUMBING CALL, SHOUTING OUT ALL REASON: GET RID OF CIVILIAN OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION OF GUNS; AND THEN SCHOOLS WILL BE SAFE!

Students who attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, site of the tragic incident last February, who took part in the recent “March for Life,” organized and orchestrated by Michael Bloomberg’s antigun advocacy Group, “Everytown for Gun Safety,” fervently believe, albeit erroneously, that gun violence in schools can be traced, in this Country, directly, indisputably, and solely to the existence of millions of semiautomatic long guns, dubbed, ‘assault weapons.’ The answer to gun violence in schools, as these students have concluded, is simple: just outlaw civilian ownership and possession of guns in this Country, commencing with "assault weapons," and, once accomplished, schools across the Country will be safe from gun violence and from any other deadly violence. Ergo, no other security in schools is needed.How is it that young people—students in our Nation’s schools—have inculcated a virulent abhorrence of firearms? The answer may seem, at first blush, to be simple. After all, many students have witnessed deadly violence firsthand. They have seen lunatics misuse firearms, causing catastrophic, horrific violence. So, it would seem reasonable to conclude that young people have linked violence inextricably to guns and to guns alone. Thus, many young people now fear firearms. There is a name for this fear it is called, 'hoplophobia.' But, why has this fear of guns blossomed among so many young people. After all, schools across the Country, once had gun clubs. They once did, but no longer. Now there is fear of guns. That phobia is seen now as the "new normal." 

ANTIGUN ACTIVISTS, ANTIGUN POLITICIANS, AND THE ECHO CHAMBER OF ANTIGUN ADVOCATES--THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA--DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ASSUAGE THE IRRATIONAL FEAR OF GUNS; INSTEAD THEY STOKE THE FEAR, FEEDING THE FEAR, LIKE ADDING WOOD OR COAL TO A FIRE.

Clearly, antigun advocacy groups that lurk behind the scenes have fostered, in the minds of young people, the notion that societal violence is to be equated unequivocally and solely to the existence of large numbers of firearms in society—especially those semiautomatic long guns given the appellation, ‘assault weapons’—and that such violence is intractable so long as civilian ownership of firearms continues. This, obviously, is a false notion. But once a person accepts this notion as a self-evident truth, no further explanation for the existence of rampant violence in society is necessary. And the answer to stamping out rampant violence in society becomes clear: simply abolish civilian ownership and possession of firearms, commencing with those modeled on the original AR-15 Armalite prototype; and that, once this is accomplished, society will be safe and secure from violent acts. That is the simple and straightforward answer. The boogeyman, the bugbear, is "the gun." Abolish "the gun" and society will be safe and secure--so it is said. And, that is the clarion call of antigun advocates.It is difficult to believe that sentient, rational beings would truly believe such a simplistic notion to a complex matter, as violence is endemic not only in our society but, indeed, endemic  across the nations of Europe where guns in the hands of the civilian population is virtually unheard of.* Yet, severe restrictions on civilian access to firearms is the singular the message antigun activists have delivered constantly, unceasingly, and disingenuously to young people, in recent days and weeks, and many youth of our Nation have internalized this false notion and now hold to it with indefatigable conviction as the simple and certain answer to the horror that befell some of them. The answer invariably presented--just preclude civilian possession of guns, commencing with the confiscation of assault weapons--sounds plausible enough, on the surface at least, as many wrong theories often do.Truthfully, those students suffering from the trauma of the horrific tragedy that unfolded in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School can be forgiven a failure to pierce the veil of deceptive messaging. But, as for these antigun activists, they are not to be forgiven. For, they are deliberately filling the minds of young people with nonsense about firearms, insidiously taking advantage of and shaping the minds of young people whose clarity of reason has been severely weakened through the horrific violence witnessed. The students of MSD, and in other schools that have faced similar tragedy, are looking for answers, for some common, sensible thread that may explain a horrific act that defies simple explanation; and they will grasp at anything that may seem reasonable, even if that explanation is superficial--even nonsensical upon close examination and reflection. Antigun activists arrive to fill the void, taking advantage of a monstrous happenstance to further their goal of a disarming the citizenry of this Nation.Obviously, antigun advocacy groups have exploited the young of our Nation in pursuit of a personal agenda, one immediately detrimental to the safeguarding of our sacred heritage, detrimental to the continued security and well-being of our Nation and its people, and incompatible with the preservation of our sacred rights and liberties. Antigun advocacy groups—certainly those in the upper echelons of these organizations know full well that ever further restrictive gun laws—laws aimed at the average, rational, law-abiding citizen—will not stem gun violence. But the raison d’étre of these antigun activists--those at the highest levels of their respective organizations--are directed not at stemming gun violence but at population control. They realized the “plum” dropped in their laps after the tragedy struck a high school in Florida. These young people serve a useful purpose for what the antigun activists ultimately seek: the de facto or de jure destruction of the Second Amendment and, thus, the end of the individual right of the American citizen to keep and bear arms. But, even that goal is not the end they seek in and of itself. No! They seek a general ban on civilian ownership and possession of firearms to accomplish something more: namely, to exert control over the masses: the American citizenry. That goal will be realized, first and foremost, through suppression of the fundamental, sacred right codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. These antigun activists have conscripted many young people to fill their ranks as budding antigun activists. But, it is not population control that is stressed: rather, it is public safety--suppressing civilian ownership and possession of firearms would be a positive thing because, as they argue, it would promote public safety by protecting the public from itself; it would protect the public from the rapaciousness of guns, just as the Eighteenth Amendment--later repealed by the Twenty-first--was meant to protect the public from the danger of alcohol consumption. What the antigun activists really have in mind is population control; not public safety, as the firearms restrictions they seek to impose would not control, and are not designed to exert control, over the criminal population embedded in the Country. Antigun activists do not see psychopathic criminals, or even lunatics, as the real scourge. No! For the hard-core antigun group leaders, and for the billionaire internationalists who fund those organizations, it is the average, law-abiding, rational citizen who is perceived as the real threat to security. But, that concern is not addressed to public. It is only conveyed to those in the upper echelons of the organizations.

AN ILLUSION CAREFULLY CULTIVATED

The illusion, or delusion of guns as the personification of evil in society, has gripped many Americans, young and old, in our Nation. Reporters and editors, commentators and contributors of the mainstream media, have, at the behest of their billionaire internationalist, trans-nationalist Globalist benefactors, vigorously, passionately, methodically, and unceasingly cultivated, and stoked, and pushed on the American public misperceptions about an inanimate object: the “gun.” Many individuals have bought into that paradigm, blind to the fact that subtle and not so subtle factors contribute to or serve as the true causal agents of violence in society: broken homes; the destruction of the nuclear family; moral relativism overriding traditional values; the rewriting of a Nation’s history; the presence of criminal gangs and drug cartels running amok in our Nation; waves of unassimilable people coming to our shores, holding odd, alien beliefs, and harboring secret resentment toward our Nation and toward its core values; the easy availability of and access to illegal drugs and, concomitantly, rampant drug addiction affecting masses of citizenry young and old alike; unchecked illegal immigration, permeating and percolating throughout our Country; and the crass fostering, by Hollywood moguls, and computer game programmers, of themes of unimaginable violence, targeting, mainly, the young people of our Nation. These are a few of the causal agents of violence in our Nation. But, for antigun activists, there is only one supernal cause of violence in society, and one abiding concern as they relate to the public: the availability of firearms to the American citizenry, as a threat to societal order. This illusion—delusion really—is the takeaway for many young people, understandably very seriously impacted by the horrific violence that took place in their school.It should surprise no one, then, that young people, who took part in the antigun rally in Washington, D.C., and in Cities across the Nation, should exhibit passion for and toward the antigun cause. For, as they observe a lunatic murdering their friends with a firearm—a sight difficult to fathom—they matter-of-factly equate violence solely with firearms. That is understandable; for that is what they saw. Antigun advocates, for their part, far from dissuading these young people from overgeneralizing about guns, and from drawing false connections and conclusions, are encouraging remonstration against guns, and guns alone, as the root cause of violence in the Nation’s schools and in the greater society. So it is that antigun groups have indoctrinated the young people into fervently accepting the truth of patently false beliefs about both guns and about public safety—this, notwithstanding that lunatics and psychopathic terrorists have, in recent years, murdered and seriously injured innocent people—and on a massive scale—through a variety of means, including: bombs, knives, and even vehicles. No guns were involved in any of those horrific events. Yet, as for the people murdered or maimed by a bomb, or a knife, or a vehicle, the American public is to conclude what, exactly, from this? That it is still the existence of the firearm that remains the singular problem in our society? So, argues one antigun activist, Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, even as terrorists did indeed foment deadly violence on innocent people in the City, in recent months, but through means—a rented truck in one instance, and a bomb in another instance—that did not involve use of “the gun” at all.

THE SAD TRUTH: PASSION ALL TOO OFTEN CLOUDS JUDGMENT

A local Floridian newspaper, the Sun Sentinel, reports: Broward County School officials have instituted new security measures at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and across the School District, in the wake of the tragedy. They include the use of student identification lanyards, and transparent backpacks for students.You would think that students would applaud these new security measures, minimal ones at that. Not so. Many students have been taken aback by them. Here’s a sampling of their statements that appear on Twitter or as recited to the Press:

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In a Fox news account, one student, Shanon Li, a senior at Stoneman Douglas High School, remarks: “It’s a little insane, because we need our privacy.” Another student activist, Delaney Tarr, who attends a school in Parkland, Florida, echoes the sentiment, asserting, erroneously, albeit indignantly with the conviction of young people, convinced of the truth of their beliefs that: his having to wear a clear backpack at school is a “violation of privacy.”Yet, another student, Chris Christianson, posts, on Twitter, the words of the Fourth Amendment to make crystal clear--evidently as clear as the transparent backpacks that students must, henceforth, use in Parkland, Florida schools--his consternation over perceived violations of the Fourth Amendment. This student is wrong, of course, even as he obviously views the School Board’s new requirement that students use transparent backpacks to constitute a gross infringement of the unreasonable searches and seizures clause of the Fourth Amendment. And, what of the Second Amendment? Apparently, that Amendment can be dispensed with.Isabelle Robinson, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School told CNN as picked up by the website, infowars, “It feels like being punished,” “It feels like jail, being checked every time we go to school.” David Hogg, and MSD student and the new face and darling child of the student antigun movement, sporting the hashtag, “#NeverAgain activist,” makes clear his disdain for the new security measures, telling “Axios’ Mike Allen on Friday that his high school is ‘like a prison’ since the shooting last month, with increased security and safety measures."Another MSD Student asserts (news.com.au) with all the conviction of a child, deaf to the voice of reason: “Clear backpacks are an invasion of privacy.” New security measure forces kids to carry personal items & school supplies in a school-issued clear bookbag but many students feel as if they’re being punished.” That same student adds, sarcastically: “This backpack is probably worth more than my life.”Lauren Hoggs, David Hoggs’ sister, asserts in one “tweet”, so as not to be outdone by her brother:“Today when I walk into school I will be greeted with armed police, wand detectors and clear backpacks. Is this what my high school experience is going to be like? 3 more years of this. . . Someday when my kids ask me about my high school experience what am I going to tell them?”And, in another “tweet,” Lauren Hoggs retorts, sarcastically:“My new backpack is almost as transparent as the NRA’s agenda. I feel sooo safe now. As much as I appreciate the effort we as a country need to focus on the real issue instead of turning our schools into prisons.”Yet another student exclaims (news.com.au), acidly: "Can I just ask, where in these #clearbackpacks are females supposed to put their tampons/sanitary towels? Are they supposed to wedge it between books? Well if you could do that then surely you could put a gun in a folder or between textbooks, no?”Even adults get into the act. The mother of one student, focusing on firearms, rather than on school security, and showing her obvious disdain for firearms, asserts, acerbically (mobile.twitter.com) “If we're not going to do anything about our lax gun laws, then my son needs a bullet proof backpack, not a clear one.”

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 What is going on here? The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students--viciously attacking the sanctity of the Second Amendment--are suddenly expressing concern over ridiculous accusations of violations of the unreasonable searches and seizure clause of the Fourth Amendment.

IN THE FACE OF CONSTANT MEDIA ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE SECOND AMENDMENT AND IN THE FACE OF LEGIONS OF ILL-INFORMED AMERICANS WHO HAVE FALLEN FOR THE PROPAGANDA SPOUTED INCESSANTLY THROUGH THE ECHO CHAMBER OF THE NEWSPAPERS AND THROUGH CABLE NEWS, THOSE AMERICANS WHO HAVE NOT BEEN TAKEN IN BY THE FALSE PRONOUNCEMENTS OF THOSE WHO SEEK TO UNDERMINE THE NATION'S BILL OF RIGHTS, MUST REMAIN CALM AND VIGILANT; BUT MUST ALSO STAND FIRM AGAINST THOSE FORCES THAT WOULD DARE  DESTROY THE NATION'S SACRED RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES, UNDER THE SPECIOUS, NONSENSICAL GUISE OF PROMOTING PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY. AMERICANS MUST NOT BE TAKEN IN BY THE RUSE.

The real danger for Americans—certainly if Democrats attain majorities in the House and Senate—is that Congressional Democrats will use their power to undermine, yet further, the right of the people to keep and bear arms. The bizarre and absurd remarks that come out of the mouths of young people, of late, are, to great extent, the result of encouragement from, and reinforcement of ideas emanating from, antigun groups and from other liberal elements in our Nation that audaciously claim the moral high ground even as they undercut our sacred rights and liberties.Instead of encouraging young people to exercise their critical judgment, these antigun groups and leftist elements in our Nation, including the liberal mainstream Press, as well as antigun politicians, are encouraging uncritical thinking, in furtherance of an agenda that is directed to undercutting the rights and liberties of the American people, undermining the Constitution, and reshaping the Country into a form that is completely at odds with, and alien to, that form envisioned by the founders of our Nation as manifested in our core values, our history, our traditions, as once conveyed to our young people in our Schools--but core values, history, and traditions conveyed to our young people no longer. It is abundantly clear that the cultivation of logical, thoughtful thinking is considered anathema today. Emotional rhetoric, devoid of substance, is now the substitute for critical thinking and judgment. A philosophy predicated on anarchistic principles, detrimental to the safeguarding of our heritage and detrimental to the continued security and well-being of our Nation is the end goal of the destroyers of our Nation. Nihilism is portrayed as necessary for our Country: wipe the slate clean, and begin anew. Children are taught to perceive our Country as less an independent sovereign Nation and more a cog in a greater federation of member nations; a Country without borders, subject to a multitude of multicultural influences, where the notion of citizenship is amorphous and everyone from the four corners of the planet is welcome--bringing with them bizarre, alien ideas, incompatible with our heritage. In their seditious and pathological desire to tear down those sacred principles upon which our Nation was founded, upon which our founders gave their blood--the disruptors and destructors of our Nation intend to shred our sacred rights and liberties upon which a free Republic rests and upon which the autonomy and inviolability of each citizen depends. If successful, the unique, glorious Nation, forged by our forefathers, will be torn asunder, forever.The youth of our Nation should think well before they speak ill about a sacred right. Today they perceive the Second Amendment through a narrow lens, magnifying what they see as its costs through a series of recent tragic events and forsaking consideration of the magnitude and majesty of the right existent in a truly free people that has survived for over two hundred years even as ruthless, cunning, and jealous forces, detrimental to the continuation of a powerful citizenry, chisel away at that right, desiring to hold such power manifested in that right, for itself. As these young people denigrate the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, they should keep well in mind what it is they are forsaking. And, at the end of the day, if they think it just as well that the Second Amendment should fall, they ought to consider the ramifications of that decision. For, if the Second Amendment falls, the entirety of the Bill of Rights will fall with it. That is inevitable. Where will these young people look to secure their safety, autonomy, and well-being—and, “Oh, Yes,” their privacy—then?________________________________________*Violence continues notwithstanding the elimination of guns. Consider: After a rash of violence in London, the "London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced a crackdown on knives Sunday in response to the rising levels of violence in London, which recently surpassed New York City's homicide rate for the first time. 'No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife,' Khan tweeted. 'Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law.'" Once guns are confiscated from the civilian population, the government will go after knives. But, the problem does not exist in the prevalence of guns or knives, but, rather, in those individuals who misuse a gun or knife or any other object, to harm an innocent person. Misuse of implements is to be linked to terrorists, lunatics, criminal gang members, and to the common criminal, and not to the average, rational, law-abiding citizen (or, in the case of Great Britain, let us say, the average, rational, law-abiding subject). And, what, then, is one to make of the loss of a tenable means of self-defense? Apparently, self-defense is of no consequence to government officials, either in this Country or across the seas._________________________________________________Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

THE ISSUE OF CURBING VIOLENCE IN OUR SCHOOLS DOES NOT DEVOLVE TO SIMPLY BANNING GUNS. IT IS MORE COMPLEX, ELUSIVE, NUANCED.

PART FIVE

STUDENTS MUST BECOME CRITICAL THINKERS, NOT “PARROTS” OF THOSE WHO HARBOR ULTERIOR MOTIVES.

Peaceful protest isn’t a bad thing. The youth of our Nation, as citizens of the United States, have a Constitutional right to do so as the right of the people to peaceably assemble is a fundamental right, specifically codified in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, along with freedom of speech, freedom of the Press, the right of the people to petition the government for a redress of grievances, and the right to the free exercise of religion. These rights are broad in scope and critical to the maintenance of a free Republic. The danger of protest rests when there exists a hidden agenda behind the protest, unbeknownst to those that take to protest.On March 24, 2018, hundreds of thousands of young people, including adults, turned out to protest violence in our Nation’s schools. The horror that took place in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School served as the impetus for the protest. Last February 2018, a deranged young man, Nikolas Cruz, whom School Officials had expelled for multiple serious disciplinary violations, walked unimpeded into the School, and proceeded to murder 17 students, including teachers, using a semiautomatic long gun, modeled on the “AR-15” platform.Organizers of the March 24 protest on our Nation’s Capital on Saturday, March 24, 2018 called it, “March for Our Lives.” The New York Times banner headline on Sunday, March 25, 2018, says something different however: "With Passion and Fury, Students March on Guns."Students across the Country are furious—and rightfully so—at the failure of Government, to protect them, as students are vulnerable to violence when in school. How it is that a seriously disturbed individual, Nikolas Cruz, who was on the radar of both the FBI and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, and who, on several occasions, had openly expressed a desire to kill, could gain access to a firearm and ammunition, and who then could act on that desire, speaks of gross incompetence and glaring ineptitude, on multiple Governmental levels? Then there is the failure of an armed Broward County Deputy Sheriff—a Resource Officer, assigned to the School, and of other Broward County Deputy Sheriffs, who shortly arrived on the scene—whose actions or, rather, inactions, must be   singled out. Broward County Deputy Sheriff, Scott Peterson, and other Broward County Deputy County Sheriffs failed to confront and stop Nikolas Cruz. They all consciously, intentionally, refrained from entering the School building to confront Nikolas Cruz, even though they heard gunshots in the School, and knew or had every reason to conclude that, every time they heard a gunshot, an innocent person had died. Bald-faced cowardice, cannot be ruled out.Students have a right to ask of Government, that is charged to protect them, why Government failed them. This failure must be addressed and then redressed. Action must be taken to protect our schools with appropriate security. Competent, armed individuals, both physically capable of action and psychologically predisposed to act in a life-threatening situation, must be a component of an effective school security program.

FIREARMS, OF THEMSELVES, DO NOT CAUSE VIOLENCE BECAUSE THEY ARE OBJECTS, NOT AGENTS.

As for the root cause(s) why more violence occurs in our schools, this is a complex issue, with no simple answer or remedy. Unfortunately, in the face of overwhelming horror and tragedy, there is a normal tendency to look for a “quick fix,” and there are those who jump at the chance to funnel through the mainstream media, to the public, a  simple answer—more stringent gun laws, commencing with an outright ban on civilian ownership and possession of all semiautomatic long guns, defined as ‘assault weapons,’ including a ban on large capacity ammunition magazines.Antigun advocacy groups have argued, for decades, for further restrictions on civilian access to semiautomatic firearms, defined as ‘assault weapons.’ Of course, the definition of ‘assault weapon,’ is amorphous, as the phrase is a political invention, not an industry or military term of art. Those jurisdictions that generally ban possession of “assault weapons” in the hands of the American civilian citizenry, have defined the expression, ‘assault weapon,’ in different ways. In fact, under New York law at least one category of weapon, the revolving cylinder shotgun, is defined in law, an ‘assault weapon,’ even though, given the revolving cylinder shotgun’s method of operation, as the name makes plain, the revolving cylinder shotgun isn’t a semiautomatic weapon at all.Antigun advocacy groups have an agenda and that agenda does not necessarily equate with ensuring a safe school environment. In pursuit of that agenda, these groups have successfully harnessed the anger, hurt, frustration, and legitimate concern of students. The “March for Our Lives” didn’t just happen. It happened for a reason: Antigun advocacy groups and other liberal advocacy groups quietly, behind the scenes, harnessed student anger and redirected it. They redirected student anger, hurt, and frustration away from an attack on the failure of some State and local governmental authorities to provide students with a safe and secure environment, where student anger, frustration and hurt should have been focused, or should rightfully have remained, to an attack on "the gun" qua "assault weapon." Thus, instead of encouraging young people to take part in an open, frank, and intelligent discussion on the root causes of violence in our society and how it is and why it is some people erupt into an orgy of horrific violence and how State and local governments, in the interim, may implement reasonable security measures in schools, to protect students, we see antigun advocacy groups, and other advocacy groups in agreement with them, ratcheting up student anger to the point where that anger explodes into a paroxysm of rage launched specifically and solely against an inanimate object.An undertaking of this magnitude requires, money, organization, and coordination well beyond the capacity of young people to engineer. The billionaire Michael Bloomberg, through his antigun advocacy group, “Everytown for Gun Safety,” organized, funded, and coordinated the rally. This isn’t supposition, it is fact, as reported by CNN, and as Bloomberg’s group itself readily admits.

WOULD A WHOLESALE BAN ON SEMIAUTOMATIC LONG GUNS, MODELED ON THE ORIGINAL AR-15 ARMALITE SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLE, PREVENT A RECURRENCE OF GUN VIOLENCE IN OUR NATION’S SCHOOLS?

An outright ban on an entire category of weapons in common use would not prevent further gun violence. A federal ban on so-called ‘assault weapons,’ implemented in 1994, was tried. That ban failed to prevent many mass shootings. The ban expired in 2004 through a sunset provision, and Congress did not reauthorize it. We have seen, since, violent acts committed, not only with so-called “assault weapons,” but with other objects, including, knives, bombs, and even trucks.“Everytown for Gun Safety,” and like-minded antigun advocacy groups argue that violence in our schools, and in public spaces generally, can be prevented or significantly reduced if Government, local, State, and Federal, would simply prohibit civilian access to firearms. Whether these antigun activist groups truly believe that, is unlikely. Their goal, if achieved, would not eliminate or even reduce violence in schools or in the greater society. They must know this. Their goal, if achieved, would have the negative effect of leaving the civilian population of this Country essentially defenseless. The tacit but obvious impetus of these antigun advocacy groups is to effectuate Government control over the citizenry. The goal of these groups is not to promote public safety, express claims to the contrary, notwithstanding.The fact of the matter is that, even if antigun advocates were successful in removing every firearm presently in the possession of honest, law-abiding, average, rational American citizens who desire to exercise their fundamental, inalienable, natural right to keep and bear arms who comprise the vast civilian citizenry of firearms’ owners in this County, that would do nothing to curb violent acts. A simplistic fix that happens, not unsurprisingly, to cohere with the personal agenda of antigun advocacy groups—destruction of the Second Amendment—isn’t the panacea for effectively dealing with a culture of violence endemic in our Nation, contrary to the supposition of antigun activists and contrary to their rhetoric. It is a recipe for disaster. First, the antigun activists’ simplistic fix leaves the American citizenry defenseless. Second, the abridgement of the American citizenry’s fundamental rights and liberties—reflected, first and foremost in an armed citizenry—is inconsistent with the continued conservation and preservation of a free Republic, rooted in our Nation’s history. Third, such abridgement of our fundamental rights and liberties is inconsistent with the basic principle upon which those sacred rights and liberties rests: the sanctity, autonomy, and inviolability of the American citizen.Until Americans, including the youth of our Nation, are willing to look deeply and seriously at the true root causes of violence that infects and infests our Country, rather than excoriating guns as the salient cause of violence and mischief in our Nation in accordance with the dictate of antigun advocacy groups, violence will not appreciably be forestalled or constrained; for violence, ultimately, exists in the heart of individuals, not in such inanimate objects they happen to wield. Any object—a gun, a knife, a vehicle, a chainsaw, or any other tool—can be used by a sentient being for good or ill.Young people, especially, must learn to think through an issue calmly, not rashly. Unfortunately, those individuals and groups that have a personal agenda to serve, have irresponsibly coopted the rightful anger and hurt of young people to assist them in pursuit of a singular goal: divesting the civilian population of this Country of their firearms. The young people must resist the urge to serve antigun groups as their servants or proxies. Antigun groups are very good at coaxing young people to join them in service to a personal agenda: gun control, culminating in gun confiscation. Instead, the young people of our Nation might more effectively use intellectual rigor to explore the root causes of violence in our society. In the interim Government at the federal, State, and local levels, can and must design and implement plans to secure our schools from threats of harm. Violence is, unfortunately, persistent in our Nation. But, violence is endemic in many other Western nations, too, even as those other Western nations have rigidly suppressed individual ownership and possession of firearms.A viable security plan to protect students from harm never existed in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. But other Schools across the Nation that have implemented effective security, have been free from deadly threats to students and to teachers. That means all schools must embrace a proactive, not reactive, stance to threats of violence of any kind. A sound plan to protect students is doable and helpful. Going after guns is not._________________________________________________Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

ANTIGUN ACTIVISTS’ RELENTLESS ASSAULT ON LONG-GUNS

PART FOUR

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH THE ACTIVE ASSISTANCE OF ANTIGUN AND OTHER RADICAL GROUPS PURSUE ANTI-SECOND AMENDMENT AGENDA THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ENHANCING SCHOOL SAFETY AND SECURITY.

ANTIGUN ACTIVISTS TARGET SEMIAUTOMATIC LONG-GUNS FOR ELIMINATION THROUGH SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN: THE PROXIES FOR ANTIGUN GROUPS.

Make no mistake: the relentless assault on semiautomatic long-guns that antigun activists call “assault weapons” is itself an assault on civilian ownership of all semiautomatic weapons, not merely some of them. This relentless assault on so-called “assault weapons” is an attack on the natural and sacred right of the people to keep and bear arms, codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.American citizens should not believe for a moment that antigun activists and their cohorts in State legislators and in Congress, and those who echo their sentiments in Hollywood and in the mainstream media, and the billionaire benefactors behind the scenes who fund the effort to destroy our sacred rights and liberties do not—all of them— seek to end civilian gun ownership in this Country. They say they merely support “common-sense” gun laws and “sensible” constraints on gun ownership. But their principal goal is confiscation and eventual elimination of all firearms in the hands of civilians.Through enactment of the National Firearms Act of 1934, civilian access to selective-fire and fully automatic firearms has been effectively eliminated. Since that time antigun activists have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to ban semiautomatic guns defined as ‘assault weapons.’ But, the distinction between semiautomatic handguns and semiautomatic long guns construed as ‘assault weapons,’ that antigun activists and legislators feel American civilians should not be permitted to own and possess, is fuzzy. Each State has its own legal standards.Against the backdrop of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy, many jurisdictions are enacting or are attempting to enact increasingly more onerous firearms laws. The distinction between semiautomatic weapons defined as banned ‘assault weapons’ and those that aren’t is becoming increasingly tenuous. Antigun activists and antigun legislators strive to cast ever more semiautomatic handguns and long guns into the ‘assault weapon’ banned category.

ANTIGUN ACTIVISTS SEEK TO END CIVILIAN OWNERSHIP OF ALL SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPONS IN THE UNITED STATES, NOT MERELY SOME OF THEM.

In a recent March 2, 2018 article, titled, “With AR-15s, Mass Shooter Attack with the Killing Power of Many U.S. Troops,” posted in the National Section of the paper edition of The New York Times newspaper, and published digitally, on February 28, 2018, under the title, "With AR-15-s, Mass Shooters Attack With the Rifle Firepower Typically Used by Infantry Troops," Times’ reporters wrote a lengthy article on semiautomatic long guns that was uncharacteristically discerning. In hundreds of earlier articles, NY Times reporters, Op-Ed columnists and NY Times contributors--and those writing for other mainstream newspapers--carelessly, and clumsily, refer to the semiautomatic long gun, modeled on the original Armalite AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, as an ‘assault weapon.’ The expression, ‘assault weapon,’ was invented by antigun proponents as a political device to pursue a gun confiscation agenda, attacking an entire category of firearms in common use among the law-abiding American citizens that comprise the civilian population. But the expression, 'assault weapon,' isn't a technically accurate one; and it is not to be confused with the expression, ‘assault rifle,’ which is a technically precise military term of art.Often, in the same newspaper articles, writers will use ‘assault weapon’ and ‘assault rifle’ interchangeably, likely not knowing the difference, and not caring if they did know as the distinction isn’t crucial to the running narrative, which is that both categories of firearms are, as antigun proponents perceive them, "weapons of war"--which is another political phrase, and one also tinged with emotion. "Weapons of war," so the narrative goes, have no place in “civilized” Countries.But, the March 2, NY Times article is decidedly different from previous antigun articles. The reporters here appear intent on demonstrating that semiautomatic long guns, modeled on the progenitor, Armalite AR-15, presently marketed to the civilian population, truly are military weapons and, so, must be banned. In that article, the expression, ‘assault weapon,’ doesn’t even appear.The article is presented as a seeming technical exposition on “AR-15” rifles. The Times reporters, who wrote the article, compare the civilian “AR-15” rifle to various military models. They assert:“The main functional difference between the military’s M16 and M4 rifles and a civilian AR-15 is the ‘burst’ mode on the many military models. . . . But in actual American combat these technical differences are less significant than they seem. For decades the American military has trained its conventional troops to fire their M4s and M16s in the semiautomatic mode—one bullet per trigger pull—instead of on ‘burst’ or automatic in almost all shooting situations. The weapons are more accurate this way and thus more lethal.” Consider these remarks for a moment. The NY Times reporters are using quasi technical exposition here in an attempt to make the case that no appreciable difference exists between “AR-15” rifles and their military counterparts. The reporters argue, tacitly, that  the politically charged expression, ‘assault weapon,’ and the military expression, ‘assault rifle,’ do accurately refer to the same kind of rifle, after all. But, do they? The NY Times reporters remark that many troops are issued military rifles without selective-fire capability at all. They do this in an obvious attempt to dispel the criticism constantly and accurately leveled against mainstream news reporters which is that some semiautomatic rifles marketed to the civilian population may exhibit superficial, cosmetic similarities to military rifles, but these rifles are functionally different from military rifles. Yet, in the recent NY Times article, the reporters categorically state that AR-15 semiautomatic rifles are functionally equivalent to military M4 and M16 assault rifles. But are they? The reporters assert:“The NRA and other pro-gun groups highlight the fully automatic feature in military M4s and M16s. But the American military, after a long experience with fully automatic M16s reaching back to Vietnam, decided by the 1980s to issue M16s and later M4s to most conventional troops without the fully automatic function,* and to train them to fire in a more controlled fashion. What all this means is that the Parkland gunman, in practical terms, had the same rifle firepower as an American grunt using a standard infantry rifle in the standard way.”It is abundantly clear that the Times’ reporters—clearly speaking for antigun proponents generally—are targeting all semiautomatic weapons for elimination, not merely some of them. They attempt to get across the idea that since any semiautomatic weapon is capable of rapid, controlled fire, all semiautomatic weapons represent a threat to public safety and must be eliminated—long guns and handguns.

THE STATE OF THE LAW ON SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLES MODELED ON THE ORIGINAL ARMALITE (“AR-15”) SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLE

The federal ban on “AR-15” rifles expired in 1994 when the 10-year sunset provision kicked in. But many States have enacted their own laws, banning these rifles. Two cases on whether so-called “assault weapons” fall within the core protection of the Second Amendment went up to the U.S. Supreme Court on a writ of certiorari. One of them, Kolbe vs. Hogan, 849 F.3d 114, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 2930 (4th Cir. 2017), en banc, cert. den., 138 S. Ct. 469, 199 L. Ed. 2d 374, 2017 U.S. LEXIS 7002, 86 U.S.L.W. 3264, was denied a hearing and review by the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment. An earlier case involving the issue, Friedman vs. City of Highland Park, 784 F.3d 406, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 6902 (7th Cir. Ill., 2015), cert. den., 136 S. Ct. 447, 193 L. Ed. 2d 483, 2015 U.S. LEXIS 7681, was denied but over a vigorous dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas, with the late Justice Antonin Scalia joining Thomas in the dissent.Justice Thomas stated in pertinent part:“The City’s ban is thus highly suspect because it broadly prohibits common semiautomatic firearms used for lawful purposes. Roughly five million Americans own AR-style semiautomatic rifles. See 784 F. 3d, at 415, n. 3. The overwhelming majority of citizens who own and use such rifles do so for lawful purposes, including self-defense and target shooting. See ibid. Under our precedents, that is all that is needed for citizens to have a right under the Second Amendment to keep such weapons. See McDonald, 561 U. S., at 767-768, 130 S. Ct. 3020, 3036-3037, 177 L. Ed. 2d 894, 914-915; Heller, supra, at 628-629, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 2817-2818, 171 L. Ed. 2d 637, 679-680.The Seventh Circuit ultimately upheld a ban on many common semiautomatic firearms based on speculation about the law’s potential policy benefits. See 784 F. 3d, at 411-412. The court conceded that handguns — not ‘assault weapons’ — ‘are responsible for the vast majority of gun violence in the United States.’ Id., at 409. Still, the court concluded, the ordinance ‘may increase the public’s sense of safety,’ which alone is ‘a substantial benefit.’ Id., at 412. Heller, however, forbids subjecting the Second Amendment’s ‘core protection . . . to a freestanding ‘interest-balancing’ approach.’ Heller, supra, at 634, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 2821, 171 L. Ed. 2d 637, 683. This case illustrates why. If a broad ban on firearms can be upheld based on conjecture that the public might feel safer (while being no safer at all), then the Second Amendment guarantees nothing."The Court’s refusal to review a decision that flouts two of our Second Amendment precedents stands in marked contrast to the Court’s willingness to summarily reverse courts that disregard our other constitutional decisions. . . . There is no basis for a different result when our Second Amendment precedents are at stake. I would grant certiorari to prevent the Seventh Circuit from relegating the Second Amendment to a second-class right."Despite the opinion of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, antigun proponents, including those occupying the lower appellate and district courts, evidently don’t give a damn either for high Court precedent or for our sacred, natural right, codified in the Second Amendment.And, this brings us to critical Second Amendment Soto vs. Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC., 2016 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2626; CCH Prod. Liab. Rep. P19,932, which the Arbalest Quarrel has written extensively about and will continue to do so. See, e.g., the AQ article, Soto vs. Bushmaster: Antigunners Take Aim at Gun Manufacturers.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.The Soto Plaintiffs contend that the Defendant, Bushmaster (Remington), manufacturer of the weapon, specifically, a Bushmaster AR-15, model XM15-E2S rifle, which, as alleged, the killer, Adam Lanza, used to commit the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School—along with the firearms’ distributor and dealer who served as the intermediaries through which the weapons were sold to the killer’s mother, and ultimately fell into the hands of the killer, Adam Lanza—bears legal, not merely moral, responsibility for the deaths of children and adults that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and that, this is due to the fact of Defendant Bushmaster’s marketing of its AR-15 rifle to the entirety of the civilian population in this Country, and the manner in which the Defendant manufacturer, Bushmaster marketed its AR-15 model semiautomatic rifle to the entirety of the civilian population in this Country.The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (the ‘PLCAA’), Pub. L. No. 109-92, 119 Stat. 2095. 15 U.S.C. §§ 7901-03 (2005). The PLCAA provides immunity to firearms manufacturers and dealers from any lawsuit, pending or otherwise, fitting the Act's definition of a ‘qualified civil liability action.’ 15 U.S.C. §§ 7902-03, and the trial Court found for the Defendants’ on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiffs appealed the adverse decision directly to the Connecticut Supreme Court, and the State high Court agreed to hear the case.Soon, the State Supreme Court of Connecticut will decide whether to affirm the trial Court’s decision dismissing Plaintiffs suit or remand the Soto case to the Superior Court of Connecticut. The State Supreme Court should affirm the trial Court and not remand the case. In fact, the State Supreme Court shouldn’t have agreed to hear the case in the first place since the PLCAA makes clear that plaintiffs in the Sandy Hook Elementary School cannot overcome Defendants’ qualified immunity. If, though, the case is remanded to the trial Court and if the trial Court reverses its previous stance, that can have dire consequences for manufacturers of semiautomatic rifles modeled on the Armalite AR-15. We shall wait and see. The Wall Street Journal, in an article, titled, “Key Gun Case Awaits Ruling in Connecticut,” published on March 17, 2018, discussing the Soto case, and posted online under the title, "The Court Case Making Gun Manufacturers Anxious," hints that the Connecticut Supreme Court may soon issue a ruling.The question is whether the Connecticut Supreme Court will be swayed by political considerations in light of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting incident. It shouldn’t, but, as the matter of semiautomatic long guns is now front and center in the public’s psyche due to massive negative coverage by the mainstream media, and, as we know that liberal Courts that have a dim view concerning the Second Amendment, it is anyone’s guess how the Connecticut Supreme Court will proceed. We must wait and see.This much, we do know, despite the opinion of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, antigun proponents, including lower Appellate and District Court antigun judges, don’t give a damn either for high Court precedent or for our sacred, natural right, codified in the Second Amendment. Lest there be any doubt about this, consider the words of the antigun New York Times Op-Ed Columnist, Bret Stephens, who made the following remark in an NY Times OP-Ed, posted, on February 16, 2018, titled: "To Repeat: Repeal the Second Amendment."“We need to repeal the Second Amendment because most gun-control legislation is ineffective when most Americans have a guaranteed constitutional right to purchase deadly weaponry in nearly unlimited quantities.” Hey, Bret—Any firearm is potentially deadly. The question is whether the person wielding it is responsible. And, Bret, how much ammunition is too much? Our guess is that for you, Bret, and for other like-minded sanctimonious antigun activists, even one round is too much.____________________________________*The Arbalest Quarrel contacted an expert on small arms weaponry. The Times' reporters' assertion is absolutely false. "Assault rifles" marketed to the military have two main configurations. One configuration has a three-way selector for the following three modes: safe, semiauto, and full auto. The second configuration has a four-way selector for four modes: safe, semiauto, full auto, and burst. Consider, if a military configuration were limited to semiauto mode only, there would be no reason for any rifle to have anything other than the "AR-15" designation as semiautomatic rifles issued to military troops would in fact be identical to the semiautomatic rifles presently marketed to the civilian population. It is true that Army troops and Marines are trained to use semiautomatic fire or burst fire in many instances in order to conserve ammunition and for accuracy. But, for extraction and when charging an enemy position head-0n, full auto is tactically necessary: hence, the need for a selector switch on military models, to serve varying combat needs. The NY Times reporters deviously mix pertinent facts with critical omissions, including an out-and-out lie. Deceptive "fake news" reporting is, unfortunately, to be expected from the mainstream Press as the Press promotes an agenda, and we see deceptiveness in abundance in this "news" article. The mainstream Press is in the business of propagandizing, of psychologically conditioning the American public to perceive the world in a false light. The Press is no longer in the business of informing and enlightening the public, if it ever were in the business of presenting factually accurate news accounts._________________________________________________Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL’S SECURITY SYSTEM WAS INEFFECTIVE AND INADEQUATE, BUT WHAT DOES AN EFFECTIVE SCHOOL SECURITY LOOK LIKE?

PART TWO

A TIPPING POINT IS REACHED: SUBSEQUENT TO THE MASS SHOOTING INCIDENT AT MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL, IN PARKLAND, FLORIDA, THE PUBLIC CLAMORS FOR AND DEMANDS ANSWERS, AN ACCOUNTING, AND A CALL FOR CORRECTIVE MEASURES ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

Parkland, Florida is a wealthy enclave abutting prominent Florida Cities—Coral Springs, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach. The public learned about Parkland after tragedy struck the City’s public high school: Marjory Stoneman Douglas. A deranged young man, 19-year old Nikolas Cruz, entered the School on February 14, 2018, armed with a semiautomatic rifle and several rounds of ammunition. During the ensuing shooting spree, Cruz murdered 17 people, including both students and teachers. He wounded several more students, many seriously.Why Nikolas Cruz went on a shooting rampage is open to speculation. How it is he succeeded in killing and injuring innocent people, isn’t. Unlike many schools across the Country, both public and private—including preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools, as well as colleges and universities—it is abundantly clear that one School, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, had woefully inadequate security. The lack of adequate security gave the killer an open invitation to visit harm on the School, and he took full advantage of security deficiencies to wreak havoc--with immediacy and ferocity--on innocent students and teachers alike.

THREE CRITICAL FAILURES LED TO HORRIFIC TRAGEDY

THE FIRST FAILURE

The Board of Education of Marjory Stoneman Douglas employed one Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy at the School, dubbed the “School Resource Officer.” Apparently, that was the only security provided. Once Nikolas Cruz began his rampage through the School, murdering both students and teachers, Deputy Sheriff Scott Peterson, hunkered down behind a barrier, outside the School, his handgun drawn. But, he never ventured inside the School to confront the shooter. A few more Broward County Sheriff’s Deputies arrived soon after. They, too, never ventured inside the School even though Peterson repeatedly said gunshots were coming from inside the School building.Once the Coral Springs Police SWAT team arrived, the members were aghast to find Broward County Sheriffs’ Deputies huddled together outside the School—none had entered the School, to stop the shooter. And where was he? Unlike many mass shooting incidents, the killer in the Parkland, Florida incident, Nikolas Cruz, obviously didn’t have a personal death wish even as he dealt death on others. He left the School Building, blending in with other students. He was later apprehended by an Officer from the Coconut Creek Police Department.

THE SECOND FAILURE

Both the Broward County Sheriff (‘BSO’) Scott Israel and the Miami Office of the FBI received a substantial number of tips, warning of the erratic behavior of Nikolas Cruz through the months, weeks, and even days leading up to the tragedy, but neither the FBI nor the Sheriff acted on the tips. In fact, the BSO Scott Israel received 45 tips involving the danger Nikolas Cruz posed to the community, but did nothing. Ever the politician, Scott Israel blames others under his command for his own failures to protect his community and not surprisingly has rebuffed calls for his resignation. The FBI doesn’t escape unscathed from the failure to act, either. The Miami Herald reports the FBI delivered an official apology. An official apology from the FBI may be extraordinary, but it hardly suffices and comes across as lame. Governor Rick Scott called for FBI Director Christopher Wray to step down. He won’t.

THE THIRD FAILURE

The High School did not inform the police about dangerous students. This undoubtedly speaks to President Barack Obama's legacy policy.The City Journal reports:“In an effort to combat the “school to prison pipeline,” schools across the country have come under pressure from the federal government and civil rights activists to reduce suspensions, expulsions, and in-school arrests. The unintended consequences of pressuring schools to produce ever-lower discipline statistics deserve much more examination.  Florida’s Broward County, home to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, was among the leaders in this nationwide policy shift. According to Washington Post reporting, Broward County schools once recorded more in-school arrests than any other Florida district.”  President Trump and his Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, must change a previous Administration's nonsensical policy.

WHAT IS BEING DONE TO ADDRESS WOEFULLY  INEFFECTIVE AND INADEQUATE SECURITY SYSTEMS IN MANY OF OUR NATION’S SCHOOLS?

In the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida tragedy, the Florida State Legislature drafted legislation in the hope of preventing future tragedies. The bill, titled the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act (2018 Bill Text FL S.B. 7026), was signed into law by Governor Rick Scott on Friday, March 9, 2018. Other States are in the process of drafting and enacting their own bills. In all instances, the question that must be asked is this: Does legislation to prevent future school tragedies truly address the issue of school safety or is school safety merely the pretext to further restrict legitimate firearms’ rights of the average, rational, law-abiding citizen? A quick look at the Florida Act leads one to conclude that at least a couple of features of the Act have nothing to do with School safety and everything to do with gun control.Evidence of the insertion of antigun agenda policies exists in the Florida Act: the imposition of a three-day waiting period between the date of purchase and receipt of any firearm; and age constraints as no person under the age of 21 may purchase any firearm. If legislation is truly designed to prevent future tragedy in schools, then legislation should be directed to and limited to that effort.

WHAT DOES A RESPONSIBLE, RESPONSIVE, CREDIBLE SECURITY SCHOOL PLAN CONSIST OF?

Two important points must be addressed before discussing corrective actions for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School or for that matter, any other school in this Country. First, no security system, regardless of sophistication and refinement, is worth the cost of its design and implementation if those charged with its operation provide half-hearted efforts to see to it that the system functions at optimum efficiency, reliability, and effectiveness. Second, where systemic failures exist, lives will always be at risk.The School Resource Officer, Deputy Sheriff Scott Peterson, who did not confront the shooter, is a coward; no question about it; and the other Deputy Sheriffs who arrived soon after the shooting began, did not confront the shooter either. Their inaction or inappropriate action amounts to ineptitude and gross incompetence at least; and abject cowardice at worst. Our takeaway: even the inclusion of armed security personnel in the design of a security system—which ought to be considered a critical aspect of an effective security system—is of no value if security personnel lack both the requisite training and ability to counter a threat or, otherwise, are physically or psychologically unsuited to the task of confronting a deadly threat quickly, stalwartly, and forcefully.

WHAT SHOULD AN EFFECTIVE SCHOOL SECURITY SYSTEM CONSIST OF?

The expression, ‘hardening,’ of security defenses of a school often comes up in discussion. What does this mean? As we use the expression, it means that an effective security system—a truly effective security system—must be multilayered and multifaceted. Such a security system should consist of three primary layers or facets. The first layer consists of an array of “passive” technological and non-technological features, implemented throughout the school or incorporated into the structure of the school. See the Arbalest Quarrel article, Part One on School Safety. A second layer consists of both armed and unarmed personnel, monitoring and patrolling the school building and school grounds. A third layer requires involvement of students, faculty, and administrators and requires, too, the active involvement of the community at large. If erratic dangerous behavior is perceived in a student, that behavior should be reported to the appropriate senior school official or officials who must assess the level of risk and notify police officials if necessary or provide counseling for that individual. And, if, or when, an active threat occurs, students, teachers, school administrators, and security personnel must have a plan of action and must be prepared to execute that plan of action immediately.In our next article we will look at each of these facets of security in more depth._______________________________________________________

GET INVOLVED! CALL YOUR STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT!

Find out what your State and local government officials have done to make all the schools in your community—preschool; elementary, middle and high schools; technical schools, and colleges and universities—safe.This, ultimately, is your responsibility. If your government officials have taken no action or minimal action or are reluctant to discuss the issue with you at all, then you must join with other members of your community to make sure your government officials are responsive to and do listen to your concerns and that they address the issue of school security. After all, these Government officials work for you. not for themselves, and they owe it to you to make sure that the life and well-being of your children are safe. There is no excuse for delay. Don’t wait for your child to become another statistic!________________________________________________________Copyright © 2018 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

MAINSTREAM “PRESS” AND CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS COORDINATE BRAZEN ATTACK AGAINST NUNEZ MEMO

PART NINE

One would think the publishers, editors, and reporters who work for the mainstream Press—all those who claim to prize and champion the principles of civil libertarianism—would have applauded efforts of the Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee of Intelligence to bring, to the attention, of Americans the devious, insidious malfeasance of senior DOJ/FBI Officials, and that they would do so vociferously.  Not so! Instead, major news organizations like The New York Times remained, for several weeks, abjectly, painfully quiet, hoping the matter would just go away and that the public would lose interest. But the matter wouldn't go away. Not by a long shot! So, in recent days, when it was no longer possible for the mainstream Press to remain quiet, it entered the fray, but did so only to echo the sentiments of Congressional Democrats on the Committee.These Congressional Democrats not only condoned the malfeasance of top DOJ/FBI Officials, but actively encouraged it. You would think Congressional Democrats would work hand-in-hand with their Congressional Republican counterparts on the Committee to provide much needed oversight of DOJ and FBI abuses. After all, the purpose of the House Permanent Select Committee of Intelligence is to provide oversight of the powerful DOJ/FBI and of the vast intelligence apparatuses, consistent with the Committee's mandate as set forth on the Committee's website:The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Congressman Devin Nunes (California). Created in 1977, HPSCI is charged with oversight of the United States Intelligence Community—which includes the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the following seventeen elements of the U.S. Government—and the Military Intelligence Program. The key word here is "oversight." The job of the House Permanent Select Committee of Intelligence is to provide watchful care of singularly powerful, secretive federal Government departments, agencies, and bureaus on behalf of the American people. The Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee seek to perform their duty, while the Democrats who sit on the Committee, shirk that duty. Congressional Democrats should have supported their fellow Committee Members. Instead they castigate them, and, in so doing, have forsworn their duty as Committee members and as Representatives of the people.Congressional Democrats who sit on this powerful House Permanent Select Committee of Intelligence Committee, do not, apparently, recognize that their job is one of oversight, or maybe they have forgotten this, or otherwise they don't care, or, perhaps--worst of all--they have capitulated. This means they are taking their marching orders from the individuals in the Deep State and Shadow Government. They are, then, deliberately undermining the work of the House Permanent Select Committee of Intelligence to engage in a duplicitous, reprehensible attack on the United States President, Donald Trump. And that means they are engaging in an insidious, outrageous, reprehensible attack on the American electorate and on the United States Constitution. This is their ultimate betrayal. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the ranking Democratic member on the Committee and his ilk, including, most notoriously, Eric Swawell (D-CA), Schiff’s close compatriot on the House Intelligence Committee, have literally given the “Green Light” to those individuals who work in the DOJ/FBI who have abused their authority, who have betrayed their Oath, and who have betrayed this Nation and the American people. By facilitating wrongdoing in Government, Congressional Democrats who sit on the House Permanent Select Committee of Intelligence have conveyed the message to the DOJ/FBI and to those who work in the intelligence community that these people can do whatever they want; that Congressional Democrats, like Adam Schiff, Eric Swawell and others, will cover for them. Congressional Democrats have thus become mere toadies of senior Officials of the DOJ/FBI and of the vast intelligence apparatuses. They cloak abuse in Government, rather than bringing abuse to light, and, in masking serious abuse in Government, these Congressional Democrats compound malfeasance with malfeasance of their own.They are all mere toadies of the senior Officials of the DOJ/FBI and of the intelligence apparatuses. These toadies allow the hidden Deep State and Shadow Government, within the external Government we see, to exist and, in fact, to flourish. The Clintons and Barack Obama, along with Congressional Democrats, and several Republican Centrists, and the mainstream media, and their trans-nationalist, internationalist globalist billionaire benefactors, are enablers of the Deep State and of the Shadow Government and always have been. Even now, behind the scenes, they are all quietly, incessantly working to undercut the U.S. President. In so doing, they are working to undercut the will of the people; they are working to undercut the sovereignty and independence of the United States; they are working to undercut the supremacy of our Constitution and our system of laws; they are working to destroy the rights and liberties etched in stone in the Bill of Rights.Unchecked, abuse of power invariably continues unabated, and, in fact, worsens incrementally over time. Lack of Congressional oversight, coupled with a compliant, mainstream Press that operates merely as an echo chamber of and for an effete Congress encourages malfeasance in the Bureaucracy of the Federal Government. Lack of strong Congressional oversight allows senior Officials in the labyrinth of the Deep State and Shadow Government to operate with impunity. Congressional Republicans must protect President Trump so that the President may do the job the American electorate expects of him,  which is to strengthen this Country and revitalize it; to strengthen the rights and liberties of the American citizenry; to make clear to trans-nationalist, internationalist globalists that the United States belongs to the American citizenry, and to no one else; to make clear that Americans have a right to take pride in their history, in their core values, in their history, in their Christian heritage and that there is no reason to feel guilty about any of this. Of course, Congressional Democrats and the mainstream media want none of this. Their vision for this Country marks the end of it. They wish to turn this Country over to the weak, the effete, the effeminate--making it ripe for takeover. So it is that the American citizenry cannot depend on either Congressional Democrats or upon the mainstream Press to investigate and curb abuses and excesses in Government. Rather, these Congressional Democrats, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the publishers, editors, reporters, news anchors and commentators of left-wing networks, namely and particularly, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and even PBS, that comprise the bloated mainstream Press, are all complicit in hiding evidence of gross malfeasance in the Federal Government. But, they go further; much further. Congressional Democrats and the mainstream Press not only hide evidence of malfeasance in the high ranks of the DOJ and FBI, and in other Federal Government departments, bureaus, and agencies, they actively abet Federal Government malfeasance.The mainstream media, in particular—this Press that prides itself as the protector of liberty is anything but that. The mainstream Press has devolved into a mere mouthpiece for the machinery that comprises the Deep State and the Shadow Government. This mainstream Press is now merely an organ of propaganda. This Press does not strive to preserve the sacred rights and liberties of the American citizenry but, rather, works methodically, inexorably to undermine those rights and liberties—the very rights and liberties upon which a free Republic rests.The New York Times wasted little time and expended much effort in attacking the House Intelligence Committee “Nunez” Memo, devoting considerable newsprint in that effort, as is clear from a perusal of the Saturday, February 3, 2018 edition of the newspaper.On page A13 of the print edition of the newspaper, the Times published the entirety of the Nunez Memo, including the cover letter, authored by the President’s personal attorney Donald F. McGahn II. The Arbalest Quarrel feels it worthwhile to analyze the NY Times’ analysis of the Memo and Cover letter so that the American public can see, firsthand, how a major newspaper employs propaganda in a continuing campaign of disinformation and misinformation, to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of Americans as to what to believe.In our next article of this multi-part series, we explore the NY Times’ deeply flawed analysis—analysis so obviously flawed that it adds credence to the conclusion that the NY Times is, indeed, complicit in protecting malfeasance in the senior ranks of the DOJ/FBI, and, in that act, shredding the U.S. Constitution and undermining the very rights and liberties of the American people it pretends to protect.The American citizenry should be appalled by the extravagant misuse of Government power and authority. Please contact your House and Senate Congressional Representatives. Tell them you support the work of Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Senator Chuck Grassley in unmasking corruption in the Federal Government and in bringing to justice those who presently work in or who have worked in the FBI and DOJ, or in the intelligence community, or in the Department of State, who have betrayed the trust that the American people have placed in them. The phone number to call is: 202-224-3121._____________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

WHAT DOES PRESIDENT TRUMP’S DECLASSIFICATION AND RELEASE OF THE NUNEZ MEMO PRESAGE FOR THE NATION?

PART EIGHT

As anyone who keeps abreast of the news knows, the “Nunez Memo,” prepared by Congressional Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence by order of the Committee’s Chairman, Representative Devin Nunez (R-CA), documenting DOJ/FBI abuse of the FISA Court is now out. President Trump declassified it, as is his Presidential prerogative, and authorized its release to American public. The Memo illustrates clear wrongdoing of the DOJ and FBI in the way Senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI obtained a warrant to conduct secret surveillance of an American citizen, Carter Page, a one-time bit player in Donald Trump’s campaign. Senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI likely violated Carter Page’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and likely violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well. And, they certainly violated several Federal Statutes. To his credit, President Trump did not redact the names of those DOJ and FBI Officials.Congressional Democrats and their shills in the mainstream media wasted no time excoriating both the release of the Memo and the contents of it. More memos from Congressman Devin Nunez, will be forthcoming. This isn’t something that Congressional Democrats and those whom they protect within the Deep State and Shadow Government want. They aren’t pleased with the light that is beginning to shine on them all, and they have orchestrated plans to deal with it, now that the Nunez Memo is in the public domain. One tactic involves preparation of a Memo supposedly rebutting the Nunez Memo. That “Schiff” Memo has been drafted and voted upon by the entire the House Intelligence Committee. The Committee has voted to release the Memo. As with the Nunez Memo, the Schiff Memo will be submitted for President Trump’s review and action.Congressional Democrats along with reporters and editors of mainstream newspapers, prominently and particularly, The New York Times, and news commentators and news anchors in mainstream cable news networks—like ABC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC—berated Congressional Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee for releasing the Memo, claiming it constitutes a threat to our National Security, and, in the same breath asserting, incongruously and inconsistently, that the Memo failed to live up to its hype. So, which is it? Does release of the “Nunez Memo” constitute a danger to the security of our Nation, or is it nothing more than a tempest in a teapot?Through deliberate mixed messaging Congressional Democrats and their shills in the mainstream media “screw with” the American psyche, to confound, disorient the American public so that the public doesn’t know what to believe concerning the Nunez Memo. Hence, Congressional Democrats and their shills in the mainstream media offer to the American public two primary, but inconsistent accounts. Yet, they are wrong on both scores.The Nunez Memo is critically important. It is hardly “hype.” President Trump’s declassification of the Memo and release of the Memo to the American public alerts Americans to the presence of rogue elements in the highest ranks of the DOJ and FBI who have betrayed their Nation. That is information Americans have a right to know and need to know. So, release of the Memo neither threatens the security of our Nation, nor is it hype. Indeed, far from amounting to a threat to the security of our Nation, the Memo’s release serves to safeguard it.The Nunez Memo serves as the most important information of serious criminal abuse in the Federal Government to come to the attention of the American electorate in the last several decades. It is an earth-shattering exposé of FISA Court abuse by the DOJ and FBI. Granted, the language of the Memo is dry and pedantic, but Republicans on the House Committee of Intelligence aren’t writing a novel. No colorful verbiage exists in the Memo because the Memo’s authors do not wish to entertain Americans, but, rather, to educate and inform them. And, they did that.The Memo exposes the dangers of secrecy in a free Republic, where high-ranking Federal Government bureaucrats operating in the spheres of intelligence, police, and law, wielding immense power, render decisions and take action on those decisions, based on their own personal philosophical and political beliefs, whims, and predilections, caring not one whit whether those decisions and actions tread on the rights and liberties of the citizenry as laid out in the Bill of Rights, and caring not one whit whether those decisions and actions extend well beyond the parameters set by Federal Statute. Indeed, it is abundantly clear, from a perusal of the Nunez Memo, that senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI act in extravagant defiance of the U.S. Constitution and Federal Statute.What can the American citizenry do to correct this abuse in high Government Office? Very little it seems. The American citizenry has no recourse, except for the oversight that Congress provides. It is curious, then, that Congressional Democrats would object to Congressional Republicans’ bringing to light Federal Government abuses. But, Congressional Democrats do object to release of the Memo. Among their other purported concerns, they claim that the Memo would cause the American citizenry to lose faith in the DOJ and FBI. But, then, that is the point. The public should be concerned.One must ask: Does it serve Americans’ best interests to doubt the integrity of the DOJ and FBI when sufficient cause exists to doubt that integrity? Or does it serve Americans’ best interests to live under the illusion that senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI operate within the bounds and constraints of the U.S. Constitution and Federal Statute, when, in fact, they do not, and have betrayed the American citizenry’s trust?Apparently, Congressional Democrats, such as Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Eric Swalwell (D-CA), members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence believe it better for Americans to live under illusion. Congressional Republicans clearly do not, and it is fortunate that Americans have individuals such as Representative Devin Nunez (R-CA), Chairman of that Committee, who, along with other Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence realize their responsibility to inform the American citizenry of serious abuses in the DOJ and FBI when serious criminal abuses come to light. Americans obviously cannot rely on Congressional Democrats, nor can they rely on the mainstream media Press, to keep Americans informed of betrayal of the public trust by high ranking Officials in the most powerful and secretive police, intelligence, and legal institutions of this Country.The public should keep in mind that, if the Democrats gain control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections, Representative Schiff will gain the chairmanship of the powerful House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. This is a man who, recently, in his continuing diatribe against release of the Nunez Memo, seemingly inexplicably brought up, as an aside, that Russians now support the right of the American people to keep and bear arms? From what bizarre realm of horror and fantasy did Representative Schiff pull that idea? And what was the point of it: that Russians, according to Schiff, suddenly have reverence for our sacred Second Amendment, so we should not; or, perhaps, that Russians hope that Americans around the Country will suddenly go on a massive shooting spree, killing each other?This man, Adam Schiff, is a menace to all that is holy. What he is doing in Government has nothing to do with protecting this Nation and its people and upholding the U.S. Constitution. It has everything to do with tearing down this Nation under the guise of protecting it; destroying the rights and liberties of its people under the cloak of strengthening them; subverting the Constitution behind the mask of preserving it. He seeks, through his position as Ranking Member of the Intelligence Committee, just below Representative Nunez, Chairman of the Committee, to undermine the will of the American electorate through his constant, pertinacious, presumptuous, indefensible, intolerable and singularly bizarre attacks on the Chief Executive of this Nation, President Trump.President Trump, to his credit—unlike Representative Schiff and his fellow Congressional Democrats—holds the American citizenry in high regard. Through declassification of the Nunez Memo and its subsequent release to the American citizenry, President Trump has opened a window to the machinations of  high-ranking Officials of the Deep State and Shadow Government, operating beyond the bounds of law. The American public bears witness to the contempt by which those who should be serving the public, have rebelled against it, and seek to oppress it.We continue with articles, bringing to light the game plan of those who have engineered a silent, insidious coup d’etat of the Government of the United States. The betrayers of the Nation haven’t yet lost. The American public is just now beginning to gain a glimmer of insight of the power wielded by insidious forces within the bowels of the Federal Government. Americans must remain vigilant.______________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

RELEASE THE MEMO: SENIOR OFFICIALS OF THE DOJ AND FBI HAVE BETRAYED THEIR OWN AGENTS OF THE RANK AND FILE AGENTS AND THEIR OWN ATTORNEYS, AND HAVE BETRAYED THE AMERICAN CITIZENRY

PART SIX

WHOM SHALL WE SAY IS HONORABLE, AND REALLY MEAN IT? WHOM SHALL WE SAY IS HONORABLE AND TRULY MERITS THE APPELLATION OF IT?

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interréd with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest— For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men— Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:  Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him? O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.Act III, Scene 2, Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare

DOJ, FBI OFFICIALS—INCLUDING PETER STRZOK, LISA PAGE, SALLY YATES, ROD ROSENSTEIN, ROBERT MUELLER, ANDREW MCCABE, JAMES COMEY, ANDREW WEISSMAN, JAMES RYBICKI, LORETTA LYNCH, AMONG OTHERS, SOME OF WHOM ARE KNOWN AND MANY OF WHOM REMAIN UNKNOWN, AND DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS LIKE ADAM SCHIFF, AND DIANNE FEINSTEIN,—HAVE SOUGHT TO RAISE UP A LIKELY SERIAL FELON, HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, AND HAVING BEEN UNABLE TO DO SO, SEEK EVEN NOW, AUDACIOUSLY, TO BRING LOW THE NATION’S PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, A MAN WHO HAS BEEN ELECTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RULES AND LAWS OF OUR COUNTRY. THESE SENIOR OFFICIALS OF THE DOJ, FBI AND CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATIC LEADERS CONTINUE TO BETRAY THIS NATION AND TO BETRAY ITS CONSTITUTION AND TO BETRAY ITS PRESIDENT AND HAVE BETRAYED AND CONTINUE TO BETRAY THE AMERICAN CITIZENRY—BUT, SURELY, THEY DID SO AND CONTINUE TO DO SO FOR GOOD CAUSE AS THEY ARE HONORABLE, ALL OF THEM, HONORABLE MEN AND WOMEN.

Bureaucrats of the Deep State and Congressional Democrats are frightened, and discontented, and are quietly seething with rage. There is no other accurate way to put it. Since Hillary Clinton lost the election, they have been hard at work, attempting to destroy Donald Trump and the Trump Administration--partly as payback for the audacity of Trump to snatch the Presidency from the grasp of Hillary Clinton. The problem for these Congressional Democrats and Bureaucrats of the Deep State is that they must come out of the shadows and demonstrate not only how much they loathe Trump but the extent of their contempt for the American people.Had Hillary Clinton prevailed in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, as these Bureaucrats of the Deep State and as Congressional Democrats  had hoped, and, indeed, had assumed, the slow dissolution of our Country as an independent sovereign Nation, and the slow undermining of our sacred Bill of Rights would have continued, quietly, surreptitiously, inexorably, unabated. But, because Hillary Clinton lost the election, the betrayers of this Nation must show their hand. They are forced to cover their tracks, and, at one and the same time, they brazenly attempt to undermine the President of the United States, Donald Trump. Even now they are hard at work to warp this Nation into a thing completely alien to it--something completely at odds with the founders vision for it. These Congressional Democrats and Bureaucrats of the Deep State operate seemingly oblivious to the fact that the American electorate has spoken. Clinton has not won the election. Her imperial ambitions are done, finished.The American electorate has had enough of the Clintons and of Obama. It has seen the damage wrought by the Obama Presidency--damage that would not have been redressed but that would have continued into a Clinton Presidency--and the electorate has voted into Office, a man who has a new vision for this Country, a man who seeks to set the Nation on its proper course, a course consistent with the vision that the founders of the Nation, the framers of our Constitution, had desired for this Country.Yet, the betrayers of our Nation will not abide this. Unfortunately, their reach extends well beyond the Bureaucratic institutions of our Government. These betrayers have infiltrated the business, financial and technology sectors of the economy, and they have infiltrated the institution of education and they have infiltrated the entertainment and media industries.The mainstream news media Press continues its rampant, rabid assault against President Trump, all the while claiming disingenuously, that it is simply reporting the “truth.” But, "this truth” to which they ascribe is an amorphous, flexible concept and they use their notion of “truth” to discourage, trouble, and confound the public.And, the Deep State Bureaucrats of the DOJ and FBI and intelligence agencies, for their part, misuse regulatory power, all the while claiming to do so to secure our national security. How it is that senior officials of the FBI would fail to recommend that charges be brought against a likely career felon like Hillary Clinton and how it is that officials of the DOJ would fail to indict this person, doing their damnedest to see to it that she continue her run for President of the United States stretches credulity. Yet, the mainstream media Press assert the integrity of these senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI, and Congressional leaders of the Democratic Party also assert and proclaim the integrity of these senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI. And these men and women, these senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI do, themselves, proclaim their integrity and forthrightness. And, of course  these men and women of indelible integrity, that exude such purity and piety, are honorable, all of them truly honorable men and women.Should the American citizenry doubt this, any of it? And, what of Hillary Clinton? What an abundance of integrity stuffed in the encasement of her body. Did Hillary Clinton commit numerous felonies? Of course not! How do we know. We know this because FBI Officials such as James Comey and Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok say so. And, we can take them at their word. Because these men, of course, all of them, do exude an abundance of integrity. And they are all, all of them, truly honorable men.And, Robert Mueller? What can we say about him? Robert Mueller is said by his proponents to exude the utmost integrity. Can anyone reasonably doubt that? But, if he had such integrity, would this man—this man of integrity, this honorable man—deign to have reason to investigate the President of the United States? Robert Mueller, this man of integrity, of honor, of rectitude, must think that the President and the President’s Campaign Officials and the President’s Cabinet have engaged in subterfuge with Putin and the dastardly Russians. After all, Russia, the evil empire of Vladimir Putin, is attempting to destroy our Democratic Republic, don’t you know? And, how do we know? We have it on faith. We have it from the words of an honorable man, Adam Schiff and we have it from the words of an honorable woman, Dianne Feinstein—for they are all, both of them truly honorable people. This honorable man and this honorable woman has the best interests of the American people at heart. Who among the American citizenry can reasonably doubt that? Can any American citizen truly doubt that?Look at all that these Congressional Democrats have done for us, and all that they will do for us if Americans would just give them the chance. And, yet, with so many months that have gone by and with so much taxpayer money expended, with so many Federal Governmental resources at his disposal, what has this man, Robert Mueller—this man of integrity, this man of honor—come up with? Nothing! There is not shred of evidence of criminal dealings between Trump Campaign or Administrative Officials and the Russians that can be presented to a Court of competent jurisdiction But, how can this be? There must be evidence of collusion! So, Robert Mueller and his team keep looking, and digging, and expending millions of taxpayer dollars. and utilizing substantial Governmental resources chasing after bugaboos. What a quandary. Robert Mueller and his team must come up with something concrete. And, if, when all is said and done, Robert Mueller and his team come up empty, what then? They will just try to come up with evidence of another crime. Perhaps, they have found it: the amorphous, flexible crime, “obstruction of justice.” That’s it: obstruction of justice! And, if obstruction of justice doesn’t exist, well, then, why not manufacture it?  And, Congressional Democrats give Robert Mueller and his team, their blessing. And, they continue their merry way. The American citizen loses out as the U.S. President continues to be relentlessly attacked and besmirched.

AND NOW WE HAVE THE FEINSTEIN AND SCHIFF LETTER CONTINUING TO PLAY UP THE FICTION OF RUSSIAN MEDDLING AND INTERFERENCE IN THIS COUNTRY’S AFFAIRS, AS IF THE RUSSIANS COULD POSSIBLY HAVE HAD REAL SUCCESS AGAINST US. THAT SAYS VERY LITTLE ABOUT OUR STRENGTH OF WILL, OF OUR FORTITUDE. YET, CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS CONTINUE TO TREAT AVERAGE AMERICANS LIKE FORLORN LITTLE LAMBS, WHO HAVE TO BE CONSTANTLY GUIDED AND OCCASIONALLY CHIDED AS THEY ARE OTHERWISE LIKELY TO GO ASTRAY.

We have an open letter from Dianne Feinstein (S-CA) and Adam Schiff (R-CA), directed to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Facebook, Inc., Mark Zuckerberg, and directed to Jack Dorsey, Chief Executive of Twitter, Inc., pleading with these Billionaire to take action against— “the Russians.” And, how is it that this ogre, “the Russians,” are undermining this Country? Feinstein and Schiff claim the Russians are now using “Bots” in a campaign to manipulate public opinion to undermine the Mueller investigation. Senators Feinstein and Schiff exclaim that it is the Russians, and not the American people, who are clamoring for release of the House Intelligence Committee Memo. And, if it is, indeed, the Russians, who are shouting for release of the Memo, then, why should it be released? Obviously, this Nation need not appease the Russians. But, if it were really the American people who seek release of the Memo, then, why not release it? Does not Congress need to appease the American people? Senators Feinstein and Schiff don’t think so, but they can’t say that. It has to be a Russian conspiracy.So, then, the American people are to believe that the bogeyman, this Chimera, the Russians, are behind the attempt to malign Mueller, and Officials of the DOJ and FBI, and that release of the House Intelligence Committee Memo would demonstrably detract from Robert Mueller’s investigation. And, we should believe Dianne Feinstein and Adam Schiff because they are, after all, both of them, honorable people. They seek only what is best for the citizens of this Country and what might that portend, apart from undermining the Trump Presidency. Well, consider: (1) providing amnesty and citizenship to millions of illegal aliens and keeping our Nation’s borders open and porous, as this will ensure a ready influx of ever more illegal aliens and provide a useful conduit for introduction of illegal drugs into this Country, cheap labor, bloated Welfare rolls, and “votes” by their grateful minions; (2) repealing the Second Amendment because firearms are dangerous American citizens cannot be trusted to wield them and therefore should not have access to them; (3) destroying statues and monuments across our Country and rewriting our Nation’s history to better fit a fictional narrative they wish to convey for our Nation; (4) clamping down on freedom of speech, under the First Amendment, to prevent Americans from saying anything that may offend some individuals’ finer sensibilities, notwithstanding U.S. Supreme Court rulings on that very issue; (5) increasing rampant globalization across all business and financial sectors as this will assist in the continued destruction of small business in this Country and undermine American craftsmanship and labor; (6) flooding this Nation with millions of Muslim refugees, as they are incapable of assimilation and their presence here will help create further upheaval in our Nation, assisting in the fracture of the American psyche, which is deemed to be a good thing; (7) subordinating our Constitution and system of laws to international laws and subordinating our Courts to foreign courts and foreign tribunals, as the undermining of our Nation’s laws will allow for a smoother transition of this Nation into a new pan-world Order, controlled by a small cadre of people who know what is best for everyone else; (8) denigrating the concept of ‘citizenship’ because Americans are to be considered “citizens of the world,” not citizens of the United States, which is considered parochial, and nationalistic, which is considered a bad thing; (9) continuing endless wars because war will fill multinational corporate coffers and volatility around the world serves the goals of the trans-nationalist, internationalist globalist "elites." And, under no circumstances should Americans malign senior Officials of the DOJ AND FBI because doing so tends to undercut the cohesiveness of those organizations and causes the American citizenry to doubt the integrity of those organizations. Well, that is the whole point, isn’t it? If the illusion of integrity is shattered, then it is for good cause, as the American people have to put that “house in order.” But, the senior leadership of the DOJ and FBI don’t see it that way. And, now we have, an Assistant Attorney General castigating the House for pushing for release of the House Intelligence Committee Memo to the American people, as reported by the political news website, "the hill":“Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd in a letter to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), said the Republican push to release a memo they say reveals political bias at the DOJ AND FBI would be ‘extraordinarily reckless' without a review by those agencies.” Yes, and the DOJ and FBI have always been so forthcoming to Congress. Here’s a news flash for Stephen Boyd: Congress doesn’t work for the FBI or the DOJ or, for that matter, for any other department, agency, or bureau of the Executive Branch of Government; and, so Congress doesn’t answer to the DOJ and FBI or to any other Executive Branch Department, Bureau or Agency. Congress is a co-equal Branch of Government and works for and answers only to the American people. Congress provides—or is supposed to provide—oversight of the DOJ, FBI, and of the myriad and certainly bloated intelligence apparatus of this Nation—not the other way around. And, Congress needs to exercise oversight in light of decades of abuses of these Departments, Bureaus, and Agencies. What has been extraordinarily reckless are the actions of Senior Officials in the DOJ and FBI. And, Stephen Boyd’s letter on its face demonstrates disrespect toward Congress, incredible insolence, and unbridled arrogance. In a word, the letter is ‘insulting.’Contrary to Boyd’s protestations release of the House Intelligence Committee Memo to the American citizenry, is just what this Country needs from the Federal Government--transparency, the thing much mentioned by Congressional leaders and then-President Barack Obama, too, but never embraced. The contents of the Memo are certainly meant to alarm the American citizenry as Americans will immediately be privy to gross and pervasive abuses in the bloated Federal DOJ and FBI—abuses that amount not merely to wrongs that may be ascribed to momentary ethical lapses and poor judgment but, matters that rise to the level of serious crimes against this Nation, against this Nation’s Constitution and laws, and against this Nation’s citizenry. Release of the House Intelligence Committee Memo that Republicans of the House Intelligence Committee prepared simply helps to set matters right. House Republicans simply wish to inform the American public of the fact of rogue elements in the DOJ and FBI that are doing a disservice to this Country, and to this Country's Constitution and laws, and to this Country's citizenry and that these individuals within the Justice Department must be brought to justice themselves. That was certainly the point of the Memo's creation. And, where is the harm in that?  None! There is harm, indeed, if rogue elements in the DOJ and FBI are not brought to justice. It is not surprising that Stephen Boyd would argue against release of the Memo, masking his concern over its release under the cloak of national security, when, what it is he really wishes to do is prevent the American public from seeing evidence of criminal conduct at the top law enforcement organization of the Nation.Nothing is worse than top police officials of the FBI and top attorneys of the DOJ who have besmirched their duty to this Nation, to the Nation’s Constitution and to the American people and who seek to keep their crimes secret. The House Intelligence Committee Memo does not need to be reviewed by and ought not be reviewed by and must not be subject to review by the DOJ and FBI Officials, who, in testimony before Congress, in recent months, have, themselves, for their part, been less than forthcoming and less than forthright.Stephen Boyd shows incredible nerve and audacity in his admonishment to Congress. The letter operates—as it obviously was meant to—as a scurrilous threat to Congress, really—as Boyd obviously wishes to keep the Memorandum away from the eyes of the American citizenry and to bury the Memorandum in the hidden recesses of the FBI.What is evident is that many Congressional Democrats and many senior Officials of the Deep State are about to be found out for what they are: corrupt, vindictive, belligerent, and arrogant functionaries of Government who are all “too full of themselves.” Their arrogance makes them blind to the ludicrousness and audaciousness of their actions. They clearly have nothing but contempt for the American people and that is shown in their actions and recent “letters.” They may see themselves as safeguarding this Nation; and even that may be giving them more credit than they deserve. For, despite their high-minded oratory, they truly care not one whit about the American people. They care only for and about themselves. The goals and aims they have for this Nation do not reflect the will of the American people and are at odds with the Founders’ vision for this Nation. The actions of Congressional Democrats and of these senior Officials of the Deep State ultimately belie their words. They have betrayed this Nation and continue, cavalierly, to do so. They have betrayed this Nation’s Constitution and its laws and believe they can continue to do so, for who will stop them? And they have betrayed the American people, and, even now, show their absolute contempt for the people. And, yet, for all that, they perceive themselves to be honorable, all of them, honorable men and women.’

THERE ARE, IN FACT, MONSTERS IN OUR MIDST; BUT THEY AREN’T THE RUSSIANS.

If there are monsters roaming about in the Land, they aren’t the Russians. They are, unfortunately, all too many Americans in high Office—those occupying leadership positions in Congress and senior leadership positions in the Federal Bureaucracy. These individuals live among us and have insinuated themselves, apparently inextricably, into the deepest recesses of our Nation’s institutions—something the Russians, whom they castigate, could never do and probably would never care to do even if they had the opportunity.Russians and Americans would serve each other better, today, as allies, on many fronts, than as opponents. The Democrats don't see it that way. They are still fighting the Cold War. But, too, these Congressional Democrats and Congressional Centrist Republicans, too, seek to entangle the U.S. into the political horror of the EU. Brussels and the Rothschild clan constitute more of a threat to the continued independence and sovereignty of the United States and more of a threat to the supremacy of our Constitution and laws than anything posed by Russia.These “Americans,” Congressional leaders like Schiff, and Feinstein, Schumer, and Pelosi and the rest of that motley troupe, along with senior Bureaucratic Officials of the DOJ and FBI and their minions seek to thrust their will on the rest of us, as they believe that they know what is in the best interests for all of us. Or, perhaps, they don’t care as they are working for their benefactors, those shadowy, secretive trans-nationalist, internationalist globalist “elites” who have a view of and goal for the World that serves their interests, not those of the American people or, for that matter,  for the interests of the people of any Nation State, either.The Democratic Party leadership and senior Officials in the Federal Bureaucracy seek to thrust their reality on all Americans even as, in so doing, they blatantly trample on our laws, our Constitution, and even as they boldly lie to the American people, claiming, disingenuously, that they support our laws, our Constitution, the “rule of law.” They do not.They and their trans-nationalist, internationalist globalist benefactors are the real monsters as they pose the real and continuous threat to the continued existence of our Country as a Free Republic and as an independent sovereign Nation. They are the real threat to the sanctity of the American soul and psyche and they seek to thwart the American people, viewing them less as citizens and more as servile subjects who are meant to serve them and their interests. They seek a metamorphosis of our Nation and its people; they seek to undercut the sacred rights and liberties the framers of our Bill of Rights etched in stone. They are the betrayers of our Nation and of our heritage, and they intend to defeat the American people.

AND WHAT ARE THE TOOLS OF CONQUEST THAT THESE MONSTERS EMPLOY TODAY? ARE THEY FORCE OF ARMS? OR, ARE THEY, RATHER, HIGH-MINDED POLITICAL RHETORIC COUPLED WITH DECEPTIVE, DECEITFUL ACTION—FLOWERY, POMPOUS WORDS  COUPLED WITH ACTION MEANT TO UNDERCUT OUR LAWS? WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE WITNESSING IS A CAREFUL SCHEME OF DECEPTION THAT CARRIES THE PRETENCE OF ADHERENCE TO THE RULE OF LAW BUT ACTUALLY DENIGRATES AND ENDANGERS IT AND, SO, OPERATES AS A BETRAYAL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. AND, ALL OF THIS CAREFULLY CONCEIVED SCHEME OF BETRAYAL IS ORCHESTRATED IN SECRET BY CALCULATING RUTHLESS INDIVIDUALS, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, IN THE DARK, AWAY FROM THE EYES AND EARS OF THE ELECTORATE, WHOM THEY PRETEND TO REPRESENT.

“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices – to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill – and suspicion can destroy – and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat [Martians? Russians?] has a fallout all of its own – for the children – and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is – that these things cannot be confined – to the Twilight Zone.” Closing remarks of Rod Serling, from the Twilight Zone Episode, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street.” First Aired, March 4, 1960.

CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE! DEMAND RELEASE OF THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE MEMO

The American citizenry should be appalled by the extravagant misuse of Government power and authority. Please contact your House Representative. Demand release of the House Intelligence Committee Memorandum that Representatives Jordan and Gaetz refer to, at once. The phone number is: 202-224-3121.______________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

RELEASE THE MEMO: CAN A CHARGE OF TREASON BE BROUGHT TO BEAR AGAINST DOJ AND FBI OFFICIALS WHO HAVE MISUSED THE POWER AND AUTHORITY OF THEIR OFFICE TO UNDERMINE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?

PART FOUR

THE CHARGE OF TREASON AGAINST THE DOJ AND FBI OFFICIALS, WHO MAY HAVE UNLAWFULLY CONSPIRED TO TOPPLE THE U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, IS UNAVAILABLE, ON THE FACTS, AS WE PRESENTLY KNOW THEM.

One would think that those Government Officials responsible for attempting a coup of the Executive Branch of Government should also be charged with treason--the most serious federal offense--that the founders of our Republic and framers of our Constitution specifically set down in Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, and which is one crime the conviction of which does allow for a death penalty sentence upon conviction.Senior officials of the DOJ and FBI committed several heinous acts against this Nation, this Nation’s Constitution and laws, and against this Nation’s institutions.

• REFUSAL OF THE FBI TO RECOMMEND INDICTMENT AND THE REFUSAL OF THE DOJ TO INDICT HILLARY CLINTON ON MULTIPLE COUNTS OF MULTIPLE FELONIES, EVEN THOUGH THERE EXISTS AMPLE EVIDENCE OF CRIME, INCLUDING THE MISHANDLING OF CLASSIFIED DATA, BRIBERY, DESTRUCTION OF DOCUMENTS, LYING TO FEDERAL OFFICIALS, MONEY LAUNDERING, RACETEERING, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, AND PUBLIC CORRUPTION AMONG MANY OTHERS, SO THAT A LIKELY CRIMINAL MAY CONTINUE HER BID FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES; AND, HAD SHE WON THE ELECTION, THIS WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN A LIKELY SERIAL FELON OCCUPYING THE HIGHEST OFFICE IN THE LAND, ENABLING A THOROUGHLY DISREPUTABLE INDIVIDUAL, ALONG WITH HER HENCHMEN TO TAKE THIS NATION DOWN TO UTTER AND IRRETRIEVABLE RUINATION;

• CONDUCTING A CLANDESTINE OPERATION AGAINST THE REPUBLICAN PARTY CANDIDATE FOR U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, TO UNFAIRLY, AND UNETHICALLY, ASSIST A LIKELY SERIAL FELON, HILLARY CLINTON, IN HER BID FOR U.S. PRESIDENT;

• IN FAILING TO INDICT HILLARY CLINTON ON MULTIPLE COUNTS OF MULTIPLE FEDERAL FELONIES, SENIOR FBI AND DOJ OFFICIALS ENABLED HILLARY CLINTON, A RUTHLESS, CUNNING, UNETHICAL, DISREPUTABLE INDIVIDUAL AND LIKELY SERIAL FELON, TO MISUSE THE MACHINERY OF THE DNC TO UNDERCUT THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL BID OF ANOTHER DEMOCRATIC PARTY HOPEFUL, BERNIE SANDERS; AND, AFTER, HILLARY CLINTON SECURED THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOMINATION FOR U.S. PRESIDENT THROUGH TREACHERY, SHE COMPOUNDED HER IGNOBLE CONDUCT AND MISDEEDS BY ORCHESTRATING OPPOSITION RESEARCH SCHEMES TO OBTAIN FALSE AND SCANDALOUS INFORMATION AGAINST HER REPUBLICAN PARTY OPPONENT, DONALD TRUMP, IN AN UNETHICAL ATTEMPT TO ENHANCE HER CHANCES TO PREVAIL AGAINST HER OPPONENT;

• CLINTON LOST, BUT, ONCE, TRUMP PREVAILED IN THE 2016 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, SENIOR OFFICIALS OF THE FBI AND DOJ PRESENTED FALSE DOCUMENTS TO THE FISA COURT IN ORDER TO SECURE, ILLEGALLY, A WARRANT TO INVESTIGATE TRUMP CAMPAIGN OFFICIALS;

• THESE SENIOR FBI AND DOJ OFFICIALS SET IN MOTION THE MACHINERY FOR APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL, UNDER FALSE PRETENSES, TO INVESTIGATE FALSE CLAIMS OF RUSSIAN COLLUSION WITH TRUMP CAMPAIGN OFFICIALS, ALL IN AN EFFORT TO UNDERMINE THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY, WHEN THERE EXISTS NO TENABLE BASIS TO SUPPORT SUCH INVESTIGATION.

The Constitution sets forth:Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.The U.S. Supreme Court, in Hanauer v. Doane, 79 U.S. 342, 20 L. Ed. 439, 12 Wall 342 (1879) stated, clearly, succinctly, and categorically: “No crime is greater than that of treason.” The crime of treason is also codified in federal statute, Chapter 115, Treason, Sedition, and subversive activities.Chapter 115 of Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 USCS § 2381 (Treason) states, in total:Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $ 10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court pointed out that the crime of treason comprises two elements: one, adherence to enemy; and two, rendering aid and comfort to him. Cramer vs. United States, 325 U.S. 1, 65 S. Ct. 918, 89 L. Ed. 1441 (1945).The expression, ‘enemy’ is a legal term of art. It has specific meaning in law.In Stephan v. United States, 133 F.2d 87 (1943), cert. den., 318 U.S. 781, 87 L. Ed. 1148, 638 S. Ct. 858 (1943), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said that ‘enemy’ refers to a party who is the subject of a foreign power whom the United States is in open hostility with.  The Arbalest Quarrel has written about the crime of treason in an article, titled, “'Treason'— A Timely Issue in the 2016 Presidential Election.” It would seem at first glance that senior DOJ and FBI Officials’ treacherous conduct should support a charge of treason, but, on close examination, the actions of these senior FBI and DOJ officials do not satisfy the predicate elements to support a charge of treason.Since, there is no evidence—at least as yet—that senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI that have machinated against Donald Trump have done so as the subject of a foreign power, with whom we are at war, these senior Officials of the FBI and DOJ cannot be charged with treason. A charge of treason against these individuals simply cannot gain traction.

IF TREASON IS UNAVAILABLE, ARE THERE ANY OTHER NATIONAL SECURITY CRIMES THAT SENIOR FBI AND DOJ OFFICIALS CAN FEASIBLY BE CHARGED WITH THAT INVOLVE A DESIGN TO ATTACK THE INSTITUTIONS OF THIS COUNTRY, INCLUDING, AND PRIMARILY, THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THIS NATION?

Before we attempt an answer to this question, let us step back for a moment, and take a closer look at two principal defilers of our Nation. One of them is Peter Strzok, a staunch supporter and defender of Hillary Clinton, who once served as Chief of the Counterespionage Section of the FBI, and who is still working for the FBI but has been demoted. Peter Strzok was a principal player in the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s criminal activities, pertaining to her mishandling of classified information during her tenure as Secretary of State in the Obama Administration. The Arbalest Quarrel has written extensively about this and about other crimes that Hillary Clinton likely committed during her tenure as Secretary of State and since then.  See, for example, the article titled, “Pay to Play: The Clinton Foundation’s Open Secret and Silent Purpose.”Strzok was also a member of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller’s team, ostensibly investigating collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian Government, until Mueller was forced to remove him—almost certainly, reluctantly—once evidence of Strzok’s strong bias against Trump came to light, after publication of a series of ominous text messages between Strzok and Strzok’s mistress, Lisa Page. Lisa Page is, for her part, a principal defiler of our Nation, as well. Lisa Page is an FBI attorney, whose animus against Trump is as strong as Strzok’s. The two of them exchanged text messages referring to a “secret society,” apparently composed of high ranking officials in the DOJ and FBI who had conspired to spare Hillary Clinton from felony indictments so that she could continue her bid for U.S. President in the 2016 election.Having lost the election to Trump, the betrayers of our Nation, Strzok and Page and other senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI, conspired to destroy the Trump Presidency.On January 23, 2018, Fox News reported,"Two top FBI officials under fire for exchanging anti-Trump text messages during the 2016 election spoke of a “secret society” the day after President Trump's victory, according to two lawmakers with knowledge of the messages.Peter Strzok—a top counterintelligence official involved in both the Hillary Clinton email probe and FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe—exchanged more than 50,000 messages with senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was romantically involved.House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, said Monday that among the messages the pair exchanged are references to a ‘secret society’ within the Department of Justice and the FBI.‘We learned today about information that in the immediate aftermath of [Trump’s] election, that there may have been a secret society of folks within the Department of Justice and the FBI—to include Page and Strzok—that would be working against him,’ Ratcliffe said Monday on Fox News’ ‘The Story with Martha MacCallum.’”Further, in a New York Post article, posted on the same date, the American public learns that:“. . . each day brings credible reports suggesting there is a massive scandal involving the top ranks of America’s premier law enforcement agency. The reports, which feature talk among agents of a “secret society” and suddenly missing text messages, point to the existence both of a cabal dedicated to defeating Donald Trump in 2016 and of a plan to let Hillary Clinton skate free in the classified email probe. If either one is true — and I believe both probably are — it would mean FBI leaders betrayed the nation by abusing their powers in a bid to pick the president.More support for this view involves the FBI’s use of the Russian dossier on Trump that was paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. It is almost certain that the FBI used the dossier to get FISA court warrants to spy on Trump associates, meaning it used the opposition research of the party in power to convince a court to let it spy on the candidate of the other party — likely without telling the court of the dossier’s political link.Even worse, there is growing reason to believe someone in President Barack Obama’s administration turned over classified information about Trump to the Clinton campaign.” Congressional Democrats are craven apologists for these individuals, in the DOJ and FBI who have misused the power and authority of their Office to promote their own political biases. It is one thing to hold political viewpoints. That is, of course, every citizen’s right. Under 5 USCS § 7321, “It is the policy of the Congress that employees should be encouraged to exercise fully, freely, and without fear of penalty or reprisal, and to the extent not expressly prohibited by law, their right to participate or to refrain from participating in the political processes of the Nation.” But, under 5 USCS § 7323, the so-called “Hatch Act”: “Subject to the provisions of subsection (b), an employee may take an active part in political management or in political campaigns, except an employee may not—use his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.” This is precisely what Senior FBI and DOJ officials did when they used their influence to assist Hillary Clinton in her U.S Presidential; bid. They violated the Hatch Act. But, having failed on that score, they went further, much further, as they sought and even now seek to undermine—and more—to destroy the Trump Presidency. There are many serious national security crimes, apart from treason. A few of them fall into the broad categories of espionage, sabotage, sedition, terrorism, rebellion or insurrection, and advocating overthrow of the Government. When we look at the specific legal elements of each of these horrific crimes against this Nation, we see that none of the actions of Strzok and Page, and other senior officials in the DOJ and the FBI—that at the moment have come to light—serious as they are, constitute the most damning crimes of all, namely, national security crimes falling into the aforementioned categories.Senior Officials of the DOJ and FBI clearly misused the power of their Office to enable a likely criminal, Hillary Clinton, to run for President of the United States when she should, instead, have faced indictment on serious felony charges.  Once they failed to seat Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office, these senior Officials have continued to misuse the power of their Office to undermine the President. It is clear that national security violations are taking place. Consider: Had Hillary Clinton won the election, we would see, for the first time in our Nation’s history, a person elected to the highest Office in the Land who had likely committed federal felonies—many of them, and, as U.S. President, she would not only have continued to conceal her felonies, she would have continued to commit them. All of this treachery would have remained hidden, buried, if Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 general election for U.S. President.Having failed to seat Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office, these same betrayers of our Nation are still machinating—this time to undermine the Trump Presidency. Yet, there is no national security crime, codified in Statute, into which the actions of these betrayers of the Nation can be charged. But, there should be.It is deeply troubling that senior officials can so blithely skirt the law, undermining the Office of the U.S. President as clearly and as effectively as would be the case were these individuals actually working for a foreign sponsor.We therefore call on Congress to take a renewed look at our National Security crimes and consider enacting a new Statute or set of Statutes that would allow for indictment, in the future, of those individuals, who, like Strzok, and Page and others, have committed serious national security breaches, tantamount to treason, for having misused their powerful positions in Government to undermine the Office of the President of the United States, grounded on the ludicrous notion that they, alone, know what is best for this Nation, and therefore dare to thwart the will, of the people, and do so, insidiously, surreptitiously, cavalierly, audaciously, under cover of darkness.The American citizenry should be appalled. Please contact your House Representative. Demand release of the House Intelligence Committee Memorandum that Representatives Jordan and Gaetz refer to, at once. The phone number is: 202-224-3121._________________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

RELEASE THE MEMO: REPUBLICAN HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS SHOCKED BY CONTENTS AND CALL FOR ITS RELEASE TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

PART ONE

HAVE SENIOR OFFICIALS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND FBI CONSPIRED TO OVERTHROW PRESIDENT TRUMP? IS THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION PART AND PARCEL OF THIS COUP ATTEMPT?

For those of you who tuned into Hannity’s Fox News program Thursday evening, January 18, and Friday evening, January 19, 2018, you learned that our Government is in the throes of a silent but deadly coup. U.S. House Representatives Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL), appearing on Hannity, Thursday, stated they had reviewed a classified House Intelligence Committee Memorandum that, as they strongly intimate, provide conclusive proof of a deliberate, calculated, categorical, treacherous attempt by senior FBI and Justice Department Officials to topple the Trump Presidency. They describe the Memo as “shocking.” Jordan and Gaetz want this Memo to be released to the public. They are insistent. They say the public has a right to know the contents of the Memo. And, we do.If half of what these House Republican Intelligence Committee members suggest is true—and, keep in mind that House and Senate Intelligence Committee members rarely, if ever, call for release of classified material to the American public—the public not only does have a right to know the contents of this Memorandum; they must know. But, House Democratic Party Intelligence Committee members according to Representatives Jordan and Gaetz, have demurred, claiming national security concerns, even, as they show, incongruously, lack of interest in the material. Very few House Democrats have reviewed the Memorandum and have, curiously, expressed no wish to do so.Government Officials and Legislators routinely cite national security concerns when they do not wish to release the contents of classified material; and, when they do, the contents are generally heavily redacted, and, so, essentially indecipherable. But national security is not at stake when Governmental documents contain content merely content that may be deemed merely embarrassing or humiliating. Worst of all, when Government documents contain evidence of ethical or criminal wrongdoing, transparency, not secrecy, is mandated. Evidence of criminal or ethical misconduct cries out for disclosure. The federal Government is, after all, our Government. It doesn’t belong to Congress and it doesn’t belong to bureaucrats. They are supposed to serve our interests, not their own. In refusing release of this House Intelligence Committee Memorandum to the American citizenry, House Democrats demonstrate complicity in the coup attempt and cover-up.Representatives Jordan and Gaetz, true patriots, having come forward with knowledge of this deeply disturbing Intelligence Committee Memo, have made abundantly clear that, once the American citizenry has access to the contents of it, heads will roll.The American public should not be surprised if, once the Memo is released, hopefully uncensored, some of the names that appear in the Memo happen to include:Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General of the DOJ; Andrew McCabe, acting Attorney General after the U.S. President Donald Trump fired James Comey; Andrew Weissman, Chief of the Criminal Fraud Section of the DOJ, and senior managing official on Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel team; Peter Strzok, senior counterintelligence official in the FBI, who served on Mueller’s team until Mueller was compelled to oust him for conspiratorial comments coming to light in his “insurance policy” email to Lisa Page, FBI lawyer; Lisa Page, FBI lawyer who failed to notify her superiors of Strzok’s conspiratorial intentions as she was probably complicit in the conspiracy; Sally Yates, Deputy Attorney General to then-President Barack Obama, and acting Attorney General after the departure of Loretta Lynch—the latter of whom served as Attorney General in President Barack Obama’s Administration immediately after the inauguration of Donald Trump to the Office of U.S. President Trump—whom President Trump rightfully fired for insubordination after Yates defiantly refused to defend the U.S. President’s order to close the Nation’s borders against terrorist threats from the Middle East; Bruce Ohr, Associate Deputy Attorney General, demoted, for concealing his secret meetings with Officials of Fusion GPS; James Comey, fired Director of the FBI, who leaked classified documents to The New York Times, through a friend, Daniel Richman, Professor at Columbia Law School. Comey’s documents served as a basis, along with the Fusion GPS Dossier, as the pretext for Rod Rosenstein’s appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel, whose tacit directive is to take down the U.S. President. And, we surmise that Robert Mueller’s name, too, may be one of the names that appears on the memo that Representatives Jordan and Gaetz refers to.Robert Mueller served as FBI Director from 2001 to 2013. As FBI Director, he must have had knowledge of and may have been complicit in approving illegal sale of uranium to the Russians. If true, it would be singularly odd for the DOJ's Robert Rosenstein to appoint Robert Mueller to head a team to investigate, inter alia--as reported in the letter (Order No. 2915-2017) from Rosenstein to Mueller--“any links and/or coordination between the Russian Government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.” We may surmise that Hillary Clinton’s name appears in this classified House Intelligence Committee Memo, too, along with the name of Loretta Lynch, who served as President Barack Obama’s Attorney General, from April 27, 2015 – January 20, 2017. And, is it possible that the name of Barack Obama, too, appears in this Memo? If, Clinton’s name and Obama’s name appears in this House Intelligence Committee Memo, we can well imagine why House Democrats adamantly refuse to release the Memo to the public. For, the entirety of the Democratic Party will be held up to shame. The shameful and likely criminal acts of these individuals are too numerous to mention here, but we have touched on several—especially those that point to serious criminal acts on the part of Hillary Clinton. Imagine a person such as Hillary Clinton in the White House.Senior Federal Government Officials, having failed to achieve their goal of depositing Hillary Clinton into the Oval Office—having hatched and orchestrated a plan, through then-FBI Director James Comey and others, to absolve Democratic Party U.S. Presidential Hillary Clinton of criminal wrongdoing on multiple counts of multiple felonies so that she could continue to run as the Democratic Party choice for U.S. President, hatched their secondary plan. They presented, as is abundantly clear, false and fabricated information, namely the notorious Fusion GPS Dossier—paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC)—to the FISA Court. These high-level Officials in the FBI and DOJ, in a plot to topple the U.S. President, Donald Trump, attempted to obtain a warrant that would give these disreputable, and arguably, despicable, Officials legal cover by allowing the FBI to secretly, and ostensibly lawfully, to investigate senior Trump campaign officials on false allegations of having had nefarious dealings with the Russians. If true, this would serve, conceivably, as the principal feasible basis to impeach Trump and, if successful, would lead to his removal from Office.Comey’s own memoranda to The New York Times was instrumental in the appointment of  a Special Counsel in the first instance. The Fusion GPS Dossier, a compilation of damnable lies and uncorroborated, baseless rumor, innuendo, and hearsay, is a manuscript of deception put together by an ex-British spy, Christopher Steele. Steele is an expert on deception and intrigues, who worked for British intelligence, MI-6. The Dossier became the vehicle through which the FISA Court issued a warrant, allowing/authorizing the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, to investigate presumptive collusion between the Trump Campaign and the Russian Government. This Dossier, this lie, this work of fiction, serves as the predicate basis for the Mueller investigation. Therefore, the Mueller investigation is itself grounded on a lie, made worse through misuse of exorbitant taxpayer monies and wasteful Governmental resources. Further, presenting false information to a FISA Court, swearing that it is true to obtain a warrant from the Court that the Court otherwise would not have issued--subornation of perjury--constitutes a fraud on the Court—compounding other serious wrongdoing by senior Officials of Government who have been working secretly and inexorably to bring down Trump and his Administration. These senior FBI and DOJ Officials, who may include senior and mid-level Officials in both the State Department and in the Intelligence Agencies as well—hold-overs from the Obama Administration, have betrayed, through color of law and their Office, their sacred oath to this Nation, to this Nation's Constitution and to this Nation's citizenry. Their weak defense, for their heinous betrayal, which will not operate as a tenable defense at all in a Court of competent jurisdiction, is that it is their belief that Donald Trump will lead this Nation on a path that is at loggerheads with foreign and domestic policies of previous Administrations which they had wish to see continued. This is the height of arrogance, and contrary to the will of the American people who elected Donald Trump to the Office of President of the United States. What these senior and mid-level Officials of the Deep State want, or, what they unwittingly would be working toward if they would only stop to think about the matter, is subordination of our Nation, its Constitution, its Bill of Rights, its system of laws, its jurisprudence, its core values, its system of ethics and morality, to that of a new trans-nationalist, internationalist, globalist world order, as  exemplified in the present undermining of the political, social, and financial fabric, and independence, and sovereignty of the Nations that comprise the EU.Is the Mueller probe, then, nothing more than a monstrous step in a planned, coordinated, coup d’état of the Executive Branch of Government? Does the House Intelligence Committee Memo that Representatives Jordan and Gaetz refer to evidence of that? We think so, as this is the only intelligible inference that can be drawn on the facts so far illuminated. Further facts would, we believe, serve only to  buttress this sound conclusion.In Part two of this multi-series, we look to the mainstream news media organizations. Why does the American citizenry hear so little about this? We will post Part two of this series, on the Arbalest Quarrel website, tomorrow. In Part three, immediately following the posting of Part two of this series, we will look at a few of the specific crimes that senior DOJ and FBI Officials likely committed--serious crimes that these Officials can feasibly be charged with through the contemptible, dishonorable, thoroughly reprehensible hoax they perpetrated on both the FISA Court and the American people, a hoax that is, as of the date of posting of this article, still being played out!_________________________________________________ Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE GEORGE LATIMER’S ORDER, BANNING PUBLIC GUN SHOWS, LIKELY VIOLATES FIRST AND SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS.

CAN A STATE OR ANY JURISDICTION WITHIN A STATE BAN PUBLIC GUN SHOWS OUTRIGHT, WITHOUT ILLEGALY TRAMPLING THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS?

“And, now, come to this spot Where the spotlight is hot And you’ll see in the spotlight A Juggling Jott Who can juggle some stuff You might think he could not. . . Such as twenty-two question marks, Which is a lot. Also forty-four commas And, also, one dot! That’s the kind of Circus McGurkus I’ve got!” ~ From the Children’s Book, “If I Ran the Circus," by Dr. Seuss (published by Random House 1956) 

We see with disturbing regularity, Governments, be they the federal Government, a State Government, or Government of a County, township, or municipality, blindly, indiscriminately, with stunning alacrity, and feverish abandon, enacting laws, codes, regulations, ordinances, or, as in the case, recently, in the County of Westchester, in the State of New York, an Executive Order that negatively impacts substantive, fundamental Constitutional Rights. Those in power, like the Westchester County Executive, George Latimer, seek, in the fiefdom, they "rule," a fanciful, but nightmarish world, a personal circus, that mirrors a conception of reality acceptable to them--a conception of reality consistent with their personal philosophy and ethical system but one at once inconsistent with the blueprint for a free Republic that the founders of our Nation designed and established for the American people, and one inconsistent with the rights and liberties that the framers of our Bill of Rights insisted on as a critical component of the Nation's Constitution, as a safeguard against the very actions that people such as George Latimer take. People, like the present Westchester County Executive, filled with their own smug certainty of what is right and proper, would dare to force the ordinary citizens, who reside in their domain of power, to live in the "circus" they create, compelled to obey and abide by the law they lay down, irrespective of natural law, codified as sacred rights and liberties comprising our Bill of Rights--rights existent intrinsically in each American citizen, as placed in each American soul, by the hand of the Divine Creator, that no man, acting as a demigod, may rationally and lawfully counteract or nullify.

WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE GEORGE LATIMER OVERTURNS THE ORDER OF HIS PREDECESSOR, ROB ASTORINO.

On January 2, 2018, George Latimer, a Democrat, took the oath of Office in his White Plains, New York Office, as the new County Executive of Westchester County, and wasted no time to attack the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “On his second day as Westchester County Executive, George Latimer delivered on a promise from in [sic] his campaign, and signed an Executive Order prohibiting the sale of guns on Westchester County property.” What precipitated this Executive Order? Apparently, George Latimer sought to reimpose on the American public that resides in Westchester County an earlier ban on public gun shows ordered by a prior Westchester County Executive, Andrew J. Spano, that had been lifted by George Latimer's immediate predecessor, Rob Astorino. As explained, further, on the Westchester Government website,“In 1999, gun shows were banned at the Westchester County Center by former County Executive Andrew J. Spano [a Democrat] in the wake of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. That prohibition was later revoked by Latimer’s immediate predecessor [Rob Astorino, a Republican].‘Westchester County government should not be in the business of advancing the sale of weapons and other items often sold at gun shows – plain and simple,’ said Latimer. ‘This is not a restriction on gun shows in the entire county, but rather just on public land.’Text from the Executive Order states that 'WHEREAS, recreational County facilities always serve our residents best when used for sporting events, concerts, trade shows, and educational opportunities for our youth. Gun shows are not what taxpayer financed property should be used for.'"Several websites dryly report this event; several with approval, some not.The seesawing of actions, up and down, back and forth—where one Westchester County Executive bans public guns shows, another County Executive lifts the ban, and a third County Executive reimposes the public gun show ban—reflects a clash of philosophies pertaining to import and purport of the Second Amendment, and to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well, played out on a small scale. How this clash of philosophies ultimately pans out, when fought out on the broad national scale, in Congress and in the U.S. Supreme Court, though, will have, for the American citizenry, vast implications and ramifications, for good or ill, for generations of Americans to come.

THE INDEFATIGABLE OBSTINANCE OF THOSE FORCES THAT DENIGRATE AND REFUSE TO TOLERATE THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS KNOWS NO BOUNDS.

George Latimer's Executive Order, banning public gun shows in Westchester County, represents the latest effort of antigun forces to place obstacles in the path of those American citizens who, as Latimer and his fellow travelers see it, have the audacity to exercise the natural and fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms that the framers codified in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. The framers, for their part, with clarity of foresight, provided to them with guidance from Divine Providence, saw abundant need for this sacred right to be codified in the Bill of Rights. The framers of the Bill of Rights, the founders of our free Republic, knew full well that nothing but force of arms serves to check tyranny and nothing but force of arms best protects the life, well-being, and sanctity of the individual. Thus, as Latimer and his cohorts in the antigun conspiracy take exception with those American citizens who wish merely to exercise, unimpeded, the right to own and possess firearms for their protection and to safeguard the continued existence of a free Republic, George Latimer and his antigun cohorts must also take exception with the framers of the Bill of Rights, for it is they, who made clear enough, beyond the power of anyone to ignore, that the right of the people to keep and bear arms does exist, that the right is sacred and indelible, and that this right, more than any other, defines our Nation and defines what it means to be an American citizen.

GEORGE LATIMER LAYS OUT FOR THE MAINSTREAM NEWS MEDIA PRESS THE PREDICATE BASIS FOR HIS EXECUTIVE ORDER BANNING PUBLIC GUN SHOWS IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY, SIGNALING HIS VEHEMENT DISAPPROVAL OF FIREARMS AND HIS STRONG DISAPPROVAL OF THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, CODIFIED IN THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

Where George Latimer’s sympathies lie on matters pertaining to the right of the people to keep and bear arms, one can readily ascertain. Talking to the Press, Latimer resorts to use of simplistic, superficial, banal political oratory, eschewing erudite, logical discourse—treating the public with condescension and contempt, as politicians customarily and most sadly do—punctuating his well-rehearsed talking points with the confident self-assurance and moral certitude of a televangelist delivering a weekly sermon to his TV audience. “Latimer said Tuesday that gun shows do not represent the family values reflected in the other events held at the county facilities. The ban is not a restriction on gun shows in the entire county, but just on public land, he said. ‘The County Center hosts basketball, Westchester Knicks play there in the developmental league, we have had the Harlem Globetrotters come in for performances, we have a bridal show coming up, we have a model train show that normally comes into the arena, we have job fairs and high school graduations and concerts, all very friendly family fare,’ he said.”The County Executive, George Latimer, also proclaims: “I believe the majority of the Board of Legislators, and myself as executive, believe very strongly that this is the wrong venue for a gun show. . . .” Well, who would dare oppose George Latimer; for, after all, as stated in County Code: “The County Executive shall be the chief executive and administrative officer of the county and the official head of the county government.” Westchester County Code of Ordinances, Part I, Charter, Article 110, County Executive.

COUNTY EXECUTIVE GEORGE LATIMER’S BAN ON PUBLIC GUN SHOWS IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY SIGNALS HIS SUPPORT OF GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO’S ANTAGONISTIC ATTITUDE TOWARD GUNS AND THE GOVERNOR'S ANTAGONISTIC ATTITUDE TOWARD THE EXERCISE OF THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, CODIFIED IN THE SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

As George Latimer, County Executive, sets his imprimatur on the County level, one would do well to recall Governor Andrew Cuomo’s own actions, negatively infringing the Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms, on the State level. After all, it was Governor Cuomo who signed into law, on January 15, 2013, and who exclaims with visible pride, enactment of the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013 (NY Safe Act), one of the most restrictive and draconian set of firearms laws ever to be enacted in the United States—and a direct and clear repudiation of and affront to the fundamental right, codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Other anti-Second Amendment Governors have used the NY Safe Act as a model for enactment of their own restrictive firearms laws. And, on the national stage, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein had envisioned and had hopes of engineering similar NY Safe Act legislation for the entire Nation—a direct and cold and calculated and audacious challenge to any American citizen who might wish to exercise his or her fundamental right to keep and bear arms. Fortunately, she did not succeed in that endeavor. But, like a true fanatic, she employs indefatigable resolve, constantly introducing anti-Second Amendment bills in the U.S. Senate, and forever scheming behind closed doors.Antigun Politicians like Governor Andrew Cuomo and Westchester County Executive, George Latimer, and Senator Dianne Feinstein know they can always rely on the mainstream news media to trumpet, with great fanfare, their antigun message.

THE MAINSTREAM NEWS MEDIA “PRESS” SERVES IS OWN ENDS, AND THOSE OF ITS BENEFACTORS—THE WEALTHY, POWERFUL, RUTHLESS INTERNATIONALIST, TRANS-NATIONALIST GLOBAL “ELITE” THAT IT OBSEQUIOUSLY SERVES—TO DENIGRATE, INCESSANTLY, UNCEASINGLY, THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, CODIFIED IN THE BILL OF RIGHTS.

Arguably, one of the most unforgiveable actions of the ‘mainstream news media’—where the expression, ‘mainstream news media,’ is generally equated with the term, 'Press,' as the word, ‘Press,’ appears prominently in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution —is that the Press, id est, “this mainstream news media Press,” fails to defend the fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms, as codified in the Second Amendment. That is bad enough. Worse, the mainstream news media Press caustically, audaciously, and emphatically attacks those who defend the right codified in the Second Amendment. This mainstream news media Press, scurrilously abets the actions of those governmental leaders, who, with the power they wield through the Legislative Office they hold, do their utmost to undermine, rather than defend the right.Mainstream news media organization newspaper publishers like The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, The Guardian, and USA Today, and mainstream news media broadcast outlets like ABC, MSNBC, CBS, CNN, PBS, and BBC all provide a quick and ready and willing forum for those Congressional and State legislators and for those antigun proponents and antigun provocateurs and for those obstreperous left-wing agitators that allows them to malign those American citizens who hold to traditional American values and who seek to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms. With customary malicious and malevolent bravado, and self-assured smugness, these mainstream news media newspapers and other mainstream media news organizations and their affiliates denigrate the Second Amendment and denigrate those who support it and denigrate those who support the framers' conception of the other Nine Amendments as well. Through their commentary and  Op-Eds, and through their news reporting, too--where mainstream media news coverage is seen less as hard, so-called "straight" news and more as editorial slants posing as news stories--these mainstream media news organizations deliberately and disingenuously concoct a central theme, a story-line, a story narrative, that, day-by-day, builds upon the story of the day before, not unlike what one sees when reading a work of fiction,that, chapter by chapter, builds sequentially on what came before, to a pre-ordained conclusion that the author mandates in the template for the work of fiction that the author creates.This same mainstream news media Press malevolently assails, with sanctimonious conviction and obvious glee, anyone who might dare challenge its pronouncements; for, the Press quickly reminds the American public that freedom of the Press is, after all, a fundamental right, even as that same Press insists that the right of the people to keep and bear arms isn’t. The irony in the claim—selectively and vehemently defending one fundamental right while viciously attacking another—is, apparently, lost on those who work for the mainstream news media Press, even if that irony isn’t lost on any other American.So, it should not be surprising that some Governmental leaders operate with characteristic aplomb and abandon to enact laws and take actions that undercut the right of the people to keep and bear arms as they have a powerful ally in the mainstream news media Press on their side. George Latimer evidently knows he has the backing of this mainstream news media Press, and with this Press on his side, he acts with impunity. Together, with a compliant County Government he leads, he obviously feels confident that his bold, legally dubious Executive Order, banning public gun shows, will go essentially unchallenged. For, who would dare confront him?Well, the Arbalest Quarrel does challenge Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s Order, banning public gun shows in Westchester County. And, we do proclaim loudly, assertively and confidently: Meaningful, compelling, deserving and discerning bases exist, in law, to challenge County Executive George Latimer’s Executive Order, on that portion of the Executive Order we have seen, as posted on the County Government website.Why do we say this? We have the weight of legal authority on our side.

COUNTY EXECUTIVE GEORGE LATIMER’S ACTION, BANNING PUBLIC SHOWS IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY IS LIKELY UNLAWFUL, AND A COGENT LEGAL BASIS EXISTS FOR CHALLENGING THE EXECUTIVE ORDER IN COURT.

Granted, the Arbalest Quarrel hasn’t had an opportunity to review the full text of George Latimer’s Executive Order. The reason is that the full text of the Executive Order has not been published on the Westchester County website. In time, perhaps, the full text of the Executive Order will be posted on the County Government website. There is, apparently, more to it.But, what we do see, from that portion of the Executive Order that has been published, namely that “recreational County facilities always serve our residents best when used for sporting events, concerts, trade shows, and educational opportunities for our youth [because] Gun shows are not what taxpayer financed property should be used for,” says enough for purpose of challenging the lawfulness of the Order. For, consistent with and supportive of George Latimer’s sentiments about firearms and about gun shows, as expressed to the mainstream news media Press, along with the language of the Executive Order itself, we conclude the language of the Order, as buttressed by the Westchester County Executive’s statements to the mainstream news media Press, demonstrate not only the County Executive’s open and visceral abhorrence of firearms, and not only his distaste for the right of the people to keep and bear arms as codified in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and not only his contempt for American citizens who wish to exercise that right, but constitute, too, unconscionable violations of the freedom of speech clause of the First Amendment to the U.S Constitution.That portion of the Westchester County Executive Order we have read, be it coupled with the Westchester County Executive’s statements to mainstream media newspapers and broadcast outlets, or not, amounts to an open admission of violation of the freedom of speech clause of the First Amendment.The Arbalest Quarrel will provide an in-depth analysis in a future article. Suffice it to say, here, that George Latimer’s Executive Order, through its very language, contravenes United States Supreme Court law.In critical part, the U.S. Supreme Court stated, in the 1994 case, Turner Broadcasting System vs. FCC, 512 U.S. 622; 114 S. Ct. 2445; 129 L. Ed. 2d 497; 1994 U.S. LEXIS 4831; 62 U.S.L.W. 4647: “At the heart of the First Amendment lies the principle that each person should decide for him or herself the ideas and beliefs deserving of expression, consideration, and adherence. Our political system and cultural life rest upon this ideal. See Leathers v. Medlock, 499 U.S. at 449 (citing Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15, 24, 29 L. Ed. 2d 284, 91 S. Ct. 1780 (1971));West Virginia Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 638, 640-642, 87 L. Ed. 1628, 63 S. Ct. 1178 (1943). Government action that stifles speech on account of its message, or that requires the utterance of a particular message favored by the Government, contravenes this essential right. Laws of this sort pose the inherent risk that the Government seeks not to advance a legitimate regulatory goal, but to suppress unpopular ideas or information or manipulate the public debate through coercion rather than persuasion. These restrictions ‘raise the specter that the Government may effectively drive certain ideas or viewpoints from the marketplace.’ Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Members of the New York State Crime Victims Bd., 502 U.S. 105, 116, 116 L. Ed. 2d 476, 112 S. Ct. 501 (1991). For these reasons, the First Amendment, subject only to narrow and well-understood exceptions, does not countenance governmental control over the content of messages expressed by private individuals. R. A. V. v. St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377, 393, 120 L. Ed. 2d 305, 112 S. Ct. 2538 (1992); Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397,  414, 105 L. Ed. 2d 342, 109 S. Ct. 2533 (1989). Our precedents thus apply the most exacting scrutiny to regulations that suppress, disadvantage, or impose differential burdens upon speech because of its content. See Simon & Schuster, 502 U.S. at; id., at (KENNEDY, J., concurring in judgment); Perry Education Assn. v. Perry Local Educators' Assn., 460 U.S. 37, 45, 74 L. Ed. 2d 794, 103 S. Ct. 948 (1983). Laws that compel speakers to utter or distribute speech bearing a particular message are subject to the same rigorous scrutiny. See Riley v. National Federation for Blind of N.C., Inc., 487 U.S. at 798; West Virginia Bd. of Ed. v. Barnette, supra. In contrast, regulations that are unrelated to the content of speech are subject to an intermediate level of scrutiny, see Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, 468 U.S. 288, 293, 82 L. Ed. 2d 221, 104 S. Ct. 3065 (1984), because in most cases they pose a less substantial risk of excising certain ideas or viewpoints from the public dialogue.” Let’s deconstruct a portion of this high Court opinion: “At the heart of the First Amendment lies the principle that each person should decide for him or herself the ideas and beliefs deserving of expression, consideration, and adherence. Our political system and cultural life rest upon this ideal.” There is a marked tension between the words of the U.S. Supreme Court and the words expressed in Westchester County Executive’s Order; for the language of the Executive Order stands in clear, categorical defiance to the well-reasoned opinion of the high Court in Turner. Again, the specific language of the Westchester County Executive Order of George Latimer reads: “WHEREAS, recreational County facilities always serve our residents best when used for sporting events, concerts, trade shows, and educational opportunities for our youth [because] Gun shows are not what taxpayer financed property should be used for [emphasis our own].” This is a presumptuous, arrogant assertion. Latimer predicates this Executive Order on, and attempts to support an unlawful and despicable Governmental act on, false moral piety. It is a ruse; no less so, if George Latimer truly believes that his Executive Order is justified because, in his mind, he has generated it from a sense of superior moral conviction, and sees it as an act of beneficence toward the residents of Westchester rather than, for what it really is, an act of defiance toward the supreme authority, establishing, in no uncertain words, the fundamental rights and liberties etched in stone in the Bill of Rights. Yet, Latimer's Executive Order, banning public gun shows in Westchester County, is nothing less than illegal gag order on free expression, posing as a righteous moral edict. For George Latimer is doing no less than thrusting his personal beliefs into the public sphere concerning what he sees, or what he would like to see, as the appropriate use of public County land and what he perceives as not constituting appropriate use of public land. Latimer obviously detests  guns, and he obviously abhors a citizen's exercise of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. By banning public gun shows, George Latimer uses his Office to make manifest in law, to actualize in Westchester County, his personal opinions and pompous high-minded moral judgments of what he deems to constitute appropriate behavior and what he signals as inappropriate behavior, informing residents of Westchester County, in no uncertain terms, as to what constitutes appropriate behavior in the County and what does not. Obviously, for George Latimer, those who wish to promote and hold public gun shows and those who wish to attend public gun shows are both engaging in inappropriate, immoral or amoral behavior, and he has signaled his clear disapproval of that behavior through the Executive Order he has issued on the matter. Undoubtedly, we will see more such Executive Orders emanating from his Office in White Plains, New York.George Latimer takes upon himself the role of guardian of public morality, and he has, through issuance of his Executive Order, given himself, albeit tacitly, the title of High Priest of Moral Order and Rectitude. It is George Latimer who determines what behavior is worthy of free speech protection under the First Amendment and what speech is not worthy of such protection, in Westchester County. Through his actions George Latimer demonstrates the height of arrogance and presumption. He uses a heavy hand to constrain the right of free speech that Westchester County residents might, one would think, reasonably expect is theirs to enjoy, as such right is codified in the First Amendment; and he uses a heavy hand to constrain, as well, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, as codified in the Second Amendment--another fundamental right that Westchester County  residents might, one would think, also reasonably expect is theirs to enjoy. Not so, according to George Latimer. But, the Courts may think differently. Latimer's Executive Order is not likely to stand up to rigorous legal scrutiny. For, contrary to George Latimer’s assertions as manifested in his actions, the Bill of Rights doesn’t stop at the border of Westchester County. Moreover, that the County Executive would deign, at least for a time, to allow gun shows to proceed unimpeded on “private” land within the County, for those Westchester residents who would wish to attend them, the fact that private gun shows may be permitted in Westchester County, when public gun shows cannot, under Latimer's Executive Order, does not suffice to circumvent a charge of Constitutional violations impacting public gun shows, whether private gun shows are a feasible, practical alternative or not.Under our system of laws, as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court, consistent with the U.S. Constitution, George Latimer, in his official capacity as the Westchester County Executive, but also as an American citizen, thrusts a personal view toward firearms on others which sees expression as a ban on public gun shows. But, it is one thing for an American citizen to dislike guns, to dislike gun shows, and to dislike the Second Amendment and to hold personal views on what should, in that person's mind constitute limits on free expression under the First Amendment, and, thereupon, to express views consistent with those preferences. That is permitted. That itself reflects a sacred right that an American citizen shall, as he or she wishes, exercise, freely, without constraint. That entails, as well, the sanctity and inviolability of each individual American citizen to be individual--a basic precept that underlies the entirety of the Nation's Bill of Rights. But where, as here, an American citizen—who wields power as a Government official—would dare impose, indeed, inflict, his belief systems on others, by erecting barriers to another American citizen’s fundamental and substantive Constitutional rights, that cannot and must not be borne. Governmental officers are, after all, in this Nation, under our Constitution and under our system of laws, public servants. Their duty is to serve the people, not to command subservience of the people, to bend the will of the American citizenry to that official's will. The Bill of Rights operates as an absolute constraint on the authority of any Governmental official, whether serving at the Federal, State, County, or local level. The Bill of Rights cannot lawfully be overridden, either by Statute or by Executive fiat. The Bill of Rights sets the parameters beyond which no Governmental official is permitted lawfully to enter.The U.S. Supreme Court further stated, in Turner,“As a general rule, laws that by their terms distinguish favored speech from disfavored speech on the basis of the ideas or views expressed are content-based. See, e.g., Burson v. Freeman, 504 U.S. 191, 197, 119 L. Ed. 2d 5, 112 S. Ct. 1846 (1992) (‘Whether individuals may exercise their free-speech rights near polling places  depends entirely on whether their speech is related to a political campaign’); Boos v. Barry, 485 U.S. 312, 318-319, 99 L. Ed. 2d 333, 108 S. Ct. 1157 (1988) (plurality opinion) (whether municipal ordinance permits individuals to ‘picket in front of a foreign embassy depends entirely upon whether their picket signs are critical of the foreign government or not’). By contrast, laws that confer benefits or impose burdens on speech without reference to the ideas or views expressed are in most instances content-neutral. See, e.g.  City Council of Los Angeles v. Taxpayers for Vincent, 466 U.S. 789, 804, 80 L. Ed. 2d 772, 104 S. Ct. 2118 (1984) (ordinance prohibiting the posting of signs on public property ‘is neutral—indeed it is silent—concerning any speaker's point of view’); Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc., 452 U.S. 640, 649, 69 L. Ed. 2d 298, 101 S. Ct. 2559 (1981) (State Fair regulation requiring that sales and solicitations take place at designated locations ‘applies evenhandedly to all who wish to distribute and sell written materials or to solicit funds’).”The language of Latimer’s Executive Order is, on its face, content-based, not merely neutral-based. The Executive Order, banning public gun shows in Westchester County, would, therefore, in our estimate, not withstand legal scrutiny if challenged.

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES DO NOT EXIST IN AN ACADEMIC VACUUM. THEY AFFECT THE LIVES OF ALL AMERICANS IN A TANGIBLE WAY; AND TWO OR MORE RIGHTS, SUCH AS THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS OF THE SECOND, OFTEN COHERE. THEY OFTEN, AS HERE, IN THE CASE OF AN EXECUTIVE ORDER BANNING PUBLIC GUN SHOWS, GO HAND-IN-HAND.

Much of restrictive gun law legislation, apart from expressly conflicting with the Second Amendment, casts a bright light on the views of those who support such draconian legislation. It is demonstrative evidence for inferring that the proponents of such legislation seek not only to curb exercise of the fundamental, substantive right codified in the Second Amendment, but to curb the American citizen's First Amendment expression of that Second Amendment right. These two Rights go hand-in-hand. When antigun proponents talk disparagingly of a so-called "gun culture" or "culture of guns," that they seek to curb, they really mean to contravene, to place unconstitutional constraints on the free speech clause of the First Amendment too. George Latimer’s Executive Order, unlike many restrictive gun measures, overtly—not merely impliedly—infringes the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech, afforded all American citizens and would, if challenged, likely be struck down as an unlawful overt and absolute attempt to control content of speech, well beyond the regulation of time, place, and manner of speech. George Latimer seeks to control expression of what to some constitutes an unpopular view as much as he seeks to contain gun shows in Westchester County. He sees public gun shows as unwanted displays of "gun culture" and of the "culture of guns" that he, along with other like-minded antigun proponents and antigun provocateurs denigrate, They thereupon attempt to contain, constrain and constrict and, eventually, to eradicate gun ownership and gun possession in this Nation, in the tangible, physical sense, But, they go beyond that. They seek much, much more. They seek no less than to eradicate, to excise from the memory of man, from the mind of the American citizenry, the very desire for, the very wish to exercise the right of the people to keep and bear arms--to erase, then, from the mind of each American citizen that anything sacred exists in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They seek for a day to arrive when people here perceive the Second Amendment as not merely archaic, anachronistic, and obsolete, but incongruent, bizarre, meaningless. To that end the mainstream news media Press and our Nation's Educational system is hard at work--hard at work to disrupt and destroy the Second Amendment and hard at work to destroy the unreasonable searches and seizures clause of the Fourth Amendment and hard at work to change the American public's perceptions toward and to severely constrain the notion of freedom of speech clause of the First Amendment

GEORGE LATIMER'S EXECUTIVE ORDER BANNING PUBLIC GUN SHOWS IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY RAISES OTHER LEGAL, AS WELL AS PERTINENT SOCIAL AND POLITICAL QUESTIONS, APART FROM THE EXECUTIVE ORDER'S NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE FIRST AND SECOND AMENDMENTS TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

George Latimer's Westchester ban on public gun shows in Westchester County--a ban that does not simply regulate time, place and manner of public gun shows but amounts to a total prohibition on gun shows--must be seen for what it really is: pernicious, discriminatory State regulation, operating to deny to a substantial class of American citizens use of a public forum for a legitimate Constitutional purpose. The question posed for review is this: Does not George Latimer's Executive order operate overtly, and unconscionably, and contemptuously to unconstitutionally discriminate against an entire class of citizenry, namely those American citizens who desire to own and possess firearms, by denying to these American citizens a vehicle, in the form of a public forum, through which an American citizen, not under disability, may seek to view and purchase firearms and such other items, such as memorabilia, that an American citizen has the right to own and possess? If an American citizen seeks merely and only to exercise a fundamental, substantive Constitutional right and if a public accommodation allows that citizen to exercise a fundamental Constitutional right, on what basis can a Governmental agent--in this particular case, the County Executive, George Latimer--lawfully deny, in totality, to an American citizen, the use of a public accommodation in which that substantive, Constitutional right may be exercised? If a legal basis does not exist for a total ban on gun shows, then George Latimer's unilateral action constitutes no less than an overt, unconstitutional discrimination against gun owners who desire to own and possess firearms. If true, then, does not George Latimer's Executive order impinge on and infringe the due process and equal protection clauses of both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as operating as an infringement of the free speech clause of the First Amendment and as an infringement of the Second?That George Latimer deigns to allow private gun shows to continue to be held in Westchester County, apart from public gun shows--at least for the time being--does permissible use of private accommodations for gun shows obviate Constitutional issues associated with a total ban on public gun shows in Westchester County? Then, too, does not George Latimer's ban on public gun shows operate as a shifty and deceitful attempt to slide around what antigun proponents and antigun provocateurs and antigun conspirators see as the public gun show "loophole" to the instant criminal background check system under federal law? For, if public gun shows do not exist, then, the perceived "loophole" issue disappears into mist. But, is not the "loophole" issue and is not the very expression 'gun show loophole' itself a myth perpetrated by and perpetuated by antigun proponents, antigun provocateurs and antigun conspirators to strain and constrain exercise of the right of the people to keep and bear arms?We will continue with our analysis of the Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s Executive Order in a forthcoming article.

A CLOSING NOTE: WHAT WE ARE SEEING; WHAT IS AT STAKE.

We see, of late, and with more insistent and incessant fury, a bold attack on the very cultural traditions and core values and belief systems of this Country underway. Do American citizens not see that, despite the electoral triumph of Donald Trump to the U.S. Presidency, there is a conscious, sinister, insidious, diabolical effort underway to undercut our most cherished rights and liberties, and that this process is being carried out by the sinister forces that crush Nation States? Do American citizens not see that these forces intend to crush our Nation State through a systematic, orchestrated scheme of disinformation, misinformation, pseudo-information, and non-information designed to demoralize the American citizenry; to impose a false sense of guilt onto the American citizenry; to confuse and confound the American citizenry; to devalue the Bill of Rights, to devalue the notion of 'American citizen,' to soften and mold and reshape the contours of this Nation's citizenry as if the American people were but a lump of clay; to transform the American citizenry into weak, guilt-ridden, anxious souls.We see that Americans have lost the right to privacy. They have lost the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. They have lost the right of free speech, the right to speak their mind, as threat of public reprimand, and threat of loss of employment are omnipresent. They are slowly losing their God-given right of the people to keep and bear arms.We see monopolistic corporate mega-structures emerging in all business sectors: technology, finance, media, entertainment. We see these colossal mega-structures imposing bizarre, alien rules and bizarre principles of behavior on society, across society. They are doing this with impertinence, impudence, false piety, and with a disgusting sense of self-righteousness, and with impunity. And they are using their horde of wealth and outsize power to influence Government. They are operating as if they were Government, but as a Government free of constraints imposed on Government by the Bill of Rights--a Document that is systematically being dismissed as irrelevant. We see our Nation awash in waves of illegal aliens, falsely and loudly clamoring for and oddly claiming rights they do not have and should never be given. And, we see waves of unassimilable, poverty-stricken, ill-informed, mentally lazy refugees flooding into our Country from failed States. These individuals make an unwieldy welfare State, that we are becoming, even more untenable. They strain our resources and require support from our citizenry. And, many in Congress support this, would allow this; would encourage this. They would enact new immigration laws that would further disrupt our economy, and negatively impact our mores, our values, our sacred roots. We see, even now, our history revised; our children taught alien ideas. Our sense of National identity is being turned on its head. More than questioned, national identity, as perceived by the founders of our free Republic, is now scorned, and reviled, and slowly revised.How far can this awful state of affairs go? When will the American people fight back to recover their sacred birthright? _________________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

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 45^th 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.

HEARING OF THE U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY ON NICS REPORTING AND FIREARM ACCCESSORY REGULATION

WHAT IS THE GOAL OF CONGRESS: TO REPAIR AND IMPROVE NICS REPORTING REQUIREMENTS OR TO TURN NICS INTO A MASSIVE FIREARMS REGISTRATION SCHEME?

"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." ~ Thomas Jefferson’s Literary Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774—1776On Wednesday, December 6, 2017, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, presided over by Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-IA, held a three-hour Hearing on firearms, titled, “Firearm Accessory Regulation and Enforcing Federal and State Reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).” The full Committee attended. That included the Ranking Democratic Member of the Committee, and virulent opponent of the right of the people to keep and bear arms, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.  CSPAN televised the Hearing.Two panels convened. The first one included senior officials of the ATF, FBI, the Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, and the Inspector General of Department of Defense. The second panel convened included, inter alia, a survivor of the Las Vegas mass shooting tragedy, Heather Gooze, who was the first to speak; two Second Amendment legal experts, David Kopel and Stephen Halbrook; and the Montgomery County Chief of Police and Major Cities Chiefs Association President, J. Thomas Manger.The two mass shooting incidents—one occurring during the Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 1, 2017 and the second occurring at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, roughly one month later, on November 5, 2017—served, evidently, as the impetus for and the backdrop for this Hearing. The Senate Judiciary Committee focused its questioning of the first panel on: one, the mechanics of criminal and mental health reporting requirements, two, the sharing of data or lack of sharing of data between State and federal police agencies, and, three, the failure of Governmental agencies, both federal and State, to maintain accurate, reliable, and complete databases on those individuals who are not permitted to possess firearms. The Senate Judiciary Committee focused questioning of the second panel on firearms—semiautomatic rifles—that the killers, Stephen Paddock and Devin Patrick Kelley allegedly utilized to murder innocent people.The purpose of this article is not to delve into the interstices and intricacies of the Senate Hearing but to inform the American public of the fact of it and the specific concerns addressed during it that cast in high relief the dangers posed to preserving the sacred right embodied in the Second Amendment.Antigun proponents, through their Congressional representatives—Senate Democratic Party members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including ranking Democratic Party member, Dianne Feinstein, and her principal cohorts, Patrick Leahy, Richard Blumenthal, Dick Durbin, and Sheldon Whitehouse, among others—wish to move the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and other criminal and mental health databases into an efficient and massive and broad digital firearms registration scheme, embracing more and more individuals and incentivizing the military and the States to add comprehensive criminal and mental health data into NICS and other databases. Through this Hearing, and through recent comments of antigun proponents in news broadcasts, we see renewed efforts by antigun proponents, stoked by the recent mass shooting incidents—to weaken the Second Amendment beyond past efforts. Emboldened, we see efforts afoot by antigun proponents to transform NICS and other federal and State databases into a comprehensive digital firearms’ registration scheme, wrapping it into a more restrictive, draconian criminal and mental health background check scheme.If successful, these efforts by the antigun movement would infringe not only the basic, natural and fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms, embodied in the Second Amendment, but would also infringe the fundamental right embodied in the unreasonable searches and seizures clause of the Fourth Amendment, and infringe, too, the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. And, the antigun movement does not stop there. Not content to ban some semiautomatic firearms—that Federal Statute (the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB)) at one time, defined certain semiautomatic firearms as ‘assault weapons,’ until the AWB expired in 2004, and which several States, with their own assault weapon ban statutes, in full force, presently prohibit—the antigun movement now seeks to ban all semiautomatic firearms.There are efforts afoot to enact federal law not unlike the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA). Under the NFA, the ATF heavily regulates civilian ownership and possession of from possessing fully automatic machine guns and submachine guns and selective fire assault rifles. And, the civilian population is prohibited altogether from owning newly manufactured fully automatic weapons.So, even as the House in recent days passed the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 (H.R. 38), a bill that strengthens the Second Amendment, which now goes to the U.S. Senate for consideration, we see--in stark contrast and contradistinction to pro-Second Amendment efforts to strengthen the right of the people to keep and bear arms--efforts by antigun Legislators mobilizing and gearing up to dispossess American citizens of semiautomatic firearms—all semiautomatic firearms, not merely those bizarrely categorized as ‘assault weapons.’ Antigun proponents evidently feel that they can hoodwink the American public, given the recent mass shooting incidents—which they use to their advantage—as they work unceasingly toward their ultimate goal to dispossess all Americans, eventually, of their firearms.During the questioning of the first panel, senior Officials of the Federal Government admitted that the NICS system was incomplete and faulty. The reason for this is that the military, especially, but also the States, have been remiss in entering data pertaining to individuals convicted of crimes that preclude these individuals from possessing firearms. Senator Ted Cruz, in his opening remarks, also made the pertinent point that individuals who falsify information to obtain a firearm have violated federal law, but that these crimes are rarely prosecuted and, so, all too often go unpunished.Falsifying information to obtain a firearm when an individual is not permitted to possess a firearm is a serious crime. 18 USCS § 922(a)(6), titled, “Unlawful acts” sets forth clearly, categorically, and unequivocally that: “it shall be unlawful for any person in connection with the acquisition or attempted acquisition of any firearm or ammunition from a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector, knowingly to make any false or fictitious oral or written statement or to furnish or exhibit any false, fictitious, or misrepresented identification, intended or likely to deceive such importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale or other disposition of such firearm or ammunition under the provisions of this chapter.” Senator Cruz was making the point, albeit tacitly, that laws that have no legal consequences do not amount to laws at all. Enforcement of federal firearms laws is lackadaisical at best, a point often made by NRA and a point perfunctorily ignored by antigun proponents whose real goal, after all, is to go after the millions of law-abiding gun owners, even as they profess to express concern over those individuals, alone, who are absolutely prohibited by law “to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign  commerce.” See United States Code, 18 USCS § 922(g) and 18 USCS § 922(n), titled, “Unlawful Acts,” as set forth in Title 18, “Crimes and Criminal Procedure,” of Part I, “Crimes,” of Chapter 44, “Firearms.”During the hearing, Legislators on the Judiciary Committee uniformly expressed concern over faulty federal NICS record-keeping and they requested, from the panel of senior Government officials, an explanation for the failure of these Government Offcials to keep the criminal databases up-to-date. But, it is one thing to repair the NICS record-keeping system; it is quite another to contemplate dumping ever more people into it, essentially, eventually, encapsulating minutia of mental health details of every American, along with details of every infraction committed by every American during every period of his or her life—every spat between husband wife or boyfriend and girlfriend, and an accounting of every instance, every bout of depression or anxiety an American citizen at one time or another may have had. Democratic Party members of the Judiciary Committee—alluded to expanding NICS and other criminal and mental health databases into a comprehensive and permanent digital—as opposed to merely manual—database of every firearm’s transaction and tying that to and in tandem with a universal background check schema.Clearly, the aim of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee is, then, more ambitious and grandiose than merely repairing a faulty NICS system. We are headed toward a universal registration system if antigun proponents have their way. Every firearm owner becomes suspect. Hence, every American, who owns a firearm must be carefully screened, and those licensed and therefore “privileged” to own and possess a firearm, will be carefully and continuously observed for signs of anti-social behavior, predicated on subjective standards of assessment. The implication of a universal criminal and mental health background check system tied into a permanent NICS databases are dire from the standpoint of Constitutional privacy concerns.Then, there are the firearms themselves. During the questioning of the second panel, it became clear that it wasn’t Stephen Paddock or Devin Patrick Kelley who were being castigated for the horror they caused. Rather, it was the semiautomatic weapons that were the target of and the focus of the Senators' ire--those Democratic Party members who sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee.One speaker on the second panel, who was the first to speak, was a young woman named Heather Gooze. She detailed her personal experiences during the Las Vegas shooting episode and resulting carnage. This survivor’s anguished account of holding and attempting to aid and comfort a dying stranger, who had been shot by Paddock, was poignant, graphic, heart-rending, heartfelt, and deepfelt, as it was meant to be—but, for all that, it was also irrelevant. The fault for the tragedy in Las Vegas was not laid at the feet of the maniac, Stephen Paddock, the sole cause of the carnage—assuming there were no others that abetted Paddock. No! The fault for the crime is laid on inanimate objects—the weapons Paddock used in the commission of his heinous acts. But, if civilian access to an entire category of weapons, semiautomatic rifles, in common use by millions of law-abiding, sane, responsible Americans, is to be curtailed, then, those who would ban civilian possession of semiautomatic weapons  must propound sound legal and logical arguments in support of their case. Arguments amounting to emotional rhetoric, however endearing and heartfelt and honest they may be, are not rational substitutes for sound reasoning.What was on display during the Hearing, was unabashed grief and anger. That is what we heard from the young woman, Heather Gooze: a plaintive and soulful, if tacit, cry for a universal ban on semiautomatic weapons, and that is what the Senators on the Judiciary Committee got from her. This appeal to sympathy for one's cause, derived from heartfelt pain, is representative of a common fallacy. It's one an undergraduate college student learns about in a course on informal and formal symbolic logic. The Latin expression for this informal fallacy is argumentum ad misericordiam (argument from pity or sympathy or misery, or compassion). The fallacy of argumentum ad misericordiam is committed when pity, or sympathy, or compassion, or misery is appealed to for the sake of getting someone to accept a conclusion predicated on emotion, alone, sidestepping the salient issue.Appealing to pity, compassion, or sympathy, or misery avoids dealing with the pertinent legal questions. The pertinent legal question here is this: do semiautomatic weapons fall within the core of the Second Amendment’s protection? Antigun proponents use the argument from pity incessantly to sidestep this legal issue—the real issue—because they do not wish to hit the issue head-on. Appealing to sympathy or pity, or misery, or anger operates as a convenient substitute for cogent and sound legal and logical reasoning. It is unfortunate that the U.S. Supreme Court has, at least twice, decided not to take up the issue whether semiautomatic weapons do fall within the core of the Second Amendment’s protection, as appellants in the cases failed to garner four votes necessary to secure high Court review. See, Friedman vs. City of Highland Park, Illinois, 784 F.3d 406 (7th Cir. 2015), cert. denied, 136 S. Ct. 447, 193 L. Ed.2d 483 (2015); and, recently, Kolbe vs. Hogan, 813 F.3d 160 (4th Cir. Md., 2016), cert. denied, 2017 LEXIS 7002. The Arbalest Quarrel has written extensively on both these cases.The legal and logical weaknesses of the antigun proponent’s position, apropos of semiautomatic weapons, would be all too apparent were they to try to evince an argument. The public is hit with emotional rhetoric and pious sentiments, instead. Such emotional outrage has clout, even as it is devoid of substance. Heather Gooze used it to good effect during the Hearing. Her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was as much a plea for action from the public as it was a plea for action from the Senate. No doubt, that was the reason she was invited to speak before the Committee at this public Hearing.Antigun proponents invariably take the argumentum ad misericordiam out of their sack of tricks whenever a tragedy involving the misuse of firearms occurs. They know that tragic events tug at the heartstrings of anyone who has a modicum of compassion in his or her heart, which are the majority of us—and which do not include psychopaths, who have no inkling of and therefore have absolutely no understanding of the concept of compassion. And, these individuals, who lack a modicum of compassion include, as well, common criminals who might understand the concept but simply don’t care since a consideration of compassion during the commission of a crime interferes with their personal selfish ends.Appealing to sympathy as an argument to dispossess millions of law-abiding firearms owners of their firearms operates as a useful makeweight, a convenient scapegoat, for antigun proponents, allowing antigun proponents to avoid factoring in the complex legal, logical, historical, cultural, and ethical ramifications of taking firearms away from millions of sane, rational, honest Americans. Essentially the antigun proponent’s argument, in various forms and permutations, boils down to this:“semiautomatic ‘assault weapons’ are weapons of war and have no legitimate use in civilian hands other than to commit murder and to do so on a large scale. And, manufacturers market these weapons to the entire civilian population which includes, then, mentally ill individuals and criminals who should not have them. These weapons have incredible firepower and no legitimate civilian use. Just look at what happens when a poor, deluded person gets hold of this ‘weapon of war.’ Just look at the harm he calls. Anyone who has a heart at all should see that semiautomatic assault weapons will only cause bad things to happen and will cause good people to do bad things. If you don’t want to see an innocent child, a vulnerable woman, a weak old man harmed—and what caring, compassionate human being does—then you will agree with us that there is no place for these ‘weapons of war’ in a civilized society, and you will write or call your Congressman or Senator, asking your Legislator to enact legislation that permanently bans these awful weapons of war, to ban them for the good of society so that no other person will ever suffer the needless tragedy that these weapons of war cause.” Well, if there is a sound reason for banning semiautomatic weapons from civilians, this isn’t it. Apart from appealing solely to one’s emotions, the argument embraces false assumptions, hyperbole, and irrelevant considerations. And, if you think our illustration of the fallacy of argumentum misericordiam amounts itself to a fallacy—the straw man fallacy, as some, who challenge our position, may claim—it does not. The remarks, concerning semiautomatic weapons as ‘assault weapons’ and ‘weapons of war,’ “weapons that have no legitimate civilian use,” and the notion that firearms manufacturers market these “weapons of war” to criminals and to the mentally ill are not suppositions the Arbalest Quarrel has invented to illustrate an argumentum misericordiam, for the purpose simply to knock down a straw man. No! These remarks are not our invention at all. These remarks, purporting to be arguments against civilian possession of firearms, are utilized constantly, incessantly by antigun proponents. And, more to the point, these remarks, as set forth in our example, comprise, in part, allegations taken from an actual formal legal pleading—namely and specifically the First Amended Complaint of the Soto Plaintiffs, in Soto vs. Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC., 2016 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2626; CCH Prod. Liab. Rep. P19,932. The Arbalest Quarrel has written extensively on this case and continues to write articles about it. See, for example, our in-depth article, titled, “Soto vs. Bushmaster: Antigunners Take Aim at Gun Manufacturers.” We also wish to point out that a detailed account of one’s personal experiences, as related to the reader or listener—those of Heather Gooze, during the Senate Hearing—amount to a series of declarations that have no appreciable epistemic value. In other words, her account of the tragedy in Las Vegas, that occurred during the Harvest Music Festival, is not the sort of thing that one can reasonably challenge, or that need be challenged, or is expected by anyone to be challenged, as false.The Arbalest Quarrel accepts the account of Heather Gooze, as related at the Senate Hearing, as true, and does not quarrel with it. There is no reason to. There is no reason to consider her personal account as false. We say this because the remarks of Heather Gooze have no concrete epistemic value on the salient issue whether semiautomatic weapons fall within the core of the Second Amendment. Her remarks or declarations of events as she experienced them at the Harvest Music Festival do not serve as a sound reason for banning semiautomatic weapons from the millions of average, law-abiding, rational, responsible American citizens who own and possess them, notwithstanding that the Democratic Party Senators on the Judiciary Committee happen to believe the account of Heather Gooze to be relevant to the issue whether semiautomatic weapons are the sorts of firearms that properly belong in the hands of the average, rational and responsible American citizen. The remarks of Heather Gooze simply attest, at best, to a matter that everyone can agree with: that criminals, psychopaths, Islamic terrorists, and other assorted lunatics—the flotsam and jetsam of society—should not have access to any firearm. One might by the same token argue that the worst elements of society should not have access to anything that can feasibly be used to cause great harm to others and to many individuals at one time. Consider for example: a knife, an automobile or truck, or chainsaw. What we are getting at here is that common criminals, and members of drug cartels and criminal gangs, and psychopaths, and Islamic terrorists, and other assorted lunatics and maniacs and riffraff who pose a danger to others, as these individual do, should be removed from our society. It is not the firearm that should be removed from American society.That common criminals, terrorists, psychotics, or psychopaths may happen to get their hands on a semiautomatic rifle or on any other firearm to harm others does not serve as a sound legal or logical reason for banning semiautomatic weapons en masse from millions of average, law-abiding, responsible, rational American citizens. And, make no mistake, Senator Dianne Feinstein and the other Democratic Party members of the Senate Judiciary Committee do seek to ban and do work feverishly to ban all semiautomatic weapons, just as fully automatic weapons and selective fire weapons have been essentially banned from civilian possession, since 1934, with passage of the National Firearms Act (NFA). In fact, Senator Dianne Feinstein would accomplish this feat through enactment of a very devious bit of legislation, which was referred to during the Senate Hearing.Roughly two months ago, on October 4, 2017, Senator Feinstein introduced the following bill in the U.S. Senate:Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, This Act may be cited as the "Automatic Gunfire Prevention Act".POSSESSION OF CERTAIN FIREARM ACCESSORIES. Chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is amended-   in section 922, by inserting after subsection (u) the following:   "(v)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), on and after the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, it shall be unlawful for any person to import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, a trigger crank, a bump-fire device, or any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment, or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle but not convert the semiautomatic rifle into a machinegun.   This subsection does not apply with respect to the importation for, manufacture for, sale to, transfer to, or possession by or under the authority of, the United States or any department or agency thereof or a State, or a department, agency, or political subdivision thereof."; and   in section 924(a)(2), by striking ", or (o)" and inserting "(o), or (v)". Attorneys David Kopel and Stephen Halbrook, sitting on the second panel, and testifying at the Senate Hearing—were acutely aware of this Senate bill. David Kopel pointed out that the language of Feinstein’s bill, the "Automatic Gunfire Prevention Act," makes very clear that any change at all to any semiautomatic weapon—lightening the trigger pull, for example, or even cleaning a firearm—can effectively serve to increase the rate of fire of the weapon. Thus, any semiautomatic rifle can, were Feinstein’s bill enacted, serve as the basis to ban outright all semiautomatic rifles. When faced with David Kopel’s critical, astute remarks, Senator Feinstein demurred, seemed agitated and, evidently, perplexed, asserting, disingenuously, that the bill was drafted by capable attorneys, suggesting, perhaps, or, then again, perhaps not, that her bill only targets certain types of accessories or components for semiautomatic weapons, such as the “bump-fire device” (“bump stock”) that are specifically mentioned, and not, ipso facto, all semiautomatic weapons. But, that doesn't seem to be the case; and, if that is not the case, then this would suggest that the drafters of Feinstein’s bill either know very little about the operation of semiautomatic rifles or know the operation of semiautomatic weapons all too well. If the former supposition is true, then the bill has unintended consequences: positive consequences for antigun proponents; negative consequences for everyone else. This means that all semiautomatic rifles can and eventually would be banned. This is consistent with the plain meaning of the bill. If the latter supposition is true, then, given the plain meaning of the bill, the bill is a subterfuge. This would mean that those who drafted Feinstein's bill intended, all along, not merely to suggest that only some accessories for semiautomatic rifles would be banned, but that, in fact, all semiautomatic weapons would be banned, as this is what antigun proponents want and have wanted all along and this is what the bill says: no semiautomatic weapons in the hands of American citizens qua civilians. Either way, Senator Feinstein would derive from her bill, if enacted, exactly what she had long sought—a universal ban on semiautomatic weapons defined as ‘assault weapons’—meaning, of course, that all semiautomatic weapons would be banned because all semiautomatic weapons are, ipso facto, ‘assault weapons,’ as Senator Feinstein sees it.Never underestimate the deviousness of antigun proponents and never trust them when they assert that they do not seek to defeat the right of the people to keep and bear arms as codified in the Second Amendment. These antigun groups, and antigun legislators, and their billionaire benefactors, and their fellow travelers in the mainstream media and in Hollywood, will not rest easy until each and every average American citizen qua civilian—apart from the so-called “elites” in society, like Senator Feinstein, herself—is prohibited, by law, from owning and possessing any kind of firearm._________________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

SOTO VS. BUSHMASTER: ANTIGUNNERS TAKE AIM AT GUN MANUFACTURERS

SOTO PLAINTIFFS GUNNING FOR GUN MANUFACTURERS ON BEHALF OF THE ANTIGUN MOB

PART ONE: A COMPREHENSIVE CRITIQUE OF THE COMMENDABLE AND COMPETENT SUPERIOR COURT OPINION

SOTO PLAINTIFFS BRING LAWSUIT TO FORCE GUN MANUFACTURERS OUT-OF-BUSINESS, SEEKING TO CRUSH THE SEMIAUTOMATIC FIREARMS MARKET, AND WORKING TO DESTROY THE SECOND AMENDMENT, ENDING CIVILIAN ACCESS TO SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPONS

HOW DID THE SOTO CASE COME ABOUT?

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.

WHO ARE THE PARTIES IN THE SOTO CASE?

The case is brought by or on behalf of victims of the shooting, against the Defendant Bushmaster, and others. The Plaintiffs in the case include: two individuals, staff members of the school, who were harmed by the gunman, Adam Lanza, because of the shooting that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School; and also include various administrators or executors of the estates of those killed by the gunman. These administrators or executors include the administrator or executor of Victoria Soto, who is the principal Plaintiff in the case and whose name appears in the caption of the case. Defendants in the case include: Remington Arms Company, LLC, also known as, Freedom Group, Inc, also known as, Bushmaster Firearms Int., Inc—the other principal party in the case—the principal Defendant in the case, whose name appears in the case title—also known as, Remington Outdoor Company, Remington Outdoor Company, Inc., also known as, Freedom Group, Inc. (collectively, Remington Defendants), the principal named Defendant in the Soto case. The Defendants in the Soto case also include suppliers, distributors, and dealers of the manufacturer’s Bushmaster AR-15 XM 15-E2S semiautomatic rifle: Camfour, Inc. and Camfour Holding, LLP (collectively, Camfour defendants); and Riverview Sales, Inc. and David LaGuercia (collectively, Riverview defendants).

WHEN DID THE SOTO ACTION COMMENCE, WHERE WAS THE LAWSUIT FILED, AND WHAT ARE THE MECHANICS OF APPEALING AN ADVERSE DECISION OF A STATE TRIAL COURT?

The Soto case was initially filed in the Superior Court of Connecticut, Judicial District of Fairfield At Bridgeport: Soto vs. Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC., 2016 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2626; CCH Prod. Liab. Rep. P19,932. The actual filing date is somewhat convoluted. The Superior Court of Connecticut that heard this case stated, in a footnote of the Memorandum Opinion, that: “While this action was not filed in this court until January 26, 2015, the action was, in fact, commenced by service of process on the defendants at various dates in December of 2014 and January of 2015. Accordingly, the Remington defendants were able to file a motion for removal to federal court on January 15, 2015, before the filing of the action in this court [the Superior Court of Connecticut (the lower trial Court)] actually occurred.”Defendants in Soto filed a motion to remove the case to federal Court. The federal Court case is styled Soto vs. Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC. 139 F. Supp. 3d 560; 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138046. Why did they do this? The Defendants tried to remove the case to federal Court because they felt, apparently, they would likely receive fairer treatment in federal Court than if the case were heard in State Court. So, Defendants considered federal Court to be the preferred forum for hearing the case. The actual legal basis for, and the Defendants’ purport for, removing the case to federal Court is that Plaintiffs had deliberately and fraudulently filed suit against one Defendant, in particular, Riverview Sales, Inc., in the Plaintiffs’ wrongful attempt to deprive the other Defendants—primarily the principal named Defendant, Bushmaster Firearms—of a federal forum in which to hear the case. Conversely, the Soto Plaintiffs apparently felt they would have a better chance of prevailing in State Court if the case remained in State Court, which is why they filed their case in State Court. The Plaintiffs contested the Defendant’s attempt to remove the case to federal Court, asking the District Court to remove the case back to State Court. The Plaintiffs prevailed in their effort to have the case sent back to the State Court. The federal Court ruled for the Soto Plaintiffs, finding that it did not have federal subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case and, so, returned the case to State Court. Ultimately, Defendants need not have worried about an adverse decision in the Superior Court of Connecticut, as Defendants ultimately prevailed in the lower State Court. The Superior Court of Connecticut granted the Defendants’ Motion to Strike, in totality, the Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint. This adverse result for Soto Plaintiffs led to Plaintiffs’ appeal of the Superior Court decision directly to the Connecticut Supreme Court.The circumstances of Plaintiffs’ appeal directly to the State Supreme Court, rather than through the intermediate level, Connecticut Appellate Court, and the Connecticut Supreme Court’s decision to hear briefs on the case, which the Connecticut Supreme Court recently heard, is murky. The Arbalest Quarrel could not find information about this appeal through our legal research. Once the Connecticut Supreme Court renders its decision, though, the decision will be reported in legal reporters and we will provide a co0mprehensive analysis of the case at that time.

WHAT MIGHT THE CONNECTICUT SUPREME COURT DO? WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS SCENARIOS THAT CAN PLAY OUT?

The Connecticut Supreme Court recently sat for oral argument in the case. Each side presented its legal arguments. If the Connecticut Supreme Court rules in Defendants’ favor, then the decision of the Superior Court stands, and the Soto Plaintiffs' last recourse, apart from asking the Connecticut Supreme Court for a rehearing and reconsideration of an adverse decision, is to appeal the adverse decision directly to the United States Supreme Court which may or may not grant certiorari to hear the case. If, on the other hand, the Plaintiffs prevail, having convinced the Connecticut Supreme Court to overturn the decision of the Superior Court that dismissed Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint, this likely means that the State Supreme Court will remand—return—the case to the Superior Court for a hearing of the case on the merits, which is what the Plaintiffs wanted all along and which the Defendants properly pointed out, as the lower Superior (trial) Court agreed, was legally improper, as there wasn’t, in law, a legal basis for a court of competent jurisdiction to hear Plaintiffs’ case on the merits.A State Supreme Court decision may take a few weeks or a few months. If Plaintiffs prevail and the case is remanded to the Superior Court, the trial and ultimate decision of the Superior Court will likely take a few more months. The Plaintiffs want the case to go before a jury and they have pressed for this all along. The reason for this is obvious. Plaintiffs’ legal position is extremely weak, at best. They perceive that presentation of their evidence to a jury, rather than presentation of their case directly to the Court in a Bench trial, would be easier in terms of convincing a jury as to the merits of their case. Plaintiffs believe they would be able to hoodwink a lay jury through the mechanism of emotional rhetoric, on their bizarre notions of justice and morality, in lieu of presentation of their claims to a jury though presentment of a sound and valid legal and logical argument, which clearly favors a decision for Defendants, and which a Court, steeped in the law, would be looking for. Thus, the Soto Plaintiffs believe they would win the day, convincing a jury to return a verdict in their favor, also convinced that the Court is already predisposed to rule  against them, being acutely aware of the flimsy foundation upon which Plaintiffs' claims rest, which, again, is why the Plaintiffs wish to present the merits of their case before the jury. Still, even if the State Supreme Court does reverse the decision of the lower Superior Court, remanding the case to the Superior Court for a trial on the merits, that does not mean the case will ever go before a jury for a trial on the merits. Likely, once discovery has concluded, Defendants will file a motion for summary Judgment. A motion for summary judgment is tantamount, in law, to a trial on the merits through motion rather than physically presenting evidence in a Court of Law before a jury. So, the Soto case may never even go to a jury for a trial on the merits.The legal standard for review of a motion for summary judgment is essentially the same from one jurisdiction to the next. In Connecticut, the State Supreme Court says this, about a motion for summary judgment: “The standard of review of a trial court's decision granting summary judgment is well established. Practice Book § 17-49 provides that summary judgment shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and any other proof submitted show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the trial court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. . . . The party moving for summary judgment has the burden of showing the absence of any genuine issue of material fact and that the party is, therefore, entitled to judgment as a matter of law. . . .” Gold v. Greenwich Hosp. Ass'n, 262 Conn. 248, 811 A.2d 1266, 2002 Conn. LEXIS 493.  See also Mountaindale Condominium Assn., Inc. v. Zappone, 59 Conn. App. 311, 315, 757 A.2d 608, cert. denied, 254 Conn. 947, 762 A.2d 903 (2000). "In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the trial court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. . . . A motion for summary judgment is properly granted if it raises at least one legally sufficient defense that would bar the plaintiff's claim and involves no triable issue of fact." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Suppose, then, that the Connecticut Supreme Court does remand the case to the Superior (trial) Court for a trial on the merits, and assume, further, that, once discovery has concluded, Defendants in the Soto case do file a motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs will move the Court to deny the motion and the Soto Plaintiffs may file their own motion for summary judgment. The filing of motions for summary judgment by both Parties in the case--Plaintiffs and Defendants--is referred to as referred to as “cross motions for summary judgment.”If Defendants do move for summary judgment and if their motion is granted, that effectively ends the case. That means the Soto Plaintiffs must, once again, appeal to a higher State Court, asking a higher Connecticut Court to review an adverse decision of the trial Court. But, this time the Soto Plaintiffs would be asking for an appellate Court—or, if Plaintiffs appeal an adverse trial court decision directly to the State Supreme Court and the State Court agrees to review the case—to reverse the trial court’s adverse decision granting Defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Since an appeal of a motion for summary judgment operates as an appeal of a trial on the merits of the case—no less so than an adverse decision for Soto Plaintiffs if the case were presented to a jury—the Soto Plaintiffs would find that an appeal of an adverse decision of a case after presentment of evidence (a trial on the merits) is not so easy to reverse. Why is that? We need to look at the standard of review when a party appeals an adverse decision rendered on a motion for summary judgment. The Connecticut Supreme Court looks to whether a trial Court’s conclusions are legally and logically correct. Emotion plays no role in this. The Court says: “. . . we set forth the well established standard of review for a denial of summary judgment. ‘Summary judgment “shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and other proof submitted show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.’” Home Ins. Co. v. Aetna Life & Casualty Co., 235 Conn. 185, 202, 663 A.2d 1001 (1996), quoting Practice Book § 384, what is now § 17-49. The trial court was presented with cross motions for summary judgment based on stipulated facts. Therefore, our review is plenary and we must determine whether the trial court's conclusions of law ‘are legally and logically correct’ and find support in the stipulated facts. SLI International Corp. v. Crystal, 236 Conn. 156, 163, 671 A.2d 813 (1996), citing Practice Book § 4061, what is now § 60-5.” Doucette v. Pomes, 247 Conn. 442, 724, A.2d 481, 1999 Conn. LEXIS 3. The operative phrase here is "legally and logically correct." If the Defendants’ file a motion for summary judgment and it is denied, and if Plaintiffs’ file a for motion for summary judgment and it is granted, then Plaintiffs’ win. If Plaintiffs do not file a motion for summary judgment but simply oppose Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, which the trial Court grants, and the Plaintiffs subsequently appeal the trial court’s granting of Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, a higher Court’s standard of review in Connecticut is essentially the same. An appellate Court must determine whether the trial court’s conclusions of law are legally and logically correct, and, in the context of a motion for summary judgment, this means that an appellate Court must determine that no triable issue of fact exists. If an appellate Court determines that at least one and possibly more triable facts exist, then the case will be remanded for trial on those facts. So, if the Soto Plaintiffs prevail in their desire for a jury trial, the case will proceed to trial, which, again, is what Plaintiffs wanted all along, hoping, along the way, to maximize news coverage by the mainstream media that, unfairly, has taken a position forever demonstrably favoring the goals and philosophy of the antigun movement in this Country.What happens if the Soto case does go to trial? Each side presents its evidence, but, at any time during trial each side can request the Court, on motion, to direct a verdict in that side's favor, referred to in Connecticut, as a motion for a directed verdict and Judgment NOV (Judgment notwithstanding the verdict). What does this mean and what is the distinction between a motion for summary judgment and a motion for a directed verdict which are both trials by motion rather than by jury? The U.S. Supreme Court explains the difference. “The Court has said that summary judgment should be granted where the evidence is such that it ‘would require a directed verdict for the moving party.’ Sartor v. Arkansas Gas Corp., 321 U.S. 620, 624 (1944). And we have noted that the ‘genuine issue’ summary judgment standard is ‘very close’ to the ‘reasonable jury’ directed verdict standard: ‘The primary difference between the two motions is procedural; summary judgment motions are usually made before trial and decided on documentary evidence, while directed verdict motions are made at trial and decided on the evidence that has been admitted.’ Bill Johnson's Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB, 461 U.S. 731, 745, n. 11 (1983). In essence, though, the inquiry under each is the same: whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S. Ct. 2505, 81, L. Ed. 2d 202, 1986 U.S. LEXIS 115.But, suppose Defendants in Soto move for a directed verdict, after trial, and Judgment NOV, and the Superior Court denies the movant's motion. In that event, the prevailing party at that point, wins, and the losing party’s last recourse, its only recourse, is to appeal directly to the United States Supreme Court, requesting—a party cannot demand—that the U.S. Supreme Court hear the case. Generally, the Supreme Court takes cases that involve a substantial number of split-decisions in the various Circuits or, when, in the Court’s own inscrutable manner, decides that a case is worth taking up. If the U.S. Supreme Court were to take the Soto case, then, likely, the result, itself, would be a split decision, divided evenly between the liberal-wing Justices and the conservative-wing Justices, with Justice Anthony Kennedy providing the swing vote, and it would not be clear how Justice Kennedy would decide this case. We would hope that Justice Kennedy, or, preferably, Justice Ginsburg or Justice Breyer would retire, in the next several months. This would enable President Trump to nominate a second individual to the high Court--another individual in the mode of the late brilliant and revered Justice, Antonin Scalia. If the Justices were to vote against hearing the Soto case, then the decision of the Connecticut Supreme Court would stand.

WHAT IS THE SOTO VS. BUSHMASTER CASE REALLY ABOUT?

The Soto Plaintiffs contend that the Defendant, Bushmaster (Remington), manufacturer of the weapon, specifically, a Bushmaster AR-15, model XM15-E2S rifle, which, as alleged, the killer, Adam Lanza, used to commit the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School—along with the firearms’ distributor and dealer who served as the intermediaries through which the weapons were sold to the killer’s mother, and ultimately fell into the hands of the killer, Adam Lanza—bears legal, not merely moral, responsibility for the deaths of children and adults that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and that, this is due to the fact of Defendant Bushmaster’s marketing of its AR-15 rifle to the entirety of the civilian population in this Country, and the manner in which the Defendant manufacturer, Bushmaster marketed its AR-15 model semiautomatic rifle to the entirety of the civilian population in this Country. The Soto Plaintiffs contend that the fact of and manner of marketing this rifle to the civilian population which necessarily included marketing the Bushmaster AR-15 model XM15-E2S semiautomatic rifle to mentally ill individuals served as the proximate cause, the true cause, of the tragedy that unfolded at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In their prayer for relief, as set forth in their pleadings, the Soto Plaintiffs seek, among other things, compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs for wrongful death (several counts of wrongful death). In their prayer for relief, as set forth in their pleadings, the Soto Plaintiffs also ask the Superior Court for an injunction, preventing the Defendant firearms’ manufacturer from marketing the semiautomatic Bushmaster AR-15 style  rifles in Connecticut, thereby preventing the manufacturer’s suppliers and distributors from making this category of firearms available for sale to the civilian population in Connecticut through licensed Connecticut firearms dealers.Soto is a civil case, not a criminal case. As a civil case, the Soto Plaintiffs’ claims are directed principally against a firearms manufacturer, Remington (or Bushmaster), and against a supplier of the firearm, predicated on the dubious ground, as claimed by Plaintiffs, that various Defendants involved in the distribution and sale of the AR-15 Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle are liable for the tragic events that occurred even though the manufacturer and distributor of the AR-15 Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle did not engage in the direct sale of the rifle to Adam Lanza’s mother and notwithstanding that none of the Defendants—manufacturer, distributor, or dealer—had direct knowledge of Adam Lanza and could not have known anything about him, when the firearm was sold to Adam Lanza’s mother, who was under no federal or State disability. Adam Lanza, though, was not permitted to own or possess firearms because of mental impairment or mental incompetence. He had gained access to weapons, owned and possessed by the killer’s mother, due to the mother’s failure to properly secure her firearms from a mentally deranged person in her household.Keep in mind, too, that the Soto Plaintiffs’ case against Defendant manufacturer, supplier, and dealer, as a civil case, is considerably different from a criminal case, both in the manner of handling and in the manner of liability. Criminal cases are handled by State Prosecutors. No one is claiming that the Defendant manufacturer or the other Defendants bear any criminal liability for the criminal acts committed by Adam Lanza. Had Adam Lanza survived, he would have been arrested, charged, arraigned, and tried for murder and for other serious crimes, felonies. Possibly Adam Lanza’s mother, had she survived, might also be tried under Connecticut’s criminal laws, specifically, the crime of ‘criminal negligence.’ Under the Connecticut Annotated Statutes, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-58, “Criminally negligent homicide: Class A misdemeanor,” of Title 53a Penal Code, of Chapter 950, “Penal Code: General Provisions,” criminal negligence could be imputed to Nancy Lanza, had she survived, for the crimes of her son, Adam Lanza, who, had he survived, would have been charged, inter alia, with murder (several counts), under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-54-a, “Murder,” although, under the definition of 'Murder,' in Connecticut, which include the circumstances under which a person can be convicted of murder, Adam Lanza could very well have been able to circumvent a conviction of murder not in spite of but specifically because of the horrific nature of the act, suggesting that only a person seriously mentally ill could have legally intended to shoot to death, innocent children. Connecticut law sets forth, in pertinent part:(a) A person is guilty of murder when, with intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of such person or of a third person or causes a suicide by force, duress or deception; except that in any prosecution under this subsection, it shall be an affirmative defense that the defendant committed the proscribed act or acts under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the reasonableness of which is to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant’s situation under the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be, provided nothing contained in this subsection shall constitute a defense to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, manslaughter in the first degree or any other crime. (b) Evidence that the defendant suffered from a mental disease, mental defect or other mental abnormality is admissible, in a prosecution under subsection (a) of this section, on the question of whether the defendant acted with intent to cause the death of another person.Likely, a prosecutor would have greater chance to obtain a conviction of Adam Lanza’s mother, being “normal,” for the crime of criminal negligence, a Class A Misdemeanor in Connecticut, than would a prosecutor have obtaining a conviction of murder against Nancy Lanza’s seriously mentally ill son, Adam Lanza. Under the Connecticut Annotated Statutes, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-3(14) “Definitions”, of Title 53a Penal Code, of Chapter 950, “Penal Code: General Provisions,” “A person acts with “criminal negligence” with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that such result will occur or that such circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation. This is the definition of “criminal negligence.” This would, in essence, explain the ground for a criminal action against Nancy Lanza, Adam Lanza’s mother, imputed to Nancy Lanza, who failed to properly secure her firearms, knowing full well that her son was seriously mentally disturbed and that, were he to gain possession of those weapons, there would be “a substantial and unjustifiable risk” that he would commit a horrific crime, which, in fact, is precisely what transpired.Assume that Adam Lanza and/or his mother had survived. The Soto Plaintiffs could, and, perhaps, would file a civil suit against them for the tort, wrongful death—which would have proceeded in tandem with the State’s criminal action—but, that would not have prevented the Soto Plaintiffs from adding Defendants—manufacturer, supplier, distributor, and dealer to their—civil suit. This brings us to the critical question:

WHAT IS IT THAT THE SOTO PLAINTIFFS REALLY WANT; WHAT ARE THEY REALLY AFTER; AND WHO ARE THEY REALLY "GUNNING" FOR?

We speculate that, although the Soto Plaintiffs seek damages for wrongful death, against Defendants, what it is that they really want and what it is that they are really after—what it is they have sought all along—is to end the marketing of AR-15 model semiautomatic rifles in Connecticut and, further, to induce the manufacturer to forsake the manufacture of new AR-15 model semiautomatic rifles, in Connecticut, on the ground that it would be unprofitable for the Company to continue to fabricate new AR-15 model semiautomatic rifles—which, in fact, would be the case if party plaintiffs in other jurisdictions jump on the band wagon, and bring successful lawsuits against the Company in their own States. This is a goal of the antigun movement—to attack guns at the source—the manufacturers of firearms.If the Soto Plaintiffs are successful in their lawsuit, this will constitute a significant victory for antigun proponents and for their billionaire internationalist, trans-nationalist, globalist benefactors. In their endeavor to destroy gun possession and ownership in this Country, they know that it would be impossible to confiscate firearms from millions of law-abiding Americans—200 or 300 million firearms—a good number of them, semiautomatic rifles. If they can, though, preclude the fabrication of new semiautomatic firearms—on the ground that it would not be cost-effective for firearms manufacturers to fabricate new semiautomatic firearms—then they can slowly strangle the availability of weapons to civilians, as the availability of new semiautomatic firearms will be cut off at the source—at the front-end, the level of the manufacturer, rather than at the tail end, the level of the dealer.At the moment, several jurisdictions around the Country ban the sale and transfer of a certain category of firearms—‘assault weapons’, as the expression is defined in those jurisdictions’ criminal code—but they do not ban the import of the rifles into their respective jurisdiction; and their laws do not directly affect the firearms manufacturers’ right and ability to fabricate new rifles in manufacturers’ manufacturing plants. But, if manufacturers cannot profitably market their firearms to the civilian population, then—so the reasoning goes, as a matter of economic reality, as antigun groups hope and expect—firearms manufacturers will cease to manufacture such firearms for the civilian population, as this would demonstrably affect their bottom line—their profit margins. We therefore see, behind the face of the Soto Plaintiffs effort to hold the Defendant manufacturer, Bushmaster, liable for the criminal acts of an individual, Adam Lanza, with whom the Company is not in privity, a secretive, diabolical effort and strategy, most likely insinuated by and orchestrated by and with the assistance of antigun advocacy groups, and by the groups’ billionaire internationalist, trans-nationalist, globalist benefactors, operating in the shadows—to accomplish their goal of reducing the availability of firearms in this Country through attrition. For, it is through this strategy of attacking firearms manufacturers, the original source of firearms, that these antigun groups, and antigun legislators, and internationalists and trans-nationalist billionaires, and the mainstream media propagandists, aim to disarm and dispossess, eventually, the entirety of the civilian population of this Country of firearms. In this effort, they deceive and hoodwink the American public. They seek, together, to convey the idea that they wish only to improve the lives of Americans, to promote their health, and safety, and well-being, and that this can be accomplished in great part by removing from the hands of the American citizenry, access to firearms. And some Americans, well-meaning but deluded Americans, buy into this claptrap, inculcating and internalizing this nonsense through careful sloganeering, incessantly repeated by the mainstream media. These Americans have bought into a false, seemingly comforting illusion. For, only an armed citizenry can, in the end, protect itself from the immediate danger posed by criminals, lunatics, gang members, and other assorted riffraff among us, and also protect itself, as well, from the dormant danger of tyranny hanging over the heads of all Americans.The founders of our Nation and the framers of our Constitution knew full well of the danger posed by tyranny, and they provided a perfect check against this by placing a Bill of Rights within the U.S. Constitution. And that Bill of Rights includes a Second Amendment, codifying a right existent in the American people—the right of the people to keep and bear arms. But, an armed citizenry is incompatible with the goal of those ruthless and secretive and extremely powerful and inordinately wealthy forces that seek to destroy our Country, who seek to bring to an end the very concept of independent sovereign Nation States, and who seek to dismantle our Constitution. It is these secretive, wealthy, powerful individuals, residing both here and abroad—a billionaire class that cares not one whit for the well-being of a Nation’s citizenry--of our Nation’s citizenry--who are working behind the scenes to encourage and cajole Congress to enact restrictive firearms legislation and who are working behind the scenes to fund lawsuits aimed at imperiling a fundamental, natural, and sacred right. Thus, if the Soto Plaintiffs prevail in their lawsuit against the Defendant manufacturer, Bushmaster, and against Defendant suppliers, distributors, and sellers in Connecticut, antigun groups will certainly become emboldened and will bring similar actions—a flurry of them—in other jurisdictions. So, then, while the Soto suit has direct dire results in Connecticut, alone, in the event the Soto Plaintiffs ultimately prevail in their action against Defendants, the ramifications of such result could very well have a ripple effect across the Country, creating, worst of all, the impetus for antigun Legislators in Congress—assuming that Democrats take control of both Houses of Congress—to enact legislation like the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA), targeting and negatively impacting the marketing and selling of semiautomatic firearms to the civilian population of this Country. The NFA bans manufacture of new fully automatic firearms for sale to the civilian population. Production of new machine guns, submachine guns, and selective fire assault rifles are only available for sale to the military and to law enforcement, which are not legally available to the civilian population.One can only wonder that, had millions of law-abiding NRA members the clout in 1934 that they have today, the NFA would never have been enacted. The NFA is a dinosaur, a relic of a time when Americans had little clout to assert their natural right to keep and bear arms. Once enacted, the NFA should have been repealed by Congress. It never was. The antigun groups obviously wish to piggy-back off the NFA, to ban a vast category of semiautomatic weapons. Eventually the antigun groups and the shadowy, ruthless billionaire internationalist, trans-nationalist benefactors that support them, who seek to undermine the very concept of the Nation State, would like to see enacted, at the federal level, NFA type legislation that would effectively ban new fabrication of semiautomatic firearms. Once the present supply of such weapons dries up, as the supply of fully automatic weapons is now drying up, fewer semiautomatic firearms will be available for disposition to the civilian population, as the existing supply of semiautomatic weapons will be exhausted and those still remaining in existence will, at some point, require repair which will become significantly difficult to accomplish as components for these semiautomatic weapons, too, become increasingly scarce and eventually unavailable at any cost. Scarcity of semiautomatic weapons and scarcity of parts for them will inevitably drive up the cost of ownership of semiautomatic weapons as the present supply of semiautomatic weapons dries and of component parts dries up. Thus, semiautomatic weapons, as with the present supply of fully automatic weapons and with the present supply of selective fire weapons will only be available to those having the means to afford them—that is to say, those of us, damned few, who have exorbitant sums of money. Those who wish to obtain a semiautomatic weapon, as is the case for those members of the civilian population who presently wish to acquire a machine gun, or submachine gun, or selective fire assault rifle, and who are able to amass the dollars necessary to purchase a semiautomatic weapon, will, in addition to being required to have, on hand, the necessary funds, must be willing to jump through the hoops of a lengthy, complicated, bureaucratic process to acquire a federal firearms license (FFL) required for the acquisition of such weapons. But, A person cannot acquire an FFL overnight; and it is not the sort of license that the typical, average, law-abiding, rational American citizen, at present, possesses or is likely ever to have the ability to obtain. As for these average Americans, it could very well come to pass that possession of semiautomatic firearms, as is true with fully automatic or selective fire weapons, would be prohibitively expensive, outside the range of what the average law-abiding American citizen is able ever to afford, presenting, for the general civilian population, an insurmountable goal, an unmet wish, an empirical impossibility. And the right of the people to keep and bear arms will then become a tantalizing and taunting chimera—a right that no longer can be exercised—an empty promise.

IS THE SOTO CASE THE FIRST CASE OF ITS KIND OR HAVE THERE BEEN OTHER CASES BROUGHT AGAINST FIREARMS MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS OF FIREARMS?

The Soto case is not the first case of its kind. It is merely the latest and, rest assured, it will not, unfortunately, be the last. The Arbalest Quarrel has catalogued 460 cases against firearms manufacturers, according to our research—going back in time at least to 1966—all of these cases a naked, bald attempt to hold firearms manufacturers liable for misuse of their products by those individuals--criminals and lunatics--whom they have no connection with and those who should not have access to firearms in the first place. These cases, brought by party plaintiffs against firearms manufacturers are generally grounded in various common law theories of negligence and/or State products liability statutes, where, in some jurisdictions, the one theory of liability is merged into the other. Most of these cases were filed in the last twenty years.One can see, but hardly fathom, the ruthlessness of antigun groups as they steadfastly, inexorably work toward the single-minded goal of ultimately depriving the civilian population, comprising average, hard-working, independent-minded, sane, rational, law-abiding American citizens of their natural and fundamental right to own and possess firearms—any firearm, depriving Americans of their fundamental right—in defiance of the will of the framers of the Nation’s Constitution and of the Constitution’s most important component, the Bill of  Rights—depriving Americans of their right to keep and bear arms, and doing so, with alacrity, one category of firearms at a time. We have seen the results of their efforts to date as they deprive Americans of their fundamental right to own and possess fully automatic firearms. Now they seek to deprive Americans of their right to own and possess the semiautomatic firearms. If they succeed in that effort, they will continue. What will be next on their agenda? They will attempt to deprive Americans of their right to own and possess double action and single action revolvers and lever action rifles—and so on. They will attempt to deprive Americans of their right to own black powder rifles and shotguns, and, ultimately, they will have the legislation and case law decisions as the purported legal foundation to ban and confiscate whatever kind of firearm is left to be banned and confiscated. Of course, as these antigun groups are fed with an unlimited amount of money by billionaire backers such as George Soros and Michael Bloomberg, the antigun movement will not be sated until all manner of firearms are banned from civilian possession. While one may believe that the citizens should not have the right to keep and bear fully automatic weapons, why is that? Is there anything inherently true in that belief? Of course not. The idea may seem odd to some only because, for decades, since enactment of the NFA, possession of fully automatic weapons has been, for all intents and purposes, illegal. Decades from now, if a semiautomatic weapons' NFA were enacted, similar attitudes would exist as to the notion that a civilian ought not to be able to possess those firearms. Even now, we see through mainstream media propaganda, a concerted effort to manipulate public opinion toward opposing civilian ownership of semiautomatic firearms. Children, at one time, played, innocently, with toy firearms. Now, the idea is an anathema. The ability of the media to transform attitudes away from Americans’ own natural birthright—the fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms—is real; it is ominous; it is gaining momentum; it is disturbing and it is singularly depressing.This attempt by party plaintiffs, who often file suits with the encouragement of, if not the active assistance of and participation of antigun groups, had to be stopped; and, indeed, a wrench was thrown into this assault on firearms manufacturers once the President of the United States, George W. Bush, approved the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (the ‘PLCAA’), Pub. L. No. 109-92, 119 Stat. 2095. 15 U.S.C. §§ 7901-03 (2005). The PLCAA provides immunity to firearms manufacturers and dealers from any lawsuit, pending or otherwise, fitting the Act's definition of a ‘qualified civil liability action.’ 15 U.S.C. §§ 7902-03. After enactment of the PLCAA—the first federal legislation, in recent years that serves to strengthen, rather than weaken, the Second Amendment—party plaintiffs must contemplate and take into account, in their Court pleadings, the impact of federal legislation and must factor in the PLCAA when lodging complaints against and presenting arguments against manufacturers and  against distributors, or suppliers, of firearms. Without expressly referring to the PLCAA, it is clear enough that this legislation falls in the crosshairs of those Congressional leaders in the Democratic Party who would like very much to repeal it. The reader may recall that, during the 2016 Democratic Party Presidential debates, the U.S. Presidential candidates, primarily Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, and Lincoln Chaffee, fell over each other, attempting to convince their liberal thinking audience—individuals who uniformly and universally despise the right of the people to keep and bear arms—that he or she candidate maintains the strongest stance against civilian ownership and possession of firearms. Each of these candidates lied to the public when asserting that firearms manufacturers have absolute immunity from claims against them, pertaining to the misuse of firearms and that manufacturers, rather than avoiding liability ought to have, absolute liability. The claims of these political hacks are false in two critical respects. First, firearms manufacturers do not have and never did have absolute immunity from claims. The only entities that do have absolute immunity from decisions they make are few and far between, and include governmental employees such as judges and prosecutors—various governmental entities in certain circumstances. But that was never true of businesses. Second, the desire of individuals like Clinton, O’Malley, and Chaffee, and others, to impose, essentially, absolute liability on  firearms manufacturers flies in the face of decades of products liability law and the law of torts. It is a curious remark, too, that Clinton, O’Malley, and Chaffee would emphasize respect for the “rule of law”—and then be the instruments for creating ad hoc law—law made to conform to personal, not shared, views of the way these antigun proponents would like this Nation to look; the way they would like this Nation to be; and, on their world view, they would impose absolute liability on firearms manufacturers. oddly enough, too, during the Democratic Party Presidential debates, only Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party Socialist candidate demurred at the suggestion of imposing absolute liability on firearms manufacturers. But, then, he represents and Libertarian State, Vermont.In its to-do list, the Arbalest Quarrel will, at some point, as time and demand permit, provide its readers with a survey of Court cases lodged against firearms manufacturers, along with a detailed exposition of Court resolution of those cases. This will involve an examination of the misapplication of products liability law and tort theory of negligence by party plaintiffs attempting to twist law in a manner inconsistent with the development of that great body of law through time. That is what we are seeing in the present Soto case. There is afoot, as anyone who follows lawsuits negatively impacting Americans’ exercise of their natural right to keep and bear arms knows full well, a desire by some State and Federal Legislatures and some State and Federal Jurists, to decimate natural law to conform to a bizarre personal view of the world at odds with our Bill of Rights and at odds with the philosophical underpinnings of our law and jurisprudence as the framers of our Constitution understood those underpinnings to be. The mainstream media reports in both news accounts and in opinion editorials that NRA merely supports firearms manufacturers, regardless of the interests and concerns of ordinary Americans. That remark, constantly reiterated, is not only false; it is a lie because those who set forth that remark in reporting know it to be false. Individuals—millions of Americans—comprise the membership of NRA, not firearms manufacturers. And firearms manufacturers provide an essential service to Americans, providing them with a product Americans want—a product that enables Americans to take full advantage of the sacred right codified in the Second Amendment. If Americans did not desire the products that firearms manufacturers produce, then Americans would not purchase those products. Members of the antigun establishment—comprising shadowy billionaire internationalists, trans-nationalists, and globalists; and comprising members of the mainstream media, and comprising legislators and jurists; and comprising ordinary Americans, misled by the orchestrated propaganda blasted incessantly through the newspapers, internet and airwaves—seek to dispossess Americans of their right to keep and bear arms—and that right includes the right to own and possess weapons in common use by Americans—those rifles that are descendants of the original Armalite AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.The antigun establishment knows full well the popularity of the AR-15 model semiautomatic rifle among millions of average, law-abiding, rational American citizens. Thus, since Americans wish to purchase a product that companies such as Bushmaster produce, the antigun establishment attacks the companies head-on, arguing falsely that firearms companies produce firearms because NRA lobbies for them. That makes no logical sense. If the public did not wish to purchase firearms, they would not do so, and no amount of money paid to lobbyists would serve to compel an American to purchase something he or she doesn’t wish to own and possess. So, as one strategy to defeat the Second Amendment, the antigun establishment attacks Firearms manufacturers through the filing of lawsuits against firearms manufacturers, with the aim of enjoining firearms manufacturers from marketing their goods, and, as another strategy, insinuating itself into Congress, urging Congress to enact laws that would proscribe the manufacture of a product that the American public wants. The Soto case is simply the latest active case involving an action directed against a firearms manufacturer, seeking, in substantial part, to enjoin that firearms manufacturer from marketing a product in Connecticut, predicating a prayer for injunctive relief on the ground—unsupported in law—that the firearms manufacturer, Bushmaster, and other Party Defendants, are liable for the criminal actions of an individual with whom none of the Defendants were ever in privity with. We look carefully, now, at the intricacies of this case. We begin with a dive deep into the Superior Court’s analysis of the Soto Plaintiffs’ claims. And, since the Supreme Court of Connecticut agreed to hear arguments, pro and con, proffered by the Soto Party Plaintiffs and Party Defendants, and since the Connecticut Supreme Court has, in fact, recently heard argument, we will do a comprehensive analysis of a few pertinent Briefs filed by Plaintiffs’ attorneys and Defendants’ attorneys in that case, and we will take a look, as well, at a few Amicus curiae (Friend of Court Briefs) filed by those antigun proponents who support Soto Plaintiffs claims and we will look at a few amicus Briefs filed in support of the Defendants in the case. Thus, readers of the Arbalest Quarrel will have an accurate, detailed account of the arguments, pro and con, far removed from the simplistic, false, deceptive, and ludicrous nonsense spouted by antigun legislators, spokespeople for antigun groups, and the mainstream media about this case. Note: over 50 Amicus curiae Briefs have been filed in the Soto case. That suggests—despite a mostly deceptive quiet undertone to this case—that much is at stake here--hence our attention to this case. Understand, a State’s “assault weapon” gun ban does not attack the right of manufacturers to design and manufacture a firearm for sale in the civilian population. But, Court cases that challenge the ability of firearms manufacturers to design, manufacture, and market a product that most Americans want constitutes an existential threat to the core of the Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms and challenges, and constitutes, too, a direct, existential threat to the very concept of property rights and free market capitalism upon which this Nation’s economic structure rests.

DETAILS OF THE SUPERIOR COURT DECISION IN SOTO, DISMISSING THE CASE AGAINST DEFENDANTS

A few years after the event—that has recently become a cause célebre for antigun groups—wended its way to Federal District Court and then back to State Court, the Soto case come to a crashing halt on October 14, 2016, when the Connecticut Superior Court judge dismissed the case on Defendants’ Motion to Strike Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint. As the Superior Court explains, Plaintiff individuals in their own capacity and executors and administrators of the estates of deceased (hereafter, referred to through the principal Plaintiff as the “Soto Plaintiffs”) filed an action for damages and injunctive relief against Defendant Bushmaster Firearms International and others (hereafter, referred to at times by the principal Defendant Bushmaster also known as, Remington) for damages and injunctive relief. As the Court explains:“In their thirty-three-count amended complaint dated October 29, 2015, the plaintiffs allege the following facts. On the morning of December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School, located in Newtown, Connecticut, carrying a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, model XM15-E2S. Lanza then used the weapon, which was designed for military use and engineered to deliver maximum carnage with extreme efficiency, to kill twenty-six people, including the plaintiffs' decedents, and to wound others, including Natalie Hammond, in less than five minutes. The weapon had been bought by Lanza's mother to give to and/or share with her son." The plaintiffs further allege that the defendants, all makers and sellers of the Bushmaster XM15-E2S, know that civilians are unfit to operate AR-15s, and yet continue selling the Bushmaster XM15-E2S to the civilian market, disregarding the unreasonable risks that the weapon poses "outside of specialized, highly regulated institutions like the armed forces and law enforcement," in an effort to continue profiting from the weapon's sale. In addition, the defendants knew, or should have known, the following: the sale of assault rifles like the XM15-E2S to the civilian market posed an unreasonable and egregious risk of physical injury to others, as a mass casualty event was within the scope of the risk created both by the Remington defendants' marketing and by the defendants' sale of the XM15-E2S to the civilian market; there was an unreasonably high risk that the XM15-E2S would be used in a mass shooting to inflict maximum casualties before law enforcement was able to intervene; schools are particularly vulnerable to—and frequently targets of—mass shootings; the utility of the XM15-E2S for hunting, sporting, or self-defense was negligible in comparison to the risk that the weapon would be used in its assaultive capacity; and the XM15-E2S, when used in its assaultive capacity, would be likely to inflict multiple casualties and serious injury. The plaintiffs also allege that, despite this knowledge, the Remington defendants "unethically, oppressively, immorally, and unscrupulously marketed and promoted the assaultive qualities and military uses of AR-15s to civilian purchasers," and all of the defendants "unethically, oppressively, immorally, and unscrupulously promoted the sale of AR-15s with the expectation and intent that possession and control of these weapons would be shared with and/or transferred to unscreened civilian users following purchase, including family members." Moreover, the Remington defendants knew, or should have known, that the Camfour defendants' use of the product—supplying it to dealers who sell directly to civilians—involved an unreasonable risk of physical injury to others, while the Camfour defendants knew, or should have known, that the Riverview defendants' use of the product—supplying it to the civilian population—involved an unreasonable risk of physical injury to others. Counts one through nine and thirteen through thirty of the amended complaint sound in wrongful death against the three groups of defendants on behalf of the plaintiffs' decedents. These counts allege that the defendants' conduct was a substantial factor resulting in the injuries, suffering, and death of the plaintiffs' decedents in that the decedents suffered terror, ante-mortem pain and suffering, destruction of the ability to enjoy life's activities, destruction of earning capacity, and death.These counts also allege that as a result of the injuries and deaths of the plaintiffs' decedents, their estates incurred funeral expenses to their financial loss. Counts ten through twelve sound in loss of consortium against the three groups of defendants [*7] by William Sherlach, the husband of Mary J. Sherlach. Finally, counts thirty-one through thirty-three are brought against the three groups of defendants by Natalie Hammond, alleging that the defendants' conduct was a substantial factor resulting in the injuries of Hammond in that she suffered terror; pain and suffering; severe, permanent, and painful injuries to her left calf, foot, thigh, and hand; destruction of the ability to enjoy life's activities; and destruction of earning capacity. Hammond also alleges she incurred medical expenses to her financial loss. Within each of these thirty-three counts, the plaintiffs allege that the defendants' conduct constituted a knowing violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA), General Statutes §42-110a et seq. On April 22, 2016, the Remington defendants,6 Camfour defendants, and Riverview defendants8 each filed a motion to strike the amended complaint for failure to state legally sufficient claims upon which relief may be granted, on the grounds that the defendants are immune from the claims by virtue of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), 15 U.S.C. §7901 et seq. (2012), because they have not sufficiently alleged causes of action that are permitted under any exception to immunity set forth in PLCAA, namely, the negligent entrustment exception, 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A)(ii),10 and/or the predicate exception, 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A)(iii). On May 27, 2016, the plaintiffs filed an omnibus objection to the defendants' motions to strike, and on June 10, 2016, the Remington and Camfour defendants filed reply memoranda. Oral argument on the motions was heard on June 20, 2016, at which time the court reserved judgment.”

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

Plaintiffs’ suit is principally an attack on manufacturers of semiautomatic rifles, those rifles that constitute the progeny of semiautomatic rifles descending from the original ArmaLite AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. Plaintiffs allege the AR-15 rifle is a military and law enforcement rifle that has no legitimate, lawful, civilian use. The allegations of the first amended complaint aptly and amply illustrate Plaintiffs’ false assumptions regarding this point, positing that no tenable distinction exists between the military M-16 selective fire rifle and the civilian semiautomatic only AR-15 version—thereby collapsing the two rifles—one for the civilian market and the other for the military and law enforcement market, into one. This false idea became the central claim of Plaintiffs’ Complaint—the idea that the weapon Adam Lanza used to commit multiple murders is, in effect, a military rifle that has no legitimate civilian use. As you read through the allegations of the CM as posited below, pay close attention to the Soto Plaintiffs’ notions of the AR-15 rifle that Bushmaster manufactures and markets to the civilian population.

PLAINTIFFS’ ALLEGATIONS AS SET FORTH IN THEIR FIRST AMENDMENT COMPLAINT

There are 230 allegations in Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint, which superseded the original Complaint. Since a Complaint (“CM”) sets forth the basis for a cause of action and the parameters of it, it is best to proceed with an analysis of a case from the standpoint of Plaintiffs allegations. Allegation, No. 4, for example, refers to the AR-15 as “a military weapon.” It isn’t, and was never designed to be a military weapon; and it isn’t marketed to the military. Many of Plaintiffs’ allegations amount to hyperbole and propaganda directed to a Court of Law. Those allegations may be considered the kinds of remarks one hears by hosts on CNN or MSNBC, or by jokesters on late night comedy programs, or in newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post, and as a person has come to expect and therefore, not to be taken seriously, but, they bespeak, on their face, lack of respect for a Judge presiding over the case in a Court of Law, such imbecilic remarks have no place in a formal legal document and should be regarded as a disgraceful attempt “to floor” a judge with rhetorical, inflammatory, emotive, empty banter, rather than to lay the basis for a cogent, rational, deliberative legal argument in support of a plaintiff’s legal claims and in support of a plaintiff’s prayer for relief.It is also clear from a perusal of a sampling of the allegations of the First Amended Complaint that Plaintiffs do not cast blame for the tragedy, on the killer Lanza—the one person, along with the killer’s mother—who bears responsibility for the tragedy that ensued at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Of course, both the killer, Adam Lanza, and his mother are dead and likely would be judgment proof—that is to say, they would have little funds to make the Soto Plaintiffs whole apropos of their claim for damages for wrongful death—had Adam Lanza and his mother lived. Rather, the Soto Plaintiffs blame the manufacturer, Bushmaster, for manufacturing a rifle that, as Soto alleges, has no legitimate civilian purpose, grounded on the false, imbecilic notion that the AR-15 is a “weapon of war” and, as Soto further alleges, is a weapon unlawfully marketed to civilians. Again, it is clear, from a reading of the First Amended Complaint, that the Soto Plaintiffs relish the same rhetorical flourishes that we read and hear and see, ad nauseum, in the mainstream media, along with the inflammatory oratory of politicians, which have no place in a legal pleading. But, we see it here anyway.We have produced for you, in substantial part, the allegations of Soto’s First Amended Complaint which demonstrates at once the Soto Plaintiffs lack of understanding of firearms and, as well, the sarcasm that turns a formal legal pleading into a bald homily or comic skit for a “Saturday Night Live” routine.

SOTO’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT (CM) (SELECTED ALLEGATIONS)

INTRODUCTION 1. This is a civil action for damages and injunctive relief stemming from the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. 2. In less than five minutes, 20 first-grade children and 6 adults were killed. Two others were wounded. 3. The number of lives lost in those 264 seconds was made possible by the shooter's weapon of choice: a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, model XM15-E2S. 4. The AR-15 was designed as a military weapon. Bora [sic] out of the exigencies of modern combat, the AR-15 was engineered to deliver maximum carnage with extreme efficiency. 5. The AR-15 proved to be very good at its job. It has endured as the United States Army's standard-issue rifle and has more recently become a valuable [*2] law enforcement weapon. In both contexts, soldiers and officers must undergo advanced training and adhere to regimented safety protocols. 6. The AR-15, however, has little utility for legitimate civilian purposes. The rifle's size and overwhelming firepower, so well adapted to the battlefield, are liabilities in home defense. 7. But there is one civilian activity in which the AR-15 reigns supreme: mass shootings. Time and again, mentally unstable individuals and criminals have acquired an AR-15 with ease, and they have unleashed the rifle's lethal power into our streets, our malls, our places of worship, and our schools. 8. Defendants - makers and sellers of the Bushmaster XM15-E2S - have, like all Americans, watched mass shootings become a harrowing yet predictable part of modern life. 9. Defendants know that, as a consequence of selling AR-15s to the civilian market, individuals unfit to operate these weapons gain access to them. 10. And defendants know that the AR-15's military firepower, unsuited to personal defense or recreation, enables an individual in possession of the weapon to inflict unparalleled civilian carnage. 11. Despite that knowledge, defendants continued to [*3] sell the Bushmaster XM15-E2S to the civilian market. 12. In order to continue profiting from the sale of AR-15s, defendants chose to disregard the unreasonable risks the Bushmaster XM15-E2S posed outside of specialized, highly regulated institutions like the armed forces and law enforcement. 13. Plaintiffs seek nothing more and nothing less than accountability for the consequences of that choice. PARTIES 14. Defendant Bushmaster Firearms, also known as B.F.I, and B.F.I., Inc., was a Maine corporation created in 1973 and located in Windham, Maine. At all relevant times, Bushmaster Firearms manufactured and sold AR-15s. Bushmaster Firearms is now part of Freedom Group, Inc. 15. Defendant Bushmaster Firearms, Inc. was another Maine corporation that manufactured and sold AR-15s. Upon information and belief, Bushmaster Firearms, Inc. manufactured and sold AR-15s. Bushmaster Firearms, Inc. is now part of Freedom Group, Inc. 16. Defendant Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC was a Delaware corporation that was formed in 2006. (When originally created, it was named Rambo Acquisition, LLC.) According to corporate filings, Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC was merged into [*4] Remington Arms Company, LLC in 2011. 17. At all relevant times, Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC manufactured and sold AR-15s. 18. Upon information and belief, Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC manufactured the XM15-E2S that was used in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. 19. Defendant Remington Arms Company, LLC is a Delaware limited liability corporation. Defendant Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC was merged into Defendant Remington Arms Company, LLC in 2011. At all relevant times, Remington Arms Company, LLC manufactured and sold AR-15s. THE GUN A. The Bushmaster XM15-E2S is a Military Weapon 47. Bushmaster's XM15-E2S is an AR-15 rifle, a weapon adopted by the United States military and other armed forces around the world because of its efficiency as a military assault rifle. 48. After World War II, the U.S. Army's Operations Research Office analyzed over three million casualty reports from World War I and World War II. In its final report, the group observed that modern combat occurred at short range and was highly mobile. More importantly, they determined that the number one predictor of casualties was the total number of shots fired. 49. These findings led the U.S. Army to develop specifications for a new combat weapon: a lightweight firearm that would hold a large detachable magazine and rapidly expel ammunition with enough velocity to penetrate body armor and steel helmets. 50. A company called Armalite designed the AR-15 in response. Lightweight, air-cooled, gas-operated, and magazine-fed, the AR-15's capacity for rapid fire with limited recoil meant its lethality was not dependent on good aim or ideal combat conditions. [*10] 51. After extensive testing, the military concluded that a five-man squad armed with AR-15s had equal or superior "hit-and-kill" potential in combat situations when compared with an 11-man squad armed with M14 rifles, the AR-15's predecessor. Troops field-testing the AR-15 reported instantaneous deaths, as well as routine amputations, decapitations, and massive body wounds. The military ultimately adopted the AR-15 as its standard-issue service rifle, renaming it the M16. 52. After Armalite sold its licensing rights, Colt took over its military contracts and began mamifartfiirinu the M16. 53. Today, Colt remains the largest supplier of combat rifles to the military. 54. Bushmaster, meanwhile, holds the distinction of being the largest supplier of combat rifles to civilians. 55. The XM15-E2S is one such rifle. B. A "Civilian" Weapon Designed for Combat 56. As an AR-15 rifle, the Bushmaster XM15-E2S is substantially similar to its military sibling, the M16. Both weapons are designed for mass casualty assaults. Both share design features of exceptional muzzle velocity, the ability to accommodate large-capacity magazines, and effective rapid fire. Muzzle Velocity [*11] 57. The term "muzzle velocity" refers to the speed a bullet possesses at the moment it leaves the muzzle of a firearm. 58. The velocity of a bullet on impact is the main determinant of its destructive capacity. 59. Typical handgun muzzle velocities range from approximately 750 feet per second to approximately 1,300 feet per second. 60. Because longer barrels give the ammunition's propellant more time to work, long guns eject projectiles at significantly higher velocities than short-barreled firearms. 61. According to a study by physicians who performed autopsies on soldiers killed by gunfire in Iraq, the greater the speed of the bullet on impact, the greater the extent of tissue deterioration. The study found that rounds with a velocity exceeding 2,500 feet per second cause a Shockwave to pass through the body upon impact that results in catastrophic injuries even in areas remote to the direct wound. 62. AR-15 rifles like the XM15-E2S are capable of propelling ammunition at 4,000 feet per second. Large-Capacity Magazines 63. In addition to exceptional muzzle velocity, AR-15 rifles are also designed to accept large-capacity magazines. 64. A large-capacity magazine [*12] is defined as a magazine that holds more than ten rounds. 65. Large-capacity magazines were first designed and produced for the military in order to increase the firepower of U.S. infantry by minimizing time spent reloading. 66. "Civilian" AR-15 rifles, including the XM15-E2S, are manufactured to be compatible with magazines that hold as many as 100 rounds. Effective Rapid Fire 67. All AR-15 rifles, including the XM15-E2S, can empty their magazines with exceptional speed. 68. The rifles carried by U.S. forces are capable of both full automatic and semiautomatic fire. Full automatic fire can empty a 30-round magazine in two seconds. Semiautomatic fire can empty the same 30-round magazine in five to ten seconds. 69. The United States Army considers semiautomatic fire more effective than automatic fire in most combat situations. 70. "Civilian" semiautomatic rifles like the XM15-E2S, therefore, are capable of the same rapid fire that the U.S. Army deems optimal for the military theater. 71. Structurally and mechanically, AR-15 rifles remain the progeny - and instruments - of war. 72. Semiautomatic fire unleashes a torrent of bullets in a matter of seconds; large-capacity [*13] magazines allow for prolonged assaults; and powerful velocity makes each hit catastrophic. 73. The net effect is more wounds, of greater severity, in more victims, in less time. 74. This superior capacity for lethality - above and beyond other semiautomatic weapons - is why the AR-15 has endured as the U.S. military's weapon of choice for 50 years. C. A "Civilian" Weapon Marketed for Combat 75. The uniquely military characteristics of the AR-15 are not lost on the Bushmaster Defendants. 76. Indeed, the Bushmaster Defendants attract buyers by extolling the militaristic and assaultive qualities of their AR-15 rifles, including the XM15-E2S. 77. The Bushmaster Defendants promote their AR-15s by advertising that the most elite branches of the military - including Special Forces, SEALs, Green Berets, and Army Rangers - have used them. 78. The Bushmaster Defendants tout Bushmaster rifle barrels as "the finest AR15-Type/M16-Type barrels made," promising that they "provide the same matte black, non-reflective finish found on quality military-type arms." 79. When the Bushmaster Defendants rolled out a new AR-15 rifle model, defendants' advertising lauded the gun as "the uncompromising [*14] choice when you demand a rifle as mission-adaptable as you are." 80. A Bushmaster product catalogue shows soldiers moving on patrol through jungles, armed with Bushmaster rifles. Superimposed over the silhouette of a soldier holding his helmet against the backdrop of an American flag is text that reads: "When you need to perform under pressure, Bushmaster delivers." 81. In another Bushmaster product catalogue, firearms like the XM15-E2S are advertised with the slogan, "military-proven performance." 82. The Bushmaster Defendants have promoted one of their "civilian" rifles as "the ultimate combat weapons system." 83. The Bushmaster Defendants' marketing invokes the unparalleled destructive power of their AR-15 rifles. In one product catalogue, advertising copy above a close-up of an AR-15 reads: "Forces of opposition, bow down. You are single-handedly outnumbered." 84. The Bushmaster Defendants' militaristic marketing reinforces the image of the AR-15 as a combat weapon used for the purpose of waging war and killing human beings. 85. This marketing tactic dovetails with the widespread popularity of realistic and addictive first-person shooter games - such as "Call of Duty" - that [*15] prominently feature AR-15s and reward players for "head shots" and "kill streaks," among other assaultive and violent "achievements." 86. It is widely known that such games expose players to intensely realistic tactical scenarios and teach assaultive weapon techniques such as taped reloads, by which high-capacity magazines are taped together to reduce reloading time. 87. The Bushmaster Defendants further promote the use of the XM15-E2S and similar rifles as combat weapons by designating in their product catalogues that 30-round magazines are "standard" for those models. The Bushmaster Defendants even include a 30-round magazine with each purchased AR-15. 88. By contrast, the Bushmaster Defendants' hunting and sporting rifles come equipped with significantly less ammunition. 89. According to the Bushmaster Defendants, 5-round magazines are "standard" for the .450 Bushmaster rifle, which is advertised as "suitable for all North American big game." 90. According to the Bushmaster Defendants, 5-round magazines are "standard" for the Bushmaster "Predator Rifle," which is described as "the ultimate predator-hunting carry rifle." 91. According to the Bushmaster Defendants, 5-round magazines are "standard" for the Bushmaster "Varminter Rifle," which is "built specifically for varmint hunters." 92. According to the Bushmaster Defendants, 10-round magazines are "standard" for the Bushmaster "Competition Rifle." D. A "Civilian" Weapon with no Legitimate Civilian Purpose 93. As set forth above, the AR-15's combination of exceptional muzzle velocity, ability to accept large-capacity magazines, and effective rapid fire has significant utility in the military context. These same features make the weapon grossly ill-suited for legitimate civilian purposes. Self-Defense 94. There is no evidence that semiautomatic rifles are commonly used for, or necessary for, legitimate self-defense by law-abiding citizens. 95. Semiautomatic rifles' length makes them inferior to smaller guns in the confines of a home. 96. It is handguns, and not long guns, that are widely considered to be the optimal weapon for home defense. 97. In D.C. v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 629 (2008), the Supreme Court of the United States extolled the handgun as the "quintessential self-defense weapon." The Court cited several reasons for this: "It is easier to store in a location [*17] that is readily accessible in an emergency; it cannot easily be redirected or wrestled away by an attacker; it is easier to use for those without the upper-body strength to lift and aim a long gun; it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police." These characteristics are absent from the AR-15. 98. Semiautomatic rifles are not only ill-suited to home defense, they are dangerous when used in that capacity. 99. The velocity and rate of semiautomatic fire in the home creates a significant risk of what is referred to as "over-penetration," where bullets breach walls and doors, putting family members, neighbors, and even passers-by at risk. 100. The military has concluded that use of the Ml 6 in close quarters greatly increases the risk of fratricide and noncombatant casualties, and trains soldiers accordingly. 101. When Bushmaster's AR-15 was reviewed by Guns & Ammo Magazine in 1983, the reviewer commented: "As a home defense weapon, it certainly possesses ample firepower with a 30-round magazine, but the .223 cartridge is a mite too powerful and penetrating for this use." It concluded that the rifle would instead be of value to "a police S.W.A. [*18] T. team in close-quarter encounters with evil-doers." 102. Moreover, the ability to accept large-capacity magazines, vital for modern combat, is unnecessary for home defense. 103. The National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action ("NRA-ILA") maintains a database of "armed citizen" stories describing private citizens who have successfully defended themselves or others using a firearm. According to a study of all incidents in that database from 1997 to 2001, an average of 2.2 shots were fired by defenders; and in 28% of incidents, no shots were fired at all. A follow-up study of incidents that occurred from 2011 to 2013 revealed that defenders fired an average of 2.1 shots. 104. The likelihood of an AR-15 causing accidental harm when used for home defense substantially exceeds the likelihood that large quantities of semiautomatic fire will be necessary for protection. ENTRUSTMENT OF MILITARY WEAPONS TO THE PUBLIC 144. The military and law enforcement have a legitimate need for a weapon as lethal as the AR-15, but they also recognize that strict safety measures and rigorous oversight are necessary to protect soldiers, police officers, and innocent civilians from physical harm. 145. When AR-15s are entrusted to the public, [*25] no legitimate need is served and no institutional structure is in place to oversee the safe and intelligent use of those weapons.

DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO STRIKE THE FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT

In lieu of filing an Answer to Defendants’ First Amended Complaint, the Defendants’ filed their Motion to Strike the Complaint. What is a ‘motion to strike’; what is its purpose; what is it supposed to do? The Connecticut Supreme Court the purpose of a motion to strike, in Santorso v. Bristol Hosp., 308 Conn. 338; 63 A.3d 940; 2013 Conn. LEXIS 120, explains:"A motion to strike challenges the legal sufficiency of a pleading . . . and, consequently, requires no factual findings by the trial court. As a result, our review of the court's ruling is plenary. . . . We take the facts to be those alleged in the complaint that has been stricken and we construe the complaint in the manner most favorable to sustaining its legal sufficiency. . . . Thus, [i]f facts provable in the complaint would support a cause of action, the motion to strike must be denied. . . . A motion to strike is properly granted if the complaint alleges mere conclusions of law that are unsupported by the facts alleged." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Bridgeport Harbour Place I, LLC v. Ganim, 303 Conn. 205, 212-13, 32 A.3d 296 (2011)." The motion to strike a complaint (pleading) is the same thing as a motion to dismiss as the latter concept is understood and utilized in most jurisdictions. The Soto Defendants are claiming that, on no set of facts—when accepted as true—do the Soto Plaintiffs have a basis for having their case heard. A motion to strike, if granted, obviates the need for trial on the merits. Basically, Defendants are saying that, for purposes of argument, the Court can accept the truth of every allegation of the Complaint and that, it doesn’t matter because, as a matter of law, not fact, the Soto Plaintiffs case must be dismissed. The motion to strike is, then, a very powerful legal maneuver. The Superior Court then looked at the allegations of the First Amended Complaint to ascertain whether, as a matter of law, there was at least one factual allegation that warranted a trial on the merits. The Superior Court looked carefully at Plaintiffs’ allegations and determined that, as a matter of law, the Soto Plaintiffs’ case is meritless, and granted the Defendants’ motion to strike in total. The Soto Plaintiffs thereupon appealed the adverse decision directly to the Connecticut Supreme Court. The Court accepted review and listened to arguments on both sides. Given the importance of Defendants’ challenge, the Arbalest Quarrel analyzes the Superior Court’s reasoning, in depth below. In the next article on Soto, we will look at arguments presented by both Defendants and Plaintiffs and we will look at a few amicus curiae (friend of court) briefs as well. Once the Connecticut Supreme Court issues its ruling, we will then report on the Connecticut high Court’s findings.

CAN FIREARMS MANUFACTURERS BE HELD LIABLE FOR MISUSE OF FIREARMS BY PERSONS WHOM THE MANUFACTURERS ARE NOT IN PRIVITY WITH—THAT IS TO SAY, CAN FIREARMS MANUFACTURERS BE HELD LIABLE FOR MISUSE OF FIREARMS BY INDIVIDUALS WHOM FIREARMS MANUFACTURERS HAVE NEVER SOLD FIREARMS DIRECTLY TO AND, THEREFORE, HAVE HAD NO DIRECT CONTACT WITH AND, SO, HAVE HAD NO DIRECT KNOWLEDGE OF?

You may recall that, during the 2016 Democratic Party Nomination Debates, U.S. Presidential Candidates Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, and Lincoln Chafee, playing to their audience, comprised of individuals who have no understanding of firearms—apart from the false and even absurd ideas about firearms they see in the movies, given Hollywood’s ludicrous cinematic treatment of firearms and what they read in the Press or what they hear when tuning in to their favorite liberal pundits on PBS, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC or what they gather from comedians like Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert, peppering and lacing their comments with imbecilic notions regarding firearms—falling over each other, trying to convince their audience that one rather than the other had the most virulent attitudes toward firearms. Each of them argued that manufacturers of firearms could and should be held for criminal misuse of firearms. Curiously, the one “Socialist” Democratic Party Candidate, Bernie Sanders offered up that manufacturers, as third parties cannot and ought not be held liable for criminal misuse of firearms. Of course, Sanders hales from a Libertarian State, Vermont, and it would hardly do for Sanders to take as hard and unequivocal stand against gun ownership and possession as the other Democratic Party Candidates. But, Sanders was right. Firearms manufacturers cannot be held liable for the misuse of firearms by individuals. That doesn’t stop lawsuits. That doesn’t stop plaintiffs from attempting to hold firearms manufacturers liable for homicides and other mayhem committed with firearms by lunatics and maniacs, by psychopathic criminals, and by assorted mental incompetents and misfits with whom the manufacturers have no knowledge of.

SOTO PLAINTIFFS’ THEORY OF LIABILITY AGAINST BUSHMASTER

A. PROTECTION OF LAWFUL COMMERCE IN ARMS ACT (PLCAA)

Soto’s theory of liability against Bushmaster rests in principal part on a misguided attempt to shoehorn federal law, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), 15 U.S.C. §7901 et seq. (2012), into a cause of action against Bushmaster to hold Bushmaster liable for the harm committed by a lunatic, Adam Lanza, whom Bushmaster has had absolutely no connection with. Soto’s reliance on the PLCAA is particularly misguided because Congress enacted the PLCAA for the express purpose of protecting firearms manufacturers from claims brought by individuals harmed by parties with whom those firearms manufacturers have no connection with. The PLCAA was designed specifically to protect manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits against them when Plaintiffs flail about looking to cast blame on the wrong party rather than on the right party—the criminal, lunatic, maniac, psychopath—that misused the firearm in the first place. What does the PLCAA say? In principal part, the Act says this:(a) Findings. Congress finds the following: (1) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. (2) The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the rights of individuals, including those who are not members of a militia or engaged in military service or training, to keep and bear arms. (3) Lawsuits have been commenced against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms that operate as designed and intended, which seek money damages and other relief for the harm caused by the misuse of firearms by third parties, including criminals. (4) The manufacture, importation, possession, sale, and use of firearms and ammunition in the United States are heavily regulated by Federal, State, and local laws. Such Federal laws include the Gun Control Act of 1968, the National Firearms Act [26 USCS §§ 5801 et seq.], and the Arms Export Control Act [22 USCS §§ 2751 et seq.]. (5) Businesses in the United States that are engaged in interstate and foreign commerce through the lawful design, manufacture, marketing, distribution, importation, or sale to the public of firearms or ammunition products that have been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce are not, and should not, be liable for the harm caused by those who criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm products or ammunition products that function as designed and intended. (6) The possibility of imposing liability on an entire industry for harm that is solely caused by others is an abuse of the legal system, erodes public confidence in our Nation's laws, threatens the diminution of a basic constitutional right and civil liberty, invites the disassembly and destabilization of other industries and economic sectors lawfully competing in the free enterprise system of the United States, and constitutes an unreasonable burden on interstate and foreign commerce of the United States. (b) Purposes. The purposes of this Act are as follows: (1) To prohibit causes of action against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and importers of firearms or ammunition products, and their trade associations, for the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the product functioned as designed and intended. (2) To preserve a citizen's access to a supply of firearms and ammunition for all lawful purposes, including hunting, self-defense, collecting, and competitive or recreational shooting. (3) To guarantee a citizen's rights, privileges, and immunities, as applied to the States, under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, pursuant to section 5 of that Amendment. (4) To prevent the use of such lawsuits to impose unreasonable burdens on interstate and foreign commerce.Now, 15 U.S.C. § 7901(b)(1), especially, prohibits the very cause of action under the Act that the Soto Plaintiffs wrongly believe follows from an application of the Act unless there exists an exception. But, this is not to say that firearms manufacturers have absolute liability from suit, contrary to charges made by Hillary Clinton and those of her ilk—amounting to epitaphs against the entire firearms’ industry. Congress gives, under PLCAA, firearms manufacturers qualified immunity only.One exception that the Soto Plaintiffs attempt to rely on to shoehorn a cause of action against Bushmaster under the PLCAA is negligent entrustment (negligence per se). The paramount question is, then, whether, negligent entrustment can be imposed on Bushmaster for the harm that Adam Lanza caused. It can unless Bushmaster is immune from liability under the concept of qualified immunity, under 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A)(ii) (2012). We have to look at the meaning of ‘qualified immunity’ as used in and under PLCAA.

1. WHAT IS QUALIFIED IMMUNITY UNDER THE PLCAA

Qualified immunity is defined in 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A) (2012) of the PLCAA. That section says this: “In general. The term ‘qualified civil liability action’ means a civil action or proceeding or an administrative proceeding brought by any person against a manufacturer or seller of a qualified product, or a trade association, for damages, punitive damages, injunctive or declaratory relief, abatement, restitution, fines, or penalties, or other relief, resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a qualified product by the person or a third party.”Qualified immunity under the PLCAA means then that firearms manufacturers generally have no liability for the harm their products caused another through the misuse of its firearms by a third party but that exceptions exist, as further set forth in that statutory section—hence the use of the legal expression, ‘qualified immunity,’ rather than ‘absolute immunity’, the latter term of which would shield a firearms manufacturer from all liability brought by a party plaintiff against the firearms manufacturer for harm that the firearms manufacturer caused to another through misuse of its products by a third party. Qualified immunity, acts, then as a shield, which does protect a firearms manufacturer from liability, unless that qualified immunity is lost—essentially shattered, which opens a firearms’ manufacturer up to liability. Qualified immunity may share an attribute of absolute immunity in the sense that qualified immunity, if it attaches, is an entitlement not to stand trial. But, unlike absolute immunity that entitlement may in certain circumstances be lost. Those circumstances are set forth in 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A) (2012). For a discussion on immunity, qualified and absolute, see generally,  Mitchell vs. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511 ; 105 S. Ct. 2806; 86 L. Ed. 2d 411; 1985 U.S. LEXIS 113, discussing immunity as applied to Government official, where the concept of immunity ordinarily applies. But, in the context here, where qualified immunity applies to a firearms manufacturer (Congressional Statute based immunity), this means that Bushmaster is not liable for the harm that the maniac, Adam Lanza, caused students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut unless Bushmaster’s qualified immunity shield is lost through an exception, and Plaintiffs’ that are bringing the suit against Bushmaster and other Defendants, has the burden of showing that an exception, under PLCAA exists through which liability can be imposed upon Bushmaster and others in the lawsuit.Plaintiffs’ that are bringing the suit against Bushmaster and other Defendants, have the burden of showing that an exception, under PLCAA exists through which liability can be imposed upon Bushmaster and others in the lawsuit.One exception that causes a firearms manufacturer to lose its liability is predicated on the legal principle of ‘negligent entrustment.’ Soto claims that Bushmaster can and should be held liable under this principle of ‘negligent entrustment’ and the PLCAA does refer to ‘negligent entrustment’ as one of six stated exceptions to a firearm manufacturer’s defense of qualified immunity. This notion of ‘negligent entrustment’ has a very specific meaning in the PLCAA and, for a party plaintiff to claim the negligent entrustment exception to qualified immunity, the party plaintiff must, in the first instance, allege facts that comport with the elements of negligent entrustment. The negligent entrustment exception to a firearms manufacturer’s defense of qualified immunity falls under 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A)(ii) (2012) of the PLCAA.

2. WHAT DOES THE LEGAL EXPRESSION, ‘NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT,’ UNDER THE PLCAA MEAN?

In this Act, 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(B) (2012): “As used in subparagraph (A)(ii), the term ‘negligent entrustment’ means the supplying of a qualified product by a seller for use by another person when the seller knows, or reasonably should know, the person to whom the product is supplied is likely to, and does, use the product in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical injury to the person or others.”Can negligent entrustment be imposed on Bushmaster for the harm that Adam Lanza caused? On its face, the answer is “no.” Bushmaster did not sell the weapon that Adam Lanza used in the murdering innocent children and staff at the elementary school. Hence, it cannot be said that Bushmaster knew or reasonably should have known that “the person to whom the product was supplied was likely to and did use the product in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical injury to the person or others.” Generally, negligent entrustment would be applied to firearms dealers, not firearms manufacturers as it is the dealers, not the manufacturers who are in direct contact with. But, then, the PLCAA does not protect firearms dealers anyway. It was designed to protect firearms manufacturers from suit. In any event, the gun dealer who sold the weapon that Adam Lanza used in committing murder did not sell the weapon to Lanza as he was prohibited under law from owning and possessing firearms. The weapon was sold to Adam Lanza’s mother and Lanza’s mother failed to properly secure the firearm. It is Adam Lanza’s mother who, in the first instance, is the party responsible for the murderous shooting spree that followed.

3. WHAT DID THE CONNECTICUT SUPERIOR COURT SAY CONCERNING APPLICATION OF PLCAA TO THE CASE?

The Superior Court of Connecticut made clear the point that, for a party plaintiff to overcome or override a manufacturer’s qualified immunity under the PLCAA—in other words, to state cause of action, say, negligent entrustment—such claim, must arise under State law, not federal law. The Superior Court explicitly asserts that PLCAA only preserves those State claims that fall within one of the enumerated exceptions, such as negligent entrustment actions. Exceptions to PLCAA do not constitute a basis for a cause of action. The Court said:“Although PLCAA explicitly preserves claims that fall within its enumerated exceptions, such as negligent entrustment actions, it does not create them. 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A)(ii) and (5)(C) (2012). PLCAA explicitly provides that ‘no provision of this chapter shall be construed to create a public or private cause of action or remedy.’ 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(C) (2012). By its own terms, therefore, PLCAA cannot be read as creating a cause of action. Accordingly, the court concludes that for a plaintiff's negligent entrustment claim to be permitted under PLCAA. it must arise under state law. See Phillips v. Lucky Gunner, LLC, 84 F.Sup.3d 1216 (2015) (‘Although the PLCAA identifies negligent entrustment as an exception to immunity, it does not create the cause of action . . . Accordingly, the claim arises under state law’). Nonetheless, because Congress specifically included a definition of "negligent entrustment" in PLCAA, the court presumes that the definition serves a purpose and carries a meaning beyond merely referencing state common-law claims. Therefore, any state law negligent entrustment claim must also satisfy the PLCAA definition of ‘negligent entrustment.’ See, e.g., Delana v. CED Sales, Inc., 486 S.W.3d 316 (Mo. 2016), reh'g denied (May 24, 2016) ("a state-law claim may continue to be asserted . . . if it falls within the definition of a 'negligent entrustment' claim provided in the PLCAA"). Accordingly, the court will examine whether the plaintiffs' allegations meet the requirements for negligent entrustment claims under both Connecticut common law and the statutory definition set forth in PLCAA.”The Superior Court of Connecticut made clear that, if the Soto Plaintiffs' claim predicated on “negligent entrustment is tenable, Soto must satisfy the elements for a cause of action of negligent entrustment against Bushmaster as set forth in State law, as well as meeting the definition of ‘negligent entrustment’ set forth in PLCAA. So, the question is what are the elements of a cause of action for “negligent entrustment” in Connecticut and, second, has Soto, adequately pled those elements in its CM?

B. DOES SOTO’S CM SATISFACTORILY ALLEGE A VALID CLAIM OF NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT UNDER CONNECTICUT LAW?

1. WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT?

In Connecticut, there are two elements that comprise negligent entrustment. The Superior Court said this about negligent entrustment:"More specifically, the Superior Court has determined that an entrustment can be considered negligent only if (1) there is actual or constructive knowledge that the entrustee is incompetent or has a dangerous propensity, and (2) the injury resulted from that incompetence or propensity. See, e.g., Arocho v. Simonelli, Superior Court, judicial district of Stamford-Norwalk, Docket No. CV-12-6013221-S, 2015 Conn. Super. LEXIS 1635 (June 23, 2015, Adams, J.T.R.); Kaminsky v. Scoopo, Superior Court, judicial district of New Haven, Docket No. CV-08-6002084-S (July 30, 2008, Bellis, J.) (46 Conn. L. Rptr. 82, 83, 2008 Conn. Super. LEXIS 1910). "Actual knowledge is based on incompetency or a failure to appreciate some visible or demonstrable impairment . . . whereas constructive knowledge . . . is based on facts that are openly apparent or readily discernible." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Morillo v. Georges, Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford, Docket No. CV-15-6058761-S (December 31, 2015, Peck, J.) (61 Conn. L. Rptr. 541, 544, 2015 Conn. Super. LEXIS 3191). Whether actual or constructive, knowledge "is the essential element of a cause of action for negligent entrustment." Beale v. Martins, Superior Court, judicial district of Waterbury, Docket No. CV-13-6020940-S (December 1, 2015, Brazzel-Massaro, J.) (61 Conn. L. Rptr. 389, 390, 2015 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2989) ("[w]ithout the key allegation of knowledge, the plaintiff has not sufficiently pled a claim for negligent entrustment"); see also Kaminsky v. Scoopo, supra. . . ."On the basis of the Court’s reasoning it’s clear that Bushmaster must have knowledge, whether constructive or actual, that Adam Lanza, the “entrustee,” was incompetent or dangerous and therefore should not have had access to firearm or firearms that were manufactured by Bushmaster and that were used in the deadly shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. So, the question is:

2. FROM THE ALLEGATIONS OF THE COMPLAINT, DID BUSHMASTER HAVE ACTUAL OR CONSTRUCTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF ADAM LANZA’S MENTAL INCOMPETENCY OR DANGEROUS PROPENSITY TO HARM SELF OR OTHERS WITH BUSHMASTER’S FIREARMS?

The Court acknowledged that Soto Plaintiffs admitted: “In the present case, the court agrees with the plaintiffs that the theory of common-law negligent entrustment rests on the foreseeability of the likelihood of misuse of the chattel.” But, what is the nature of the foreseeability that satisfies the knowledge requirement of negligent entrustment? According to the Court, “The plaintiffs . . . have explicitly stated that their claims are not dependent on these parties' propensities; instead, the plaintiffs argue, ‘in a top-down case like this [the court looks] to the propensities of a class of individuals and the environment in which those individuals are likely to use [the instrument].’ In other words, the plaintiffs suggest that a claim of negligent entrustment can be sufficiently alleged where the chattel will ultimately reach individuals who are likely to misuse it.” But, are the Soto Plaintiffs' correct? The Court said this, about foreseeability:“. . . [I]n order to allege a legally sufficient negligent entrustment claim, the plaintiffs must allege that each entrustment was initially negligent. In other words, the plaintiffs must identify what foreseeable misuse rendered the initial entrustees incompetent. In the operative complaint, the plaintiffs have alleged the following relevant facts: The defendants knew or had reason to know that their respective entrustees were engaging in substantial sales of military caliber AR-15s, meant for specialized, highly regulated institutions, such as the armed forces and law enforcement, to the civilian market on a consistent basis and that such sales would give individuals who are unfit to operate the weapons access to them. Complaint, ¶¶9, 12. This, the defendants knew or should have known, posed an unreasonable and egregious risk of physical injury. Complaint, ¶213. Finally, each defendant knew, or should have known, that their respective entrustee's use of the product involved an unreasonable risk of physical injury to others. Complaint, ¶¶224, 225. Despite this knowledge, the plaintiffs allege, by transferring the XM15-E2S to each entrustee, the defendants continued to entrust the XM15-E2S to the civilian population. Complaint, ¶¶171, 172, 176, 177, 178, 182. Accordingly, the plaintiffs allege, selling to the civilian market is a misuse that renders each entrustment tortious.”The Superior Court of Connecticut thereupon concluded “that such sales do not constitute misuse as a matter of law. The court does not agree with the plaintiffs' assertion that the common law recognizes a class as broad as civilians to support a claim for negligent entrustment.”The Soto Plaintiffs  would have the Court hold a firearms manufacturer liable for any misuse of a firearm among the entirety of the civilian population, consisting of over three hundred million individuals residing in this Country. If the Court bought into that argument that would essentially negate the import of PLCAA and essentially create absolute liability for a firearms manufacturer. This in essence is what Soto and, indeed, antigun groups and antigun legislators seek to do. It is what antigun proponents like Feinstein, and Pelosi and Clinton and Schumer would like to see. They wish to make firearms manufacturers liable for every instance of misuse of a firearm. The risk of liability would thus be so great that firearms manufacturers would be either forced out of business or would have to raise the price of any given firearm they manufacture to tens of thousands of dollars in order to offset the risk of a costly lawsuit. Obviously, very few individuals could afford to purchase a firearm and the result would again be that firearms manufacturers would be forced out of business. Thus, this would amount to end-run around the Second Amendment, resulting in de facto repeal of the Second Amendment.Since, fortunately, the Superior Court of Connecticut determined that the Soto Plaintiffs had failed to allege facts sufficient to support a claim of negligent entrustment under Connecticut law, the Court said it was unnecessary to consider whether facts alleged meet the definition of negligent entrustment under PLCAA. The Court said, “In light of this court's conclusion above that the plaintiffs' negligent entrustment allegations are legally insufficient under Connecticut's common law, it is not necessary for this court to consider whether those claims meet the narrower definition of such claims set forth in PLCAA. Nevertheless, in the interest of thoroughness, and to provide an alternative basis for this court's decision with regard to the legal sufficiency of the plaintiffs' negligent entrustment claims, the court will also consider whether the plaintiffs' claims satisfy the narrower definition of negligent entrustment under PLCAA.” Since the Soto Plaintiffs' negligent entrustment claim as an exception to PLCAA qualified immunity fails, did the Soto Plaintiffs allege any other exception to PLCAA qualified immunity, as there exist six predicate statutory exceptions in PLCAA. The answer is, "yes."

C. CUTPA AS A PREDICATE STATUTE EXCEPTION?

The Soto Plaintiffs “allege that the defendants' conduct constituted a knowing violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA), General Statutes §42-110a et seq.” Why did the Soto Plaintiffs bring up CUTPA?Once again, keep uppermost in mind that, in order for a party plaintiff to proceed with a case against a firearms manufacturer, supplier, distributor, or seller, the plaintiff must breach the shield of qualified immunity under federal law: the PLCAA. There are six ways to do this. That is to say, there are six exceptions to qualified immunity under PLCAA. The Soto Plaintiffs rely on two that appear to be at least theoretically feasible. One exception is the negligent entrustment exception to qualified immunity but the Superior Court determined that this exception is not available to the Soto Plaintiffs for the reasons given, supra. The other possible basis is grounded on violations of Federal or State trade practices related to the marketing or sale of a firearm. The Soto Plaintiffs allege that Defendants violated State law pertaining to commercial trade practices, CUTPA.

1. WHAT DOES CUTPA SAY?

The import and purport of  CUTPA is expressed in Conn. Gen. Stat. § 42-110b, titled Unfair trade practices prohibited. Legislative intent. The Statute says this:(a) No person shall engage in unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce. (b) It is the intent of the legislature that in construing subsection (a) of this section, the commissioner and the courts of this state shall be guided by interpretations given by the Federal Trade Commission and the federal courts to Section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 USC 45(a)(1)), as from time to time amended. (c) The commissioner may, in accordance with chapter 54, establish by regulation acts, practices or methods which shall be deemed to be unfair or deceptive in violation of subsection (a) of this section. Such regulations shall not be inconsistent with the rules, regulations and decisions of the federal trade commission and the federal courts in interpreting the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act. (d) It is the intention of the legislature that this chapter be remedial and be so construed. The question is whether the Soto Plaintiffs can shoehorn CUTPA into PLCAA. If so, then CUTPA becomes the predicate statute exception necessary to strip Bushmaster of its qualified immunity under PLCAA. The Superior Court of Connecticut explained that nothing existed in PLCAA to suggest that CUTPA is to be read broadly, as the Soto Plaintiffs allege, to implicate the sale or marketing of firearms. To answer this question, the Superior Court of Connecticut looked to the “sale or marketing of the product” exception to a firearm manufacturer’s qualified immunity that might feasibly apply to this case. That exception as written in PLCAA is found in 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A)(iii), which says: The term ‘qualified civil liability action’ means a civil action or proceeding or an administrative proceeding brought by any person against a manufacturer or seller of a qualified product, or a trade association, for damages, punitive damages, injunctive or declaratory relief, abatement, restitution, fines, or penalties, or other relief, resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a qualified product by the person or a third party, but shall not include . . . (iii) an action in which a manufacturer or seller of a qualified product knowingly violated a State or Federal statute applicable to the sale or marketing of the product, and the violation was a proximate cause of the harm for which relief is sought, including— (I) any case in which the manufacturer or seller knowingly made any false entry in, or failed to make appropriate entry in, any record required to be kept under Federal or State law with respect to the qualified product, or aided, abetted, or conspired with any person in making any false or fictitious oral or written statement with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale or other disposition of a qualified product; or (II) any case in which the manufacturer or seller aided, abetted, or conspired with any other person to sell or otherwise dispose of a qualified product, knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, that the actual buyer of the qualified product was prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm or ammunition under subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of title 18, United States Code;In order for an unfair trades practice to PLCAA to operate as an exception to a firearms manufacturer’s qualified immunity, it is necessary for the manufacturer to either have to have engaged in an action amounting to fraud or to have aided, abetted, or conspired with any person, such as a firearms dealer, to sell a firearm to a buyer whom the firearms’ manufacturer knows or has “reasonable cause to believe” that the actual buyer of the firearm is prohibited under federal law “from possessing or receiving. In Soto, the Plaintiffs made no allegation in their lengthy First Amended CM to so much as suggest that Bushmaster had either committed fraud or aided another in the commission of fraud in the sale of its AR-15, or that Bushmaster had aided, abetted, or conspired with any other named Defendant Seller or Distributor of the AR-15 semiautomatic Rifle to sell the rifle to someone whom Bushmaster knew or had reasonable cause to believe could not lawfully possess or receive a firearm under applicable federal law, namely, under 18 U.S.C.S. § 922(g) or under 18 U.S.C.S. § 922(n). For, it is clear that none of the Defendants in Soto had been engaged in a sale of the AR-15 Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle That should have been sufficient to preclude the Soto Plaintiffs from relying on 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A)(iii) of PLCAA as an exception to qualified immunity since, whether CUTPA applies or not, there is nothing to suggest, in the allegations of the First Amended CM, that Bushmaster had engaged in fraud or had conspired or aided or abetted the selling of a firearm to a person who is not lawfully permitted to possess or receive a firearm. But, the Superior Court seemed to avoid that conclusion and looked to whether CUTPA, in the first instance, applies as a predicate statutory exception to qualified immunity, notwithstanding that, nothing in the myriad allegations of the pleading set forth anything suggesting that Bushmaster engaged in fraud or had knowingly conspired to sell its model AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to a lunatic and maniac, Adam Lanza. Of course, the Soto Plaintiffs’, wish to make “a go” of their attack against Bushmaster. In that effort they allege that, although, obviously, Bushmaster did not knowingly sell its model AR-15 to Adam Lanza, who was under legal disability and could not legally possess any firearm anyway—and, after all, the model AR-15 semiautomatic rifle was lawfully sold to Adam Lanza’s mother, who was not under legal disability. The Soto Plaintiffs’, in their First Amended CM, make much of the idea that Bushmaster’s marketing targeted the entirety of the civilian population in this Nation, and that some members of that civilian population embrace, criminal elements, sociopaths, psychopaths, and other assorted lunatics and maniacs. But, the Superior Court found nothing in CUTPA that provided a hook upon which the Soto Plaintiffs could argue an exception to Bushmaster’s qualified immunity. As the Court said: “There is no appellate authority resolving the issue of whether CUTPA qualifies as a predicate statute or discussing the breadth of the predicate exception.” Since the Superior Court found nothing in Connecticut’s unfair trade practices law upon which the Soto Plaintiffs could obtain the hook necessary to break through the Defendants’ shield of qualified immunity under the PLCAA, the Superior looked to federal law—specifically, to the law of the Second Circuit, which covers the territory of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont—to see if there is anything in federal law that would support an exception to Bushmaster’s qualified immunity under the PLCAA. As the Superior Court said: “under principles set forth previously in this memorandum, the court must follow the plain meaning rule to interpret the federal statute and, accordingly, will look to the decisions of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals as particularly persuasive authority.”Looking at Second Circuit opinion, the Superior Court drilled down to determine whether the word, ‘applicable,’ as it appears in the PLCAA: "The term ‘qualified civil liability action’ means a civil action or proceeding or an administrative proceeding brought by any person against a manufacturer or seller of a qualified product, or a trade association, for damages, punitive damages, injunctive or declaratory relief, abatement, restitution, fines, or penalties, or other relief, resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a qualified product by the person or a third party, but shall not include . . . (iii) an action in which a manufacturer or seller of a qualified product knowingly violated a State or Federal statute applicable to the sale or marketing of the product, and the violation was a proximate cause of the harm for which relief is sought, action in which a manufacturer or seller of a qualified product knowingly violated a State or Federal statute applicable to the sale or marketing of the product, and the violation was a proximate cause of the harm for which relief is sought. . . .”  The term, 'applicable,' appears in the third exception to qualified immunity set forth in the PLCAA, applies to the sale or marketing of firearms. The reasoning of the Court is insightful, and is cited here at length:"In New York v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp., supra, 524 F.3d 384, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals specifically addressed the meaning of the term ‘applicable’ as Congress used that word in the phrase ‘statute applicable to the sale or marketing of [firearms].’ In Beretta, the city of New York brought an action against various firearms manufacturers to decrease the alleged public nuisance caused by the defendants' negligent and reckless merchandising of handguns. While the plaintiffs relied on the dictionary definition of ‘applicable,’ i.e., ‘capable of being applied,’ the defendants argued that “‘the phrase ‘statute applicable to the sale or marketing of [a firearm]’ in the context of the language in the entire statute limits the predicate exception to statutes specifically and expressly regulating the manner in which a firearm is sold or marketed—statutes specifying when, where, how, and to whom a firearm may be sold or marketed.’” Id., 400. After determining that both groups of parties in Beretta relied on a reasonable meaning of the term, the Second Circuit conducted a statutory interpretation of the word using canons of statutory construction and the legislative history of PLCAA. Ultimately, the court held that the exception created by 15 U.S.C. §7903(5)(A)(iii) ‘does encompass statutes (a) that expressly regulate firearms, or (b) that courts have applied to the sale and marketing of firearms; and . . . does encompass statutes that do not expressly regulate firearms but that clearly can be said to implicate the purchase and sale of firearms.’ Id., 404. In light of this highly persuasive interpretation of the term ‘applicable,’ and because CUTPA does not expressly regulate firearms, the court must next analyze whether: (1) courts have applied CUTPA to the sale and marketing of firearms, or (2) CUTPA clearly can be said to implicate the purchase and sale of firearms. With regard to whether CUTPA is a statute that courts have previously applied to the sale or marketing of firearms, the answer is yes. Specifically, in Salomonson v. Billistics, Inc., Superior Court, judicial district of New London, Docket No. CV-88-508292, 1991 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2231 (September 27, 1991, Freedman, J.T.R.), the court held that ‘[t]he instant transactions for the sale, manufacture and delivery of remanufacturer weapons to Plaintiff meets the statutory definition of trade or commerce, General Statutes §42-110a(4) . . .’ In addition, in Ganim v. Smith & Wesson Corp., 258 Conn. 313, 780 A.2d 98 (2001), the plaintiffs, the city of Bridgeport and its mayor, Joseph Ganim, asserted CUTPA claims against the defendants, various firearm manufacturers, trade associations, and retail sellers, arising from the defendants' alleged misconduct in the advertising, marketing, and selling of handguns. Id., 315-16, 334-35. Although the Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the CUTPA claims on standing grounds; id., 373; it expressed no concern regarding whether the statute applied to such transactions. To the contrary, the Supreme Court expressly left open the possibility that a CUTPA claim based on a defendant's misleading marketing of firearms could be maintained by appropriate plaintiffs who are less removed than those in the Ganim case. Therefore, the test set forth in New York v. Beretta is satisfied because the Superior Court has applied CUTPA to the sale and marketing of firearms. Accordingly, CUTPA is a valid predicate statute.”Boiled down to its essence, the Superior Court determined that, because, under the law of the Second Circuit, CUTPA does apply to the sale and marketing of firearms, the Superior Court concluded that CUTPA does operate as a proper predicate statute. But, that isn’t the end of the inquiry. Even though the Superior Court ruled that CUTPA is a valid predicate statute that can therefore be availed upon by party plaintiffs to be utilized against the firearms manufacturers to attack the shield of qualified immunity, that isn’t the end of the inquiry. That alone does not suffice to break through the shield of qualified immunity. For, the question then arises, according to the Superior Court whether a proper commercial or proper consumer relationship exists between a defendant firearms manufacturer, supplier, distributor, or seller, and the party plaintiffs who have filed suit against the defendant manufacturer, supplier, distributor, or seller. So, the Superior Court asked, and we ask here:

2. DOES A PROPER COMMERCIAL OR CONSUMER RELATIONSHIP EXIST BETWEEN THE SOTO PLAINTIFFS ON THE ONE HAND AND THE SOTO DEFENDANTS ON THE OTHER SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT AN ACTION BY THE PLAINTIFFS AGAINST DEFENDANTS BUSHMASTER GROUNDED ON UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES UNDER CONNECTICUT’S CUTPA, THEREBY BREAKING THROUGH THE SHIELD OF QUALIFIED IMMUNITY OF THE PLCAA, ALLOWING PLAINTIFFS TO ARGUE THE MERITS OF THEIR CASE SUPPORTING THEIR PRAYER FOR DAMAGES FOR WRONGFUL DEATH AND PRAYER FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF?

If a proper commercial or consumer relationship connection can be legally drawn between Bushmaster and the killer, Adam Lanza, then, in that event, that would allow the Soto Plaintiffs to pierce the shield of the PLCAA, stripping Defendants’ PLCAA qualified immunity and allowing Soto Plaintiffs the opportunity they want to argue the case on the merits. But, then, we must ask whether a proper commercial or consumer relationship exists grounded on the allegations of the First Amended CM.The Defendants argue that the Soto Plaintiffs’ claims, as set forth in their pleading are deficient, and, so, legally insufficient to support the necessary connection between Defendant Bushmaster and the killer of children, Adam Lanza. The Superior Court wrote: “the defendants contend that the CUTPA counts are legally insufficient because CUTPA does not provide protection for persons who do not have a consumer or commercial relationship with the alleged wrongdoer, and such a relationship does not exist between the plaintiffs and the defendants in the present action. In response, the plaintiffs argue that any person who suffers any ascertainable loss of money or property may sue under CUTPA, regardless of whether they have a consumer or commercial relationship with the defendant. ‘In 1973, when CUTPA was first enacted, the predecessor to §42-110g contained language that limited standing to [a]ny person who purchases or leases goods or services . . . In 1979, however, the legislature amended [CUTPA], deleting all references to purchasers, sellers, lessors, or lessees . . . Notwithstanding the elimination of the privity requirement, [our Supreme Court] previously ha[s] stated that it strains credulity to conclude that CUTPA is so formless as to provide redress to any person, for any ascertainable harm, caused by any person in the conduct of any trade or commerce.’ (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Vacco v. Microsoft Corp., 260 Conn. 59, 87-88, 793 A.2d 1048 (2002). More recently in Pinette v. McLaughlin, 96 Conn.App. 769, 901 A.2d 1269, cert. denied, 280 Conn. 929, 909 A.2d 958 (2006), our Appellate Court reiterated this point, stating that ‘[a]lthough our Supreme Court repeatedly has stated that CUTPA does not impose the requirement of a consumer relationship . . . the court also has indicated that a plaintiff must have at least some business relationship with the defendant in order to state a cause of action under CUTPA.’ (Citation omitted; emphasis in original.) Id., 778; see also Ventres v. Goodspeed Airport, LLC, 275 Conn. 105, 157-58, 881 A.2d 937 (2005) (rejecting defendants' argument that CUTPA plaintiff is not required to allege any business relationship with defendant), cert. denied, 547 U.S. 1111, 126 S.Ct. 1913, 164 L.Ed.2d 664 (2006). ‘Although the doctrine of stare decisis permits a court to overturn its own prior cases in limited circumstances, the concept of binding precedent prohibits a trial court from overturning a prior decision of an appellate court. This prohibition is necessary to accomplish the purpose of a hierarchical judicial system. A trial court is required to follow the prior decisions of an appellate court to the extent that they are applicable to the facts and issues in the case before it, and the trial court may not overturn or disregard binding precedent.’ (Emphasis omitted.) Potvin v. Lincoln Service & Equipment Co., 298 Conn. 620, 650, 6 A.3d 60 (2010). In both Ventres and Pinette, our Supreme Court and Appellate Court, respectively, rejected the plaintiffs' assertions that they need not allege any business relationship with the defendants in order to bring claims against them under CUTPA. Although this court acknowledges that, consistent with the plaintiffs' argument, the language of CUTPA itself makes no mention of a business relationship requirement, this court is bound by the appellate court precedent set by Ventres and Pinette. The plaintiffs here do not contend that a consumer, competitor, or other commercial relationship exists between themselves, i.e., the Sandy Hook shooting victims, and the defendants, i.e., the manufacturers and/or sellers of the gun allegedly used in the Sandy Hook shooting. Because the plaintiffs do not allege at least some business relationship with the defendants, pursuant to Ventres and Pinette, they have not set forth legally sufficient violations of CUTPA. Therefore, to the extent that the plaintiffs have relied on CUTPA as a predicate statute, the plaintiffs have not set forth legally sufficient claims permitted under the predicate exception to PLCAA.”What the Superior Court’s reasoning boils down to is this: To break through the shield of qualified immunity of the PLCAA The Soto Plaintiffs must allege that they have a business relationship of some sort with the Defendants. The law of the Second Circuit demands this. Otherwise a party plaintiff is unable, legally, to proceed with their case. In the 230 allegations of the First Amended Complaint, the Soto Plaintiffs allege nothing that so much as suggests the existence of a business relationship between the Plaintiffs and Defendants. Thus, Plaintiffs cannot utilize the State’s CUTPA to break through the Federal PLCAA shield of qualified immunity. And, even if they had, Plaintiffs would still have to allege in the pleadings that, “. . . the manufacturer or seller aided, abetted, or conspired with any other person to sell or otherwise dispose of a qualified product, knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, that the actual buyer of the qualified product was prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm or ammunition under subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of title 18, United States Code. In this case, the actual buyer of the product was Adam Lanza’s mother. She was under no federal disability that would have precluded her from owning and possessing a firearm. Defendants did not conspire to market or sell a firearm to Adam Lanza or, for that matter, to anyone who was not legally permitted, under State or federal law, to receive a firearm—any kind of firearm."The Superior Court of Connecticut considered further arguments’ as set forth in the Defendants’ Motion to Strike the Soto Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint, but did so merely for completeness. Having found that Plaintiffs’ pleadings failed to allege any facts supporting a basis in law to overcome Defendants’ qualified immunity under the federal PLCAA, the Court, Judge, Barbara N. Bellis, properly disposed of the case. The last sentence of the Memorandum Opinion reads: “For all of the foregoing reasons, the court grants in their entirety the defendants' motions to strike the amended complaint.” Soto v. Bushmaster Firearms Int'l, LLC, 2016 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2626

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE SOTO CASE AT THE TIME OF POSTING THIS ESSAY?

Having lost at the trial Court level, The Soto Plaintiffs appealed the adverse decision of the trial Court directly to the Connecticut Supreme Court and there the case wended its way--the high Court of Connecticut agreeing to hear Plaintiffs’ challenge to the trial Court’s thorough and well-reasoned Opinion. The Arbalest Quarrel could obtain no document relating to the appeal but we note that an Appellate Court does assert appropriate jurisdiction to hear a decision on a Motion to Strike a pleading when the granting of a Motion to Strike is in full, or at least in part, a trial Court’s final judgment and that a party can choose to skip an appeal to the intermediate Court, appealing directly to the highest State Court, and this, obviously, is exactly what happened, as there exists nothing to suggest that the Soto Plaintiffs asked a Connecticut Appellate Court to review the adverse decision of the Superior Court of Connecticut. But, as for the legal basis for a higher Court hearing on a Motion to Strike, which is not a decision on the merits of the case, but on the very sufficiency of the pleadings, a Connecticut appellate Court said this:“‘Generally, the denial of a motion to strike does not constitute a final judgment because it neither terminates a separate and distinct proceeding nor concludes the rights of the parties so that further proceedings could not affect them.’ White v. White, 42 Conn. App. 747, 749, 680 A.2d 1368 (1996); see also Costecski v. Skarulis, 103 Conn. 762, 762-63, 131 A. 398 (1925) (holding no final judgment when case remains pending in trial court "to be thereafter heard upon its merits, upon the pleadings in the court below, or upon such amended pleadings as might legally be filed"). Our Supreme Court, however, has held that we do have jurisdiction to review a ruling on a motion to strike when it is before us as part of an appeal from a valid final judgment. See Breen v. Phelps, 186 Conn. 86, 88-91, 439 A.2d 1066 (1982). Because the present request to review a motion to strike is coupled with an appeal from the court's rendering of a summary judgment, we have jurisdiction to reach all of the plaintiff's claims. Id.” Campbell v. Town of Plymouth, 74 Conn. App. 67, 811 A.2d 243, 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 608.A local newspaper, the “Hartford Currant,” reports in an article titled, “Sandy Hook Families' Lawyer To Connecticut Justices: Adam Lanza Heard Gunmaker's Marketing Message,” pointed out that the Connecticut Supreme Court heard arguments on November 14, 2017. The newspaper reports, “A Superior Court judge in Bridgeport dismissed the lawsuit in 2016 agreeing with attorneys for Remington that the lawsuit "falls squarely within the broad immunity" provided to gun manufacturers and dealers by the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, or PLCAA. The lawsuit also named Camfour Holding LLP, the gun's distributor, and Riverview Gun Sales Inc., the East Windsor gun shop where Nancy Lanza purchased the AR-15 right around her son’s 18th birthday. Legal experts said the case will come down to how the state Supreme Court will interpret two possible exceptions allowed under PLCAA — whether Remington can be held liable for so-called “negligent entrustment” or whether it violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. Negligent entrustment is defined as “supplying of a qualified product by a seller for use by another person when the seller knows, or reasonably should know, the person to whom the product is supplied is likely to, and does, use the product in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical injury to the person or others.” Koskoff started his argument taking the courtroom back to the morning of Dec. 14, 2012 to a “young man on a mission” who knew exactly what weapon to choose to carry out the killings — a Bushmaster assault weapon. “Remington may have never known Adam Lanza but they had been courting him for years,” Koskoff said. “It wasn’t just that [Remington] marketed the weapon looking for people with characteristics of Adam Lanza but that Adam Lanza heard the message. He idolized the military and wanted to be an Army Ranger and Remington marketed the AR-15 as the weapon used by the Army Rangers.”The case will indeed come down to whether the Connecticut Court accepts Plaintiffs’ arguments over those of Defendants as to whether the Plaintiffs arguments claiming a valid negligent entrustment exception or unfair trade practices exception to the qualified immunity defense under the federal PLCAA.The assertion of Plaintiffs’ Counsel, Koskoff, as reported by the newspaper, is rhetorical, and obviously directed to the lay public, with the aim, obviously, to arouse anger and sympathy. But, from a legal and logical perspective, the remarks are devoid of intellectual honesty and are, on that score, utter nonsense.The New York Times, for its part, in an editorial about the Soto case, titled “Parents Fight to Heal Wounds of Sandy Hook,” published on Tuesday, November 28, 2017, and posted a day earlier on the internet, under the title, "Scarred Parents Fight to Rebound After Sandy Hook Massacre," that the case, presently before the Connecticut Supreme Court boils down to this, as apparently perceived by the Soto Plaintiffs: “They’re asking why fast-firing, modified battlefield weapons with large ammunition clips should ever be legally marketed to disturbed and in many cases unhinged civilians via lurid macho-steeped advertising. The adapted wartime rifle like the one used in the Sandy Hook spree has become the weapon choice in mass shooting across the last five years, in which hundreds of people have been murdered.” We can dismiss the simplistic comment in short order. First, the AR-15 model semiautomatic rifle manufactured by Bushmaster and marketed to qualified American civilians is not a “battlefield weapon” and was not manufactured to be a battlefield weapon and is not marketed for sale to the military. Second, the AR-15 model semiautomatic rifle was not marketed to individuals who are under disability as such individuals are not legally permitted to possess that firearm; nor, for that matter, are such individuals permitted to own any firearms. Third, the lunatic, Adam Lanza, obtained the firearm from his mother, whose irresponsibility in properly securing the weapon resulted in her own death and in the subsequent deaths of innocent children and adults. Had Adam Lanza’s mother, Nancy, survived, she, undoubtedly, would face multiple civil lawsuits, and, likely, criminal prosecution as well. For, she, and her son, Adam Lanza—unless he were adjudged incompetent—are the responsible parties for the awful harm done, and not the named Defendants in Soto. The legal claims are against Nancy and Adam Lanza. But, as they are both dead, the claims for wrongful death would have to be lodged against the administrators of Nancy Lanza’s estate, assuming she has an estate to go after. But, simply lashing out at the manufacturer, supplier, distributor, or seller of firearms because those who have been harmed through criminal misuse of their products desire a release valve for their pent-up hurt, and anguish, and rage is not legally, or logically, or rationally justified. The Soto Plaintiffs’ claims are not supported in law. Indeed, there isn’t even a moral basis for their claims. While any normal person can commiserate with the hurt of those who have suffered through this tragedy or, for that matter, through any tragedy, we, as Americans must be circumspect on use of law as a blunt force to promote political, or emotional, or public policy ends. On the matter of the Second Amendment, though, as with the First Amendment, and the Fourth Amendment, it appears the public is whipped up into a continuous frenzy through the machinations of the mainstream media. In that frenzy, the public realizes too late, that they have given up, in one frenetic moment, but for all time, their most cherished rights. —And, might we at least see some consistency. If some, in the public domain, are so willing to take up the sword against firearms and against the manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and sellers of them, why the reticence displayed for those responsible for directing and producing the horrific displays of violence in cinematic releases and why the jaundiced view toward the mayhem presented in the creators of video games? Using the Soto Plaintiffs’ own argument, we may, by the same token, ask: Should these cinematic “violent treats” and games of violence “ever be legally marketed to disturbed and in many cases unhinged civilians via lurid, macho—steeped advertising?” Yet, we know that it would have been perfectly lawful for a fragile, delusional mind like that of Adam Lanza to view all the violent films he wished to see and to immerse himself in all the violent video games he wished to play—all with the blessing and thank you of the Hollywood moguls and of the video game industry honchos. Might we dare ask: How many movies depicting violence and horror had Adam Lanza seen and how many violent video games did Adam Lanza play that, themselves, served as the true impetus for the horror he unleased on the hapless innocent souls once he happened to obtain his mother’s improperly secured firearms? Perhaps Adam Lanza thought, in his feverish mind that, in the carnage he caused, he was in a dream-world. Perhaps he thought he was role-playing in a movie, or role-playing in a game. The fault may rest somewhere, to be sure. We can speculate, of course. That fault may rest in the realistic movies of violence and horror that Adam Lanza was lawfully permitted to see; or in the increasingly realistic games of violence and horror that Adam Lanza was lawfully permitted to play. But, the fault does not rest in firearms; for those, Adam Lanza was not lawfully permitted to own, or to keep, and certainly not permitted to use. And, Adam Lanza never would have obtained those firearms had a responsible adult properly secured them, or refrained from keeping them in her home, knowing full well the nature of her severely mentally ill son.In the Arbalest Quarrel’s next comprehensive essay on the Soto case, we will take a close look at selected legal briefs of the Soto Plaintiffs and Defendants and at a few amicus briefs as well._________________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

A COMIC BOOK NEWSPAPER CREATES A COMIC BOOK WEAPON: USA TODAY'S "CHAINSAW" GUN

TO TRUST THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS TO DENY TRUTH AND, MORE, IT IS TO FORFEIT FAITH IN ONE’S OWN GOOD JUDGMENT

A RELOOK AT CHAINSAWS AND GUNS

“A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards, as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.” ~ in Culture and Value, by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Early to Mid-Twentieth Century British-Austrian Philosopher, translated from the German by Peter Winch“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.” Ascribed to Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United StatesThree and one-half years ago, the Arbalest Quarrel published an article titled, “Of Chainsaws and Guns.” Ammoland Shooting Sports News posted the article under the title, “Time to Ban ‘Assault Saws’ – Commonsense Chainsaw Laws.” "Of Chainsaws and Guns" is satire, but the purpose in our drafting and posting it was and is deadly serious. We illustrated and demonstrated, through example, how perceptions form beliefs and how beliefs create reality—a reality that is amorphous, fluid, ever-changing, shifting with the currents of time and circumstance and the demands of those who dare control us, the American citizenry. Yet, contrary to this wisdom, the public is told that reality is based on truth, that truth is based on facts, and that facts, posited in reality, are concrete constants, readily ascertainable; never changing, never shifting, never subject to prevailing moods and circumstance of the populace.Guns—the public is told, and forever reminded, through the constant chime and cacophony of the mainstream media chorus that obviously abhors guns and that frowns upon, even detests those Americans who choose to exercise their fundamental, natural right to possess them—are the incarnation of evil; invidious; disgusting. The mainstream media perceives chainsaws, too, as ominous, demonic, inherently, intrinsically evil—dangerous, menacing, quick to bite the hand that would wield them and corrupting those that would possess them. Lo, what has come to pass is the dubious marriage of “gun and chainsaw”—bespeaking an unparalleled horror—a smirking grimace of evil.We should not be surprised, then, that those elements in society that loathe guns and gun ownership would take an unspeakable tragedy and use it to their advantage. The comic book that holds itself out as a legitimate newspaper, USA Today, took a semiautomatic rifle and added a “chainsaw bayonet” to it. USA Today was compelled to issue a "clarification." See, "USA Today issues a clarification after depicting a rifle with a 'chainsaw bayonet'", in Business Insider. If USA Today intended this to be amusing, it had the opposite effect. And, if USA Today did this in an unabashed attempt to create fear and horror in the mind of its target audience toward guns, USA  Today created indignation instead.Whatever the publishers and editors at USA Today intended, through the incongruous marriage of chainsaw and gun, USA Today was evidently alluding to the 1976 horror film, the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” as should be clear to devotees of horror movies. In this low budget silly, comic horror film, the antagonist, referred to as Leatherface--whose face is hidden behind a frightening "leather" mask to hide an equally horrifying visage--uses a chainsaw to wreak havoc on innocent young men and women. There is no humanity in Leatherface. The person wielding the chainsaw isn’t distinguished from the implement. Rather, Leatherface and chainsaw are one creature—a horrific amalgamation of flesh and machine, mindlessly, aimlessly, killing all those who happen, unfortunately, to cross his path.Coming on the heels of the deadly Texas Baptist Church shooting, in Sutherland Springs, Texas, the publisher and editors of the USA Today evidently thought and hoped and intended that creating a caricature of a semiautomatic rifle, through a ludicrous and hideous merger of firearm and chainsaw, carrying unmistakable hints to the man/creature “Leatherface,” would spark fear and abhorrence and loathing toward firearms in the public mind and that it would stoke public outrage and condemnation toward and over guns and toward those who desire to exercise their right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment. For some Americans it might, indeed, have had the effect. If so, that was the point of creating the caricature of semiautomatic rifle married to a chainsaw. The unspoken words, created through the image, is of a fiendish figure, running amok, whose one purpose, whose only purpose in life is to commit murder and mayhem and to do so in a vividly graphic and gruesome manner. Killer and implement become one object, one thing--indistinguishable.But, for most Americans, as soon became clear to the publishers of USA Today, the caricature they created did not have the desired, intended effect; for, while the cartoon image of rifle and chainsaw sparked outrage, the outrage was directed, not to guns, but toward the newspaper itself--opening the paper up to public ridicule, a ridicule richly deserved. But, the USA Today doesn’t care. Not content to report the news, the writers and editors of the USA Today and writers and editors and commentators of similar mainstream media sources seek shamelessly to make news, peppering news accounts with salacious, unsubtle emotive spurts, aiming to persuade the public, rather than to inform the public. These mainstream media organizations disturbingly use their "news" vehicles to manipulate public thought, urging public action, with the goal of compelling policy makers to remove firearms from the hands of the citizenry, shamelessly baiting and attacking anyone who does not come on board with the game plan.

FAKE (PHONY) NEWS VERSUS TRUTH IN NEWS REPORTING

Pontius Pilate, we are told, posed to Jesus, this question: “Quid Est Veritas” ((“What is Truth” or “What is the Truth”) (John chapter 18, verse 38)). Did Pontius Pilate ask the question in jest? Did Pilate intend the question as nothing more than a rhetorical, perfunctory gibe? Most commentators believe this to be so; yet, perhaps, Pontius Pilate did not intend the question as an immodest quip at all. Perhaps he posed the question as a profound, serious inquiry into what is an abstruse, difficult, philosophical concept, surmising that, of all individuals on Earth, Jesus, alone, could enlighten him and that Pilate sought that enlightenment.As seekers of truth ourselves, we at the Arbalest Quarrel, believe that Pontius Pilate truly sought to understand this notion, this idea, this concept of ‘Truth.’The mainstream media, we are told, with an air of confident certitude shown by those who work for it and who operate in it—denigrating and disdaining those who operate in the alternative media sphere—claims to understand truth, and seeks to convey truth to the target audiences and that it is they, who work in the mainstream media, rather than those who work for alternative media sources, who see themselves as best equipped to perceive "the truth" and, so, claim sole right to convey the truth--but truth as they perceive truth, which they understands to be the truth--to the American public. So, it follows that those who work in the mainstream media feel they alone should be permitted to speak and write  on contemporary news subjects as they alone are guardians of and heralds of the truth. But such belief in their own certitude is the height of arrogance. Obviously, the mainstream media is loathe to compete with alternative media upstarts. But, for all their smug complacency, those who work in the mainstream media do not understand the concept of ‘truth’ at all, even as they surmise that they do.We begin with this presupposition: the concept truth, contrary to the glib certitude of the mainstream media toward the concept, is not a thing easy to grasp; nor, for that matter, is truth easy to come by. The mainstream media says that truth is a concept easily understood and that it is based on hard, cold, concrete fact. This suggests that truth exists when it coheres or corresponds to the facts. But, what is a ‘fact.’ A ‘fact’ is no less easy to comprehend, on analysis, than truth. Truth, and its obverse, falsity, are tied to propositions, not to facts, whatever a “fact” is. If there is a common thread running from a proposition—a declarative statement—to a fact, what is it but what common convention decrees. The mainstream media intends to have a lock on what that common convention is. Those that work for mainstream media organizations desire to tell a person, the American citizen, what that American citizen should believe, what it is that the American citizen is expected to believe and ought to believe—wherein and whereof, then, the truth consists, wherein and whereof the truth can be found; of what the truth, truly consists of; of what the truth, truly, is.Those individuals who work for mainstream media organizations delude themselves if they think they espouse truth. They delude themselves because they mistakenly think that what they assert happens to cohere with or correspond to concrete facts when their written or spoken expositions merely expose their own biases, their own attitudes, their own belief systems. But these belief systems have nothing to do with the world, nothing to do with reality, nothing to do with truth, nothing to do with “facts.” Still, they take their written and verbal assertions to be authoritative gospel about the world, about the way the world is, about the way the world works, about reality, about truth. They either pretend or delude themselves into believing that their belief system coheres or corresponds with reality. But, their belief system, which infuses their written or verbal expositions, is not equivalent to or equated with the world, with reality, with truth, with facts, with a state of affairs. It is really nothing more than their fanciful notion of the world, of reality, of truth; and that belief system simply coheres with or corresponds to their personal values, their normative belief system; nothing more. Thus, they confuse the idea of the way the world is with the idea of the way they think the world ought to be, taking the public along for the ride—insisting that the public come along for the ride. They seek to thrust their belief system about the world—which is nothing more than their perception of reality, their personal false conception of truth about the world—upon everyone else, namely, the American public. They seek to thrust a simulacrum of truth on the public, compelling the public to accept the simulacrum as reality. It isn’t, and never was, and never can be. Truth and falsity are, in the final analysis, tied to propositions, not to things. One never can remove the veneer of perception to reality. Only God can remove the veneer. Only the Creator can see World as the thing in and of itself.So, the mainstream media, for all its heralding of truth in the news is not a source of truth at all. The most perceptive agents working for the mainstream media may know this and, therefore, may not actually delude themselves into believing that they are reporting “truth.” The most perceptive are not interested in reporting truth anyway, if such were even possible.

THE GOAL OF THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS TO CONVEY, TO INSERT, TO IMPRINT IN THE MIND OF ITS TARGET AUDIENCE, A WAY OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD—CREATING AN APPEARANCE OF THE WORLD THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WAY THE WORLD IS. THE GOAL OF THOSE WHO WORK IN AND FOR THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS TO MISLEAD AND TO DECEIVE THE AMERICAN CITIZENRY AND TO DISGUISE THEIR INTENTIONS WHICH, UPON CLOSE EXAMINATION IS DELITERIOUS TO THE WELL-BEING OF OUR NATION, AS AN INDEPENDENT, SOVEREIGN NATION STATE AND IS HARMFUL TO THE WELL-BEING OF THE NATION'S CITIZENRY.

The goal of the mainstream media is to convey a way of looking about the world upon its target audience. Sometimes this is done consciously. Often, it is not. This has absolutely nothing to do about the way the world is. And this has nothing to do with a quest for truth. It has everything to do with urging the public to march willingly behind the policy makers in government who have, themselves, no idea of the way the world is either, and would not care to know the way the world is even if they could catch a glimpse of the way the world really is, beyond the veneer of perception. Policy makers simply desire to shape the world in a way consistent with their policy objectives. The public for its part has no say in the matter, but is led by the nose, through the machinations of the mainstream media to believe that it agrees with the policy objectives of government policy makers when, rather, the public is merely conditioned through propaganda to believe it is giving its unfettered consent.The mainstream media is a conglomerate of propagandists, not journalists. The job of the mainstream media, through its legion of reporters, editors, analysts, commentators, and “experts,” is in the business to impose a world view on the public. The job of the mainstream media is not to educate; nor is it to inform the public. Contrary to its declarations, the mainstream media is not in business to provide information to the American citizen in order that each American citizen can derive his or her own conclusion, from the information given. No! The job of the mainstream media is to misinform the public and to misdirect it, in the same vein as a stage magician or illusionist, tricking its audience into believing that what it sees is truth—predicated on reality—when in fact the public is only being exposed to a chimera, a charade—something taken to be reality that is really nothing more than a fiction—a misperception of reality, and one that, on balance, is altogether inconsistent with the American's citizen's own personal desires, hopes, security, and well-being.The reporters, editors, and commentators of the mainstream media seek to misdirect the target audience like the magician, like the illusionist. The mainstream media seeks to shape beliefs and, therein, to shape one’s perception of reality—a fabrication, a template that the mainstream media focuses on the fabric of a person’s mind. Through manipulation of perception, these propagandists, on behalf of government, seek to form and to transform attitudes and beliefs. They do this through misinformation, disinformation, and non-information. They do it through confabulation and by manipulation of data. They do it through psychological devices designed to stir emotion. They use rhetorical flourishes and deliberate fallacious reasoning. These propagandists mold and shape public attitudes like so much clay wielded by a sculptor.

GUNS ARE NOT EVIL BUT FOR SO SAYING MAKES IT SO.

The public is told that guns are evil. The public is told that guns make good people, bad, and that they make bad people, worse. These propagandists—pretending to be journalists—use tragedy to their advantage—immerse the public in the filth and muck of it, repeating, incessantly, hypnotically, the same mantra, the same “talking points,” the same images and messaging played on and on in the printed medium and over the airwaves, a vicious, endless loop—cementing a bizarre perception of the world, of “truth” about the world in the public’s mind. The “truth” about the world that the mainstream media conveys is that the root cause of violence in America is tied to guns. These mainstream media image makers thread normative concepts of right and wrong, good and bad, through their “news” accounts, transforming ostensible neutral news accounts into disingenuous opinion editorials. The mainstream media image makers do this for the specific purpose of  swaying public mood and temperament; for the purpose of persuading public sentiment toward their cause; for the purpose of disciplining the masses and controlling their actions; and for urging public conformity to policy objectives they, rather than the public, champion. These image makers decide when it is right and ripe to make the public weep; when it is proper to make the public angry; when it is appropriate to move the public toward action. These image makers are adept at moving the public to believe, albeit wrongly, that such negative beliefs the public holds, say, toward guns, emanate from within the public consciousness itself, rather than outwardly, as such beliefs really do, from the image makers themselves--as a projection emanating from the propagandists' own verbal and written subconscious commands, mapped and imprinted onto the mind of the subject—the target audience, the American citizenry. Negative attitudes toward guns have, then, as their genesis, external psychological conditioning. Such negative attitudes do not exist inherently in the individual but what is injected into the mind of the recipient audience.These propagandists of the mainstream media insert, like a hypodermic needle into the brain—ludicrous notions—memes—about and toward inanimate objects. The public is encouraged to believe, wrongly, that negative thoughts about guns are of the public’s own making. They are not. Still, the public is directed by the propagandists to seek revenge against the salient culprit—the gun. The public is told, as well, that any individual can go off the deep-end and that because no one can know for certain who that will be and when that might happen, therefore everyone is suspect. Everyone’s rights are suspended because everyone is guilty of “precrime.” The average American citizen is treated as a random bit of dangerous energy whose impulses must be checked. Thus, the Deep State Government bureaucrats and policy makers believe it necessary to curb, to curtail that person’s natural, fundamental rights; to curb freedom--to do this in order to better control the masses.It becomes necessary to watch a citizen’s every thought, the citizen’s every deed. People, thus, begin to doubt themselves. That is by design. People begin to doubt their own sense of self; their own sense of self-worth; their own sense of self-control. They look for something outside themselves to protect them from themselves. They look to government for the answers. This is what government wants. This is what mainstream media is designed to do. The public looks to government as a balm for their worries, for their concerns. Self-doubt is the new reality, the new truth.The Bill of Rights is denigrated, must be denigrated. For the Bill of Rights is grounded in the sanctity of the individual. It is grounded in self-reliance and personal responsibility; maximizing freedom of action and minimizing government control over one’s actions. The Bill of Rights is dangerous to Order in the World--dangerous to the New World Order. The Bill of Rights is deemed the antithesis of truth. It does not fit in with the new reality; it does not fit in with the way the World is supposed to be. It does not fit in with this New World Order—a phrase that the mainstream media, once avoided referring to, but is now beginning to insert in its news coverage, in its news analysis, in its news commentary. Why is that?Is the mainstream media, on behalf of its internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist benefactors setting the stage for the final act, the coup de grâce to the Nation, notwithstanding that its darling child, Hillary Clinton, failed—failed her handlers miserably—to assume the mantel of the U.S. Presidency? Is not the mainstream media doing what it must, what it has been told to do: set the stage for the removal of the American people’s choice for the U.S. Presidency, Donald Trump? Is this not deemed necessary by the internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist community so it can proceed with the final step in the creation of a new reality, a New World Order, demanding, then, the de facto dismantling of the United States as a sovereign entity, a sovereign Nation and, thence, accomplishing with that, the destruction of the very notion of the sanctity of and reality of the concept of the “Nation State” and of the sanctity and inviolability of the individual that resides in it?Public attitudes are synchronized with and to public policy. Remove guns from the citizenry! Thus, the right of the people to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment is undercut. Control Speech! Thus, the First Amendment’s freedom of speech clause is weakened. Collect and collate and analyze and synthesize all private information and communication! Thus, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures as codified in the Fourth Amendment is undermined. And the public comes to believe that this is all for the good, that this is what it seeks and what it really wants. The public fails to see that it has been played for a fool; that it has been hoodwinked all along.The American people fail to see that negative thoughts toward the Bill of Rights is not of their own making; and never was. They fail to see that they have been led like willing sheep, to accept policy that they have never had a hand in making. They willingly give up their birthright and walk willy-nilly into the sausage machine, to be ground up and spewed out and stuffed into casing for consumption by the internationalist trans-nationalist globalist “elites.”

IF WE LOSE OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND IF WE LOSE OUR PRIVACY, OUR NATION, OUR FREE REPUBLIC  WILL DIE A SLOW DEATH; BUT IF WE LOSE OUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, OUR NATION, OUR FREE REPUBLIC DIES INSTANTLY, INSTANTANEOUSLY, IRREVOCABLY.

As much as the mainstream media would like Americans to see themselves as part of a larger international community that does not embrace gun ownership and possession, it must be understood that Americans are not like the populace of other Nations, and choose not to be. We are not Australians, nor Canadians, nor Brits, nor Mexicans. We are not Spaniards, nor Portuguese, nor French, nor Germans. Our firearms and our cherished Second Amendment are not to be swept aside and under, into the dustbin of history. And those Americans who own and possess firearms and who sanctify our right to keep and bear arms are not to be mocked. The ruthlessly powerful, obscenely wealthy, and inordinately secretive internationalists and trans-nationalist globalists who operate silently behind the scenes, through the Deep State and through the mainstream media, know that, so long as the Second Amendment remains intact, the sovereignty of our Nation and of our People, cannot falter; cannot fall. Thus, they work toward the eradication of the Second Amendment.To do this, the tactic of the internationalist, globalist “elite” is to manipulate public thought—to manipulate perception—to create a reality that the American public ought never to accept—namely, the destruction of the sovereignty and independence of our Nation State; the destruction of our fundamental, natural rights, codified in our Bill of Rights; the destruction of the glorification of the individual spirit, and of the sanctity and inviolability of the individual’s right to be and remain individual; lord over his or her own well-being and destiny. The right of the people to keep and bear arms keeps is not mere slogan. It is an assertion of the indomitability of American spirit and pride. It is a statement of the sovereignty of the American citizenry over government. It is a reminder to those who serve the American public that ultimate authority rests in and with the American citizenry. And it is a declaration of defiance directed to those secretive, powerful forces that seek to crush America and Americans into submission. The Second Amendment must ever remain omnipresent and omnipotent. It is the singular truth of what it means to be an American citizen. It underlies our core values, our history, our culture, our singular and unique identity. This is our reality and it is not to be tinkered with or tampered with.Those that mock us, and who mock our beliefs and who openly and shamelessly sneer at our President, and those who seek to thrust a new reality upon us, and who dare inject a new “truth” into our being, into our very soul, should keep well in mind that any attempt to undercut the authority of the American People and to undermine the supremacy of our Constitution, and to denigrate and warp our Bill of Rights and our Constitution, shall incite in the American people a fury that will not be, will never be constrained.The use of clever, adroit psychological programming and propaganda will not fool us. Gifts of money or sweetmeats will not tempt or sway or soften or corrupt us. Pabulum in the way of entertainment will not distract us. And if, ultimately, these internationalist, trans-nationalist globalist “elites” become frustrated with us and feel obliged to resort to force of arms to break us, we will meet such force with force of arms of our own. For we know full well the mechanism of force of arms, as did the founders of our free Republic, the framers of our Constitution and our Bill of Rights; and we will not shirk from using such force of arms as necessary to preserve the soul of our Nation and to preserve the sanctity of our own individual American soul and spirit._________________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

H.R. 38: CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT OF 2017: A REAL POSSIBILITY OR A WILL-O'-THE-WISP?

BUT WHO WOULD PROTECT THE PEOPLE FROM THE TYRANNY OF GOVERNMENT IF NOT THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES?

{Antifederalist, founder of our free Republic, Patrick Henry’s prescient argument, given before the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788, recognizing the need for an armed citizenry as the great bulwark against a tyrannical government. Note: the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified a few short years later, in December 1791}.“But, Sir, I have strong cause of apprehension: In some parts of the plan before you, the great rights of freemen are endangered, in other parts absolutely taken away. How does your trial by jury stand? In civil cases gone-not sufficiently secured in criminal-this best privilege is gone: But we are told that we need not fear; because those in power, being our Representatives, will not abuse the power we put in their hands: I am not well versed in history, but I will submit to your recollection, whether liberty has been destroyed most often by the licentiousness of the people, or by the tyranny of rulers? I imagine, sir, you will find the balance on the side of tyranny: Happy will you be if you miss the fate of those nations, who, omitting to resist their oppressors, or negligently suffering their liberty to be wrested from them, have groaned under intolerable despotism. Most of the human race are now in this deplorable condition: And those nations who have gone in search of grandeur, power, and splendor, have also fallen a sacrifice, and been the victims of their own folly: While they acquired those visionary blessings, they lost their freedom. My great objection to this Government is, that it does not leave us the means of defending our rights, or of waging war against tyrants: It is urged by some gentlemen, that this new plan will bring us an acquisition of strength, an army, and the militia of the States: This is an idea extremely ridiculous: Gentlemen cannot be earnest. This acquisition will trample on our fallen liberty: Let my beloved Americans guard against that fatal lethargy that has pervaded the universe: Have we the means of resisting disciplined armies, when our only defence, the militia, is put into the hands of Congress? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I need not take much pains to show that the principles of this system are extremely pernicious, impolitic, and dangerous. Is this a monarchy, like England-a compact between prince and people, with checks on the former to secure the liberty of the latter? Is this a Confederacy, like Holland-an association of a number of independent states, each of which retains its individual sovereignty? It is not a democracy, wherein the people retain all their rights securely. Had these principles been adhered to, we should not have been brought to this alarming transition, from a Confederacy to a consolidated Government. We have no detail of these great consideration, which, in my opinion, ought to have abounded before we should recur to a government of this kind. Here is a revolution as radical as that which separated us from Great Britain. It is radical in this transition; our rights and privileges are endangered, and the sovereignty of the states will be relinquished: And cannot we plainly see that this is actually the case?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Oh, Sir, we should have fine times indeed, if to punish tyrants, it were only sufficient to assemble the people. Your arms wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone; and you have no longer an aristocratical; no longer democratical spirit. Did you ever read of any revolution in a nation, brought about by the punishment of those in power, inflicted by those who had no power at all? You read of a riot act in a country which is called one of the freest in the world, where a few neighbors cannot assemble without the risk of being shot by a hired soldiery, the engines of despotism. We may see such an act in America. A standing army we shall have also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny: And how are you to punish them? Will you order them to be punished? Who shall obey these orders? Will your Mace-bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment? In what situation are we to be? . . . . The clause before you gives a power of direct taxation, unbounded and unlimited: Exclusive power of Legislation in all cases whatsoever, for ten miles square; and over all places purchased for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, etc. What resistance could be made? The attempt would be madness. You will find all the strength of this country in the hands of your enemies: Those garrisons will naturally be the strongest places in the country. Your militia is given up to Congress also in another part of this plan: They will therefore act as they think proper: All power will be in their own possession: You cannot force them to receive their punishment: Of what service would militia be to you, when most probably you will not have a single musket in the State; for as arms are to be provided by Congress, they may or may not furnish them. Let me here call your attention to that part which gives the Congress power, ‘To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia, according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.’ By this, Sir, you see that their control over our last and best defence is unlimited. If they neglect or refuse to discipline or arm our militia, they will be useless: the States can do neither, this power being exclusively given to Congress: The power of appointing officers over men not disciplined or armed is ridiculous: So that this pretended little remains of power left to the States may, at the pleasure of Congress, be rendered nugatory. Our situation will be deplorable indeed: Nor can we ever expect to get this government amended, since I have already shewn, that a very small minority may prevent it; and that small minority interested in the continuance of the oppression: Will the oppressor let go the oppressed? Was there even an instance? Can the annals of mankind exhibit one single example, where rulers overcharged with power willingly let go the oppressed, though solicited and requested most earnestly? Was there even an instance?” Speech of Patrick Henry (quoted at length, passim); Virginia Constitutional Ratifying Convention, 5 June 1788  in The Debates of the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (Jonathon Elliot ed., 1907).

IMAGINE PATRICK HENRY GIVING THE ABOVE SPEECH TO THE 115TH CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. DO YOU NOT THINK THAT PATRICK HENRY WOULD SUPPORT NATIONAL CONCEALED HANDGUN CARRY RECIPROCITY LEGISLATION? WHAT, DO YOU SUPPOSE, WOULD BE DEMOCRATIC PARTY REACTION TO PATRICK HENRY'S SPEECH? IMAGINE DEMOCRATS AND CENTRIST REPUBLICANS TELLING PATRICK HENRY THAT HIS WORDS, HIS PERCEPTIONS, HIS LOVE FOR THE SACRED RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES OF AMERICANS ARE NO LONGER RELEVANT! ALL THE WORSE, THEN, FOR WE, AMERICANS, OF THIS "BRAVE" NEW WORLD ORDER.

National Concealed Handgun Carry Reciprocity, also referred to as "Constitutional Carry," is an issue of great importance to Americans who hold dear the fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms as codified in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Unfortunately, many members of Congress—and need we daresay, most members of Congress—do not share the same sensibility and enthusiasm toward this sacred, sacrosanct, and inviolate right that the founders of our free Republic, not least of all Patrick Henry, felt important enough to enshrine in the most critical component of our Constitution: Our Bill of Rights. In fact, it is apparent that many members of Congress—virtually all Democrats, along with a good many centrist Republicans—feel that the fundamental right embodied in the Second Amendment should be whittled away to nothingness; and, by their way of thinking, good riddance, grounded on the reason, often given, and fervently believed, that the Second Amendment has long outlived its usefulness, its purpose, its very significance. They have, accordingly, passed legislation to accomplish that very goal, enacting numerous laws to destroy the free exercise of our most sacred right: the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

FIVE CONGRESSIONAL ENACTMENTS THAT HAVE HARMED THE AMERICAN CITIZEN’S EXERCISE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS

The comprehensive National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) did significant, substantial, perhaps even irreparable damage to the right codified in the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. But, lest one be under the illusion that anti-Second Amendment Congressional legislators were confident that the NFA and GCA amount to the veritable endgame in weakening the Second Amendment, Congress was far from done. Congress has since amended the GCA, further beleaguering the right of the people to keep and bear arms. We witness the Firearms Protection Act of 1986 (FOPA)*; the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act of 1993; and the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 (AWB) (now, fortunately, expired).

NATIONAL CONCEALED HANDGUN CARRY RECIPROCITY LEGISLATION

Congressional Republicans attempted to push back against the NFA, GCA and against an onslaught of further anti-Second Amendment bills, presented by Congressional Democrats, by drafting bills of their own that, if enacted, would strengthen the Second Amendment in accordance with the intent of the framers of it. From 2011 to date Republicans in the House and Senate introduced thirteen bills, any one of which, if enacted, would allow individuals, not under disability, who have a valid license to carry a handgun concealed in one State to lawfully carry a concealed handgun in every other State. Where are they now? Four of the bills failed in Committee. The other nine are stalled in Committee. The Arbalest Quarrel has written on this dismal state of affairs in the article, titled, “Second Amendment Handgun Carry Reciprocity Among the Several States—A Right Denied!”, posted on September 29, 2017.  None appear to be going anywhere soon.Although the basic mechanics of how a bill becomes law is no secret, and readily discernible, still, nonetheless, the inner workings of the U.S. Congress is inscrutable. One thing, though, is clear. No bill comes to the Floor of the House or Senate, for open hearing, debate and vote, without the backing of House and Senate leadership. So, if the Senate Majority Leader, at the moment, Senator Mitch McConnell, and if the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, at the moment, Representative Paul Ryan, do not wish to give a bill so much as an even chance of passage, then the bill will die in committee or, otherwise, the bill will be cast into a committee limbo. Such is the fate of most bills. Such is the fate of all national concealed handgun carry bills, to date.

H.R. 38: CONCEALED CARRY RECIPROCITY ACT OF 2017

H.R. 38 is merely the latest of the national concealed handgun carry reciprocity bills to be introduced in Congress. The purpose of the bill is set forth thus: “A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a means by which nonresidents of a State whose residents may carry concealed firearms may also do so in the State.”In full, H.R. 38 sets forth:SECTION 1.  SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the "Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017".SEC. 2. RECIPROCITY FOR THE CARRYING OF CERTAIN CONCEALED FIREARMS. (a)  IN GENERAL. – Chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 926C the following:  "§ 926D. Reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms "(a)  Notwithstanding any provision of the law of any State or political subdivision thereof (except as provided in subsection (b)) and subject only to the requirements of this section, a person who is not prohibited by Federal law from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm, who is carrying a valid identification document containing a photograph of the person, and who is carrying a valid license or permit which is issued pursuant to the law of a State and which permits the person to carry a concealed firearm or is entitled to carry a concealed firearm in the State in which the person resides, may possess or carry a concealed handgun (other than a machinegun or destructive device) that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, in any State that- "(1) has a statute under which residents of the State may apply for a license or permit to carry a concealed firearm; or "(2) does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms by residents of the State for lawful purposes. "(b) This section shall not be construed to supersede or limit the laws of any State that- "(1) permit private persons or entities to prohibit or restrict the possession of concealed firearms on their property; or "(2) prohibit or restrict the possession of firearms on any State or local government property, installation, building, base, or park. "(c) (1)  A person who carries or possesses a concealed handgun in accordance with subsections (a) and (b) may not be arrested or otherwise detained for violation of any law or any rule or regulation of a State or any political subdivision thereof related to the possession, transportation, or carrying of firearms unless there is probable cause to believe that the person is doing so in a manner not provided for by this section. Presentation of facially valid documents as specified in subsection (a) is prima facie evidence that the individual has a license or permit as required by this section. "(2) When a person asserts this section as a defense in a criminal proceeding, the prosecution shall bear the burden of proving, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the conduct of the person did not satisfy the conditions set forth in subsections (a) and (b). "(3) When a person successfully asserts this section as a defense in a criminal proceeding, the court shall award the prevailing defendant a reasonable attorney's fee. "(d) (1)  A person who is deprived of any right, privilege, or immunity secured by this section, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State or any political subdivision thereof, may bring an action in any appropriate court against any other person, including a State or political subdivision thereof, who causes the person to be subject to the deprivation, for damages or other appropriate relief. "(2) The court shall award a plaintiff prevailing in an action brought under paragraph (1) damages and such other relief as the court deems appropriate, including a reasonable attorney's fee. "(e)  In subsection (a): "(1) The term 'identification document' means a document made or issued by or under the authority of the United States Government, a State, or a political subdivision of a State which, when completed with information concerning a particular individual, is of a type intended or commonly accepted for the purpose of identification of individuals. "(2) The term 'handgun' includes any magazine for use in a handgun and any ammunition loaded into the handgun or its magazine. "(f) (1)  A person who possesses or carries a concealed handgun under subsection (a) shall not be subject to the prohibitions of section 922(q) with respect to that handgun. "(2) A person possessing or carrying a concealed handgun in a State under subsection (a) may do so in any of the following areas in the State that are open to the public: "(A) A unit of the National Park System. "(B) A unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System. "(C) Public land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. "(D) Land administered and managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. "(E) Land administered and managed by the Bureau of Reclamation.". (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT. – The table of sections for such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 926C the following: "926D.  Reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms."(c)  SEVERABILITY. – Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, if any provision of this section, or any amendment made by this section, or the application of such provision or amendment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, this section and amendments made by this section and the application of such provision or amendment to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. (d)  EFFECTIVE DATE. – The amendments made by this section shall take effect 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. Representative Richard Hudson, R-NC, introduced the bill in the House of Representatives on January 3, 2017. There were 84 Cosponsors: 83 Republicans and, curiously, one Democrat. The lone democrat who cosponsored the bill is Henry Cuellar, D-TX.

WHO SIGNED ON AS COSPONSORS OF THE H.R. 38? **

Sponsor and original Cosponsors of H.R. 38  as of the date of the bill's introduction in the U.S. House of Representatives, on 01/03/2017:Hudson, Richard (R-NC) - Sponsor; Lamborn, Doug (R-CO) - Cosponsor; Chabot, Steve (R-OH) - Cosponsor; Smith, Lamar S. (R-TX) -Cosponsor; LaMalfa, Doug (R-CA) - Cosponsor; Graves, Tom (R-GA) - Cosponsor; Yoder, Kevin W. (R-KS) - Cosponsor; Huizenga, Bill (R-MI) - Cosponsor; Cole, Tom (R-OK) - Cosponsor; Duncan, Jeff D. (R-SC) - Cosponsor; Hensarling, Jeb (R-TX) - Cosponsor; Diaz-Balart, Mario (R-FL) - Cosponsor; King, Steve (R-IA) - Cosponsor; Franks, Trent (R-AZ) - Cosponsor; Emmer, Tom (R-MN) -Cosponsor; Cuellar, Henry (D-TX) - Cosponsor; Walorski, Jackie (R-IN) - Cosponsor; Smith, Jason (R-MO) - Cosponsor; Cook, Paul (R-CA) -Cosponsor; Buchanan, Vern (R-FL) - Cosponsor; Olson, Peter Graham (R-TX) - Cosponsor; Harper, Gregg (R-MS) - Cosponsor; Gaetz, Matt (R-FL) - Cosponsor; Hartzler, Vicky (R-MO) - Cosponsor; Johnson, Bill (R-OH) - Cosponsor; Farenthold, R. Blake (R-TX) -Cosponsor; Brooks, Mo (R-AL) - Cosponsor; Kinzinger, Adam (R-IL) - Cosponsor; DesJarlais, Scott Eugene (R-TN) - Cosponsor; Cramer, Kevin (R-ND) - Cosponsor; Holding, George B. (R-NC) - Cosponsor; Meadows, Mark (R-NC) - Cosponsor; Mullin, Markwayne (R-OK) - Cosponsor; Pittenger, Robert (R-NC) - Cosponsor; Wagner, Ann (R-MO) - Cosponsor; Williams, Roger (R-TX) - Cosponsor; Sanford, Marshall C. (R-SC) - Cosponsor; Brat, Dave (R-VA) - Cosponsor; Buck, Ken (R-CO) -Cosponsor; Katko, John M. (R-NY) - Cosponsor; Newhouse, Dan (R-WA) - Cosponsor; Ratcliffe, John Lee (R-TX) - Cosponsor; Walker, Mark (R-NC) - Cosponsor; Westerman, Bruce (R-AR) – Cosponsor

Added Cosponsors, on January 4, 2017:
Bishop (R)-UT	Rouzer (R)-NC	Barr (R)-KY
Added Cosponsors on January 5, 2017:
Bost (R)-IL	Harris (R)-MD	Grothman (R)-WI
Shimkus (R)-IL	Gibbs (R)-OH	Perry (R)-PA
Knight (R)-CA	Comstock (R)-VA	Kelly (R)-PA
Bucshon (R)-IN	Cheney (R)-WY	Taylor (R)-VA
Added Cosponsors, on January 6, 2017:
Sessions (R)-TX	Posey (R)-FL	Gohmert (R)-TX
Comer (R)-KY
Added Cosponsors, on January 9, 2017:
Black (R)-TN	Pearce (R)-NM	Gowdy (R)-SC
Davis (R)-IL	Kelly (R)-MS
Added Cosponsors, on January 10, 2017:
Wilson (R)-SC	Young (R)-IA	Budd (R)-NC
Rooney (R)-FL
Added Cosponsors, on January 11, 2017:
Hultgren (R)-IL	Rokita (R)-IN	Banks (R)-IN
Added Cosponsors, on January 12, 2017:
Young (R)-AK	Thompson (R)-PA	Johnson (R)-LA
Mitchell (R)-MI
Added Cosponsors, on January 13, 2017:
Bishop (R)-MI	Denham (R)-CA	Byrne (R)-AL
Walberg (R)-MI	Barletta (R)-PA	Collins (R)-NY

{Congress has lost its way. Congress does not serve the interests of the American people. But, if it is not the American people whom Congress serves, then whom is it that Congress does serve? Congress must be reminded that its duty is to serve the American people. Those Legislators who fail in their duty to the American people must be voted out of Office.Let your U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative know how you feel about your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Phone (202) 225-3121. It is a fast and easy process; and a critical one. Only through your active participation, can we help secure our Second Amendment.} ________________________________________*Supporters of FOPA might argue that it operates as a positive step forward, toward strengthening the Second Amendment and they might point to support garnered from NRA that supported various aspects of FOPA. But, “Despite its magnanimous sounding title, and notwithstanding some of its more generous provisions, the Firearms Owners Protection Act (FOPA) also contained a Trojan Horse. While the NFA severely restricted possession of fully automatic weapons, the 1986 FOPA, signed into law by President Reagan, made possession of any fully automatic firearm which was manufactured before 1986 a felony, with certain narrow exceptions. Given that possession of fully automatic firearms was already heavily regulated by the NFA, the immediate impact of the FOPA was minimal. However, as 1986 fades into the past, the law has begun to manifest its twofold effect. First, it insures that even fully registered fully automatic firearms in private possession gradually become more and more obsolete. They are now twenty years old. Eventually, they will appear as quaint as the flintlocks that some faux-originalists claim are the only weapons protected under the Framers' intent. Second, as older weapons are gradually decommissioned, fewer of these weapons are available for civilian ownership, reducing the collective firepower of the militia and increasing the price of those full automatics still on the market. The eventual effect of the statute will be a de facto ban on civilian possession of all full automatics, except for a few museum pieces.” And, fully automatic weapons manufactured after 1986 are banned from the civilian market altogether. “Do Federal Firearms Laws Violate the Second Amendment by Disarming the Militia?”, 10 Tex. Rev. Law & Pol. 469, 484 (Spring 2006), by John-Peter Lund, A.B. 1997, M.A. 1999, University of California at Berkeley; J.D. 2006, University of Texas. See also, “Symposium: Gun Control and the Second Amendment: Developments and Controversies in the Wake of District of Columbia v. Heller And McDonald v. Chicago: Article: The Great Gun Control War of the Twentieth Century—And Its Lessons For Gun Laws Today, 39 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1527, 1574 (October 2012), by David B. Kopel, Adjunct Professor of Advanced Constitutional Law, Denver University, Sturm College of Law. Research Director, Independence Institute, Denver, Colorado. Associate Policy Analyst, Cato Institute, Washington, D.C. Kopel is the author of fourteen books and over eighty scholarly journal articles, including the first law school textbook on the Second Amendment: Nicholas J. Johnson, David B. Kopel, George A. Mocsary & Michael P. O'Shea, Firearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy (Aspen Publishers, 2012). This article is a revised and extended version of a portion of the textbook written by Kopel. See David Kopel's website. “Because of an amendment added on the floor of the House, FOPA also banned the sale of new machine guns (manufactured after the date that FOPA became law, May 19, 1986) to the public. The NRA successfully challenged the ban in district court, but lost in the Eleventh Circuit, and the Supreme Court denied certiorari. (The challenge had asked that language allowing the sale of new machine guns ‘under the authority of the United States’ be construed to allow sales that complied with the Federal National Firearms Act of 1934).”** Roger Katz and Stephen D’Andrilli, Co-creators of the Arbalest Quarrel weblog, are regular guests on Lock and Load Radio with Bill Frady. Toward the end of the 6:00 show, that took place this past Thursday evening, October 18, 2017, Bill informed Roger Katz that a listener to the show had contacted Bill through the show’s “Chat Room.” The listener requested a list of all Republican House Members who did not support H.R. 38. Roger explained that he would post an article, responsive to the listener’s request. Stephen and Roger are, accordingly, doing so through this article.Responsive to the listener’s request, be advised that the 115^th Congress has 435 House Members, broken down as follows: 239 Republican House members, 194 Democrats, and two vacancies. Concerning the vacancies, the Honorable Tim Murphy resigned on October 21, 2017, and the Honorable Jason Chaffetz resigned on June 30, 2017.  For a list of the names of House and Senate Members, the following websites provide a wealth of information: http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/cong.aspx; https://www.house.gov/; and https://contactsenators.com/party.php?party=republican. Rather than listing the names of those Republican House Members who did not add their names to the list of cosponsors of H.R. 38, Stephen and Roger have listed the names of those who did add their names as cosponsors since the list of cosponsors of the bill was readily ascertainable.It would be unnecessarily labor intensive to list the names of over 150 Republican House Members who did not sign on as cosponsors of the bill, but those individuals who would like to ascertain the names of the Republican House Members who did not add their names as cosponsors to H.R. 38 can readily ascertain who those House Members are by comparing the names of the sponsor and cosponsors of the bill which Roger and Stephen have provided in this article, with those who did not. The web links provided in this article, supra, set forth the names of each House Member. But, keep in mind that, notwithstanding that a House Member adds his or her name as a cosponsor to this bill, or, for that matter, to any other bill, this does not mean the House Member would vote for enactment. A Member of Congress is not required to do so. Similarly, the fact that a House Member did not sign on as a cosponsor of H.R. 38, this does not mean that the House Member would not vote for enactment of H.R. 38 were it to move forward to a full House Floor vote. In fact, many House Members might have cosponsored H.R. 38, knowing full well that its chance of passage, based on what they, and we, have seen of previous similar bills, is slim to nonexistent. Cosponsors of H.R. 38 might, then, wish to create the impression they are fervent supporters of the Second Amendment generally and of national concealed handgun carry legislation particularly, when in fact they are not, knowing that it is highly unlikely that they will ever have to place their honor and integrity on the line as it is highly unlikely—at least at the present time—that H.R. 38 will ever make its way out of Committee, let alone find its way to the House Floor for a full public hearing and debate and, then, on to a full House Floor vote. That is not to say that many--and, probably, or, at least, hopefully all or most--of the cosponsors of H.R. 38 do not in fact strongly support the bill that they have lent their name in support to and that they would not decidedly and definitely like to see passage of the bill in the event, however unlikely it might be, that Representative Paul Ryan, will relent and allow H.R. 38—or any of the other similar national concealed handgun carry reciprocity bills, presently stuck in Committee—to wend its way through Committee and on to the House Floor for full public hearing, debate, and vote. Quite simply, we don't know._________________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

CONFISCATING FIREARMS FROM GOOD PEOPLE WON’T EVER STOP GUN VIOLENCE PERPETRATED BY BAD PEOPLE

STEPHEN PADDOCK, MASS MURDERER

PART ONE

UNDERSTANDING, TRULY UNDERSTANDING THE MOTIVATIONS OF MASS MURDERERS IS ULTIMATELY IMPOSSIBLE AND PROBABLY A WASTE OF TIME.

“Then the Hatter opened his eyes very wide . . . but all he said was, ‘Why is a raven like a writing-desk?’ ‘Come, we shall have some fun now!’ Thought Alice. ‘I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles. — ‘I believe I can guess that,’ she added aloud. ‘Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?’ said the March Hare. ‘Have you guessed the riddle yet?’ the Hatter said, turning to Alice again. ‘No, I give it up,’ Alice replied: ‘that’s the answer?’ ‘I haven’t the slightest idea,’ said the Hatter. ‘Nor I,’ said the March Hare. Alice sighed wearily. ‘I think you might do something better with the time,’ she said, ‘than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers.’” From the fantasy novel, "Alice in Wonderland," by Lewis Carroll“All men are uncreated equal.” From the notebook of the psychotic mass killer,  James Holmes, sentenced by the Court to life + 3,318 years for the murder of 70 individuals and the attempted murder of dozens of others, in a movie theater, in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20, 2012. After sentencing, the Judge, who heard the case, and, having had enough of Holmes, angrily said, “Get the defendant out of my courtroom.”What motivates a person to commit murder and mayhem, to commit acts of unimaginable savagery and on a vast scale? News commentators, police investigators, and FBI agents speculate and ponder Stephen Paddock’s motivation, his rationale, his raison d’etre for committing a horrific, heinous act that defies belief, and they are left dumbfounded, even as they ponder the unthinkable, the unimaginable. Ultimately, though, for the rest of us, does the question of Paddock’s motivation really matter? Had Paddock survived, would his statements to interrogators provide the clues, the missing pieces to the puzzle? In other words, do rational, logical explanations even exist for inherently irrational acts? At the moment, investigators dismiss a political, social, or financial motive, which might otherwise provide a seeming basis or quasi-rational explanation for Paddock’s actions. But, the answer may simply boil down to this: If Paddock enjoyed shooting at metal ducks with an air gun at a penny arcade or when standing at a booth at a traveling carnival in his youth, perhaps, he thought, how much more fun it would be to shoot at thousands of “little ducks” way down below, as he stood at his perch at an expensive “carny” stand—a luxury suite (booth)—at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. Vegas, after all, is the largest, and arguably, most obscene carnival in the Nation. And, Paddock’s prize for “winning” by shooting the most “ducks?” Notoriety on a national and even international scale! Does that answer help? And, if true, can a sane, rational American wrap his or her head around that? Would one desire to do so? Would one wish even to try? Not likely.To understand Paddock’s mental processes—to truly understand the inner workings of the mind of a madman—it is necessary for a rational sane person to be able and willing to share, intimately, Paddock’s perceptions, his experiences. But, would one wish to take that leap, were it possible? In that regard, consider a scene in the 1983 Sci Fi film, “Brainstorm.” In the movie, scientists, working for a high-end technology company, create a device that allows a person to tap, literally and directly into the thoughts and feelings and experiences of another person. Nefarious individuals see military applications for the device: brainwashing and torture; and they dictate the future of the company, moving it in that direction. They hook the device up to the mind of a psychotic and record the psychotic’s brain activity on tape. A scientist absent-mindedly leaves the device at his home where his child gets a hold of it. Out of innocent curiosity, the child places the device on his head. Once he does so, the child immediately links his mind to that of the psychotic, through the tape inadvertently running at the time, on the device. The child, transfixed in horror at the bizarre, discordant images coursing through his brain as linked to the brain of a psychotic--as the child's mind “takes in” the full weight and gravity of psychosis--doesn’t have the wherewithal to remove the device. The result is not pleasant. The child suffers an immediate, catastrophic, and possibly irreversible psychotic break.Now, back to Paddock. Apart from a possible motive, more troubling to criminologists is the conclusion that they seem to be required to draw. Stephen Paddock does not, according to investigators, as relayed to the public through news accounts, fit the conventional profile for a mass killer. That is perplexing, bothersome, troublesome to investigators.Today, computer programs and algorithms exist for explaining and predicting human conduct and behavior—explaining and predicting the hopes, wishes, desires, fears, and urges of each of us and to do so with amazing, frightening accuracy, and the creators of these programs and algorithms are getting better at it all the time, but, for all their successes, they may never be able to obtain a complete picture of what makes a person "tick." But, that doesn't stop them from trying. Stephen Paddock, a psychopath and psychotic, is a conundrum. And, those who seek to control all of us, don’t like that. They don’t like the conclusion they seem they must draw here: that their predictive programs, for assessing character flaws and predicting violent behavior in those individuals among us, who may present a danger to others, don’t always work. Clearly, those programs didn’t work in predicting Stephen Paddock’s descent to savagery. Perhaps it is enough to say that Stephen Paddock inherited his psychopathological makeup from his father, Benjamin Paddock. Perhaps it was just a matter of time before Paddock would explode—a matter of time before his super-consciousness (if he had any conscience at all), would be unable to contain his venomous ego personality, and that ego would fracture, allowing his lizard urges to emerge and predominate and control his actions. Ultimately, though, who can say?The point of this narrative is twofold: one, that, at some level, with some people who exhibit abnormal, aberrant behavior—fortunately very few—any mechanism or tool for explaining and predicting dangerous, abnormal, aberrant behavior is difficult and most likely impossible. Breakthroughs in medical science, psychological modeling, and criminal profiling is, at best, still, obviously rudimentary.News accounts report that Stephen Paddock’s father, Benjamin Paddock, was a bank robber, con man, and psychopath, who, for several years, appeared on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted” list. Benjamin Paddock died in 1998. Did his son, Stephen, inherit his father’s psychopathological makeup. Perhaps. According to the old saw, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” News accounts report that Stephen Paddock has three brothers, according to the NY Times, in an article, published on October 13, 2017, titled, “Father’s History Could Offer Insight Into Mind of Las Vegas Gunman,” about Stephen Paddock’s father, Benjamin Paddock. One brother, Eric, we hear about quite frequently. Another brother, Bruce, we don’t hear much about. What we do hear about Bruce is not pleasant. He appears to be a “bad apple” like Stephen. News accounts of two other brothers is virtually or altogether nonexistent. As for Eric Paddock, Eric claims he is as mystified as everyone else is of his older brother's, Stephen Paddock’s, atrocities. But, would the other brother, Bruce, one day contemplate and carry out a mass shooting like Stephen Paddock? Would Eric? And, what of the two remaining brothers that we do not hear about at all--the two remaining brothers for which there remains a palpable silence?Writing an opinion piece for The New York Times, on October 11, 2017, titled, “Psychiatrists Can’t Stop Mass Killers,” Richard A. Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry, says, “it’s true that many mass murderers do have a mental disorder, typically a severe personality disorder or a psychotic illness. But, this fact has almost no implication for how to stop them.” Still, Richard Friedman admits that, “even if you were to eliminate all psychiatric illness from the population, the rate of violence would drop by only about 4 percent.” In a parenthetical, Friedman says, “The contribution from mass killers is far smaller: In 2015, mass killings accounted for only 0.35 percent of gun-related homicides.” The tacit question posed in the article is this: How are American citizens to protect themselves from others who would harm them? That tacit question spawns another: Do we proscribe gun possession of those individuals, alone, who exhibit psychopathic or psychotic tendencies but who have not been adjudged mentally incompetent or who have not been committed to a mental asylum? Or, if we cannot know with any degree of certainty those individuals who exhibit a danger to others, which, according to Friedman’s “disturbing reality,” includes “healthy people in the grip of everyday emotion using guns,” do we proscribe gun ownership of everyone? Friedman answers these two questions in the concluding paragraph of his article.In keeping with the Times’ abhorrence toward guns and gun ownership by the average American citizen, Richard Friedman concludes his article with this advice, that may be interpreted as an admonishment: “so let’s stop pretending we can detect mass killers in advance. But we can deprive them—and everyone else—of the deadly weapons they require to turn their impulses into carnage.” It is the phrase, “everyone else” that ought to give those Americans who hold dear the right of the people to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment, pause.There are, then, two roads, two paths we might follow to constrain those who commit violent crimes with firearms since it is virtually impossible to decipher what motivates such individuals. Although these roads or paths start off at the same juncture, they eventually diverge, and diverge sharply. Where the paths begin, there is general agreement. Maniacs and criminals should not be permitted to own and possess or have access to firearms. That is a given. In fact, federal law already precludes convicted felons and those persons adjudicated mentally incompetent or who have been committed to a mental asylum from possessing firearms—any firearm. Under 18 USCS § 922 (d)(1), "It shall be unlawful for any person who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign  commerce." And, 18 USCS § 922 (g)(4) sets forth that, "It shall be unlawful for any person who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign  commerce."But, then, do we deny every American citizen his or her constitutional right to keep and bear arms because, possibly, theoretically, at some indefinite time in the future, a person may commit a horrific act with a firearm? That is the conundrum facing those politicians who consider highly unlikely but theoretically possible contingencies to dictate what would inevitably amount to the evisceration of fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution. That doesn't bother Richard Friedman. He ascribes to one path: a kind of Minority Report scenario. Since, as he says, no one can know for certain who, among the citizenry, will one day go off the deep end, everyone should be deprived of firearms ownership and possession, under the cold calculated and bizarre assumption that anyone may, probabilistically, devolve into a mass murderer, even if probabilistically, the odds of any rational person devolving into a psychotic mass murderer are virtually zero. Keep in mind, though a singularly important fact that any clinical psychologist or psychiatrist should know and it is one that Richard Friedman alludes to in his article, through the statistics he cites. It is that the vast majority of individuals, including even those who suffer from severe, acute psychoses, very few are likely to transform into mass murderers. But, then, while logic dictates restraint, hysterical overreaction is all too often the norm when it comes to gun laws. See, exempli gratia, Symptom-Based Gun Control, 46 Conn. L. Rev. 1633 (May 2014) by Frederick E. Vars, Professor of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law, citing, Jeffrey Swanson & Marvin Swartz, The Navy Yard Shooting and Mental Illness, CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY NEWS (Sept. 20, 2013) ‘(explaining that post-Heller, the United States faces the difficult task of trying to keep guns out of the hands of certain ‘dangerous people’; that ‘we often don't know who the dangerous people are (until it's too late), and the people that we might assume to be dangerous (say because they have a mental illness) mostly are not’; and that psychiatrists' predictions of gun violence ‘aren't much better than a coin toss’ so ‘reducing gun violence in the tiny proportion of mentally ill individuals at risk is a vexing challenge’).”  See also, Balancing Public Safety with the Rights of the Mentally Ill: The Benefit of a Behavioral Approach in Reducing Gun Violence in Tennessee, 45 U. Mem. L. Rev. 671 (Spring 2015), by M. Roxana Nahhas Rudolph, J.D. Candidate, citing, generally, Jeffrey W. Swanson et al., Preventing Gun Violence Involving People with Serious Mental Illness, in Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis 33, 35 (Daniel W. Webster & Jon S. Vernick eds., 2013) [hereinafter Swanson et al., Preventing Gun Violence] ('But it is also true that crisis-driven law is not always carefully deliberated and that the results can make things worse and be difficult to undo.'); and Andrew J. McClurg, The Rhetoric of Gun Control, 42 Am. U. L. Rev. 53, 66 (1992) ("Emotions may move us to act, but reason should control the course of that action." (citing Madsen Pirie, The book of the Fallacy 58 (1985)). Roxana Nahhas Rudolph writes: “Mental illness has become a current focal point of gun control legislation. The recent tragedies involving gun violence and mass shootings across the country have left many Americans demanding stricter and better enforced methods of denying firearm access to mentally ill individuals. Unfortunately, the demand for increased gun control legislation has resulted in misguided and discriminatory legal remedies that are grounded in emotion rather than statistic. Due to highly publicized mass shootings like those in Newtown and Aurora, the public perception is skewed toward assuming that mentally ill persons are inclined toward violent behavior. Although some degree of public safety concern is warranted, the fear associated with mental illness is generally disproportionate to the actual risk of harm posed to society. Recent empirical data indicates that Americans with mental illness commit less than 5% of societal violence. Therefore, reactionary gun laws that focus exclusively on mental health are unlikely to result in any significant nationwide reduction in gun violence.”  This being the case, we are, nonetheless faced with hysterical overreaction that seems, unfortunately, to be perfectly reasonable to antigun proponents: namely those antigun groups, and antigun legislators, and antigun mainstream media organizations and commentators, and other liberal, smug complacent voices. Their antipathy toward guns is visceral. They adamantly oppose civilian gun ownership and possession. And they hold those who seek to own and possess firearms in utter contempt, surmising, absurdly and viciously that anyone, among the civilian population, who desires to own a firearm must, ipso facto, have something wrong with him (or her).Dare it also be said that the kind of action called for, stemming from Friedman’s conclusion, is altogether inconsistent with the right of the people to keep and bear arms as codified in the Second Amendment. Since the chances that a rational person may become a psychotic killer is so infinitely small as to be ludicrous in the extreme, it follows, logically, that an appeal to statistics is hardly a reasonable basis upon which to enact draconian laws, inhibiting rights and liberties under the Bill of Rights of our free Republic. When faced with the fact that statistics do not support the imposition of draconian gun laws on the American public, Richard Friedman and those sympathetic to his reasoning proceed from the standpoint that gun ownership and possession must be curtailed for the sake of “public safety,” however remote the danger of gun violence, either by normal, rational individuals or by those suffering from serious mental psychoses. We see, then, that the expression, “public safety,” operates as little more than a makeweight, little more than an excuse by federal and State legislatures and federal and State bureaucrats who seek to obliterate legitimate exercise of the right of the people to keep and bear arms.What this means is that State and federal legislatures and State and federal government bureaucrats would allow lunatics and maniacs—the lowest common denominator in society and however few in number who do represent a danger to others—to dictate the extent to which the rest of us—millions of sane, rational, honest, law-abiding, but otherwise ordinary American citizens. The lowest common denominator in society serves, then, as the excuse, the impetus to denigrate and restrain and constrain the right of tens of millions of the rest of us: the sane, rational, honest, law-abiding but ordinary Americans who simply wish to exercise their fundamental, natural right of the people to keep and bear arms, as guaranteed under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Restrictive firearms laws that oppress the fundamental right of the people to keep and bear arms do not, of course, make legal or logical sense. Such laws cannot, then, be justified either in law or in logic, but they are enacted anyway: ever more of them, and all of them sold to the public as a panacea, as a seemingly common-sense but clearly "over-the-top response to a limited threat that is deliberately and shamelessly blown out of all sensible proportion by the mainstream media in order to further an unlawful agenda--de facto repeal of the Second Amendment. Let us also be ever mindful of one indelible hard fact, lest we, in an inattentive moment, forget, as encouraged to do so, when inundated with waves of emotional rhetoric. It is that these restrictive gun laws that ostensibly serve the interest of public safety subvert, at once, the right of millions of ordinary, law-abiding freedom-loving, rational American citizens to protect themselves and their loved ones with a firearm. Legislators who enact draconian gun laws do so, either oblivious to or, more likely, keenly aware of, but irreverently dismissive of the fact that sane, rational, honest, law-abiding, but average, ordinary American citizens do defend themselves with firearms, and do so tens of thousands of times per year, according to even the most conservative estimates, and, by other, likely more accurate estimates, well over one million times per year. *What is beneficial to the individual—armed self-defense—is considered disadvantageous to society; so sayeth those who claim to seek to maximize public safety and who believe that public safety and armed self-defense are incompatible. If one must go, it is, then, "armed self-defense. That is what the antigun proponents and what their highly secretive, inordinately powerful, and exorbitantly wealthy benefactors   want. That is what they  all work tirelessly toward. That is what the antigun proponents and their benefactors intend to achieve through lies, evasions, and "half-truths;" through manipulation of statistics; through audacious use of tragic events; through media propaganda; through all manner of devices, orchestrations, contrivances, and dissimulations--all designed to induce fear, confusion and volatility in the masses--all to further their anti-Second Amendment aims, their anti-Bill of Rights agenda, their internationalist goal for a one-world government. Prior to the seminal Second Amendment Heller case (District of Columbia vs. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008), made applicable to the States in McDonald vs. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 130 S. Ct. 3020 (2010)), the notion that the individual’s right of self-defense must take a back seat to public safety—the well-being of the collective, "the hive” over the needs of the individual—flourished, was, indeed, taken as axiomatic; but this is no longer true. But that doesn’t stop the antigun crowd from continuing to make its case in the political arena, thereby patently ignoring the weight of U.S. Supreme Court law, and of logic, and of ethics as understood by the founders of our free Republic, the framers of our Constitution.In truth, if armed self-defense is incompatible with anything, it is incompatible with foreign law that fails to recognize the right of American citizens to utilize firearms for self-defense. An individual residing in Australia--namely, a subject of the Queen of England--says this:“ ‘[It is] actually not that hard to own a gun. But, you do have to have a genuine reason. You have to be a member of a target shooting club, or a hunter, and you have to prove it. For hunting, you can get written permission from a landowner who says you are hunting on his land. Or, you can join a hunting club. Pistols [handguns], on the other hand, are heavily restricted. All applicants undergo a background check by the police and there is a mandatory [thirty] day cooling off period for all license applications, both long arms and pistols. Firearms safety training courses are mandatory as well.’” As cited in the law review article, “Check ‘Mate’: Australia's Gun Law Reform Presents The United States With The Challenge To Safeguard Their Citizens From Mass Shootings, by Denise Cartolano, 41 Nova L. Rev. 139 (Winter 2017).** You will note that the individual, who made the statement and who lives in Australia, made no reference to “armed self-defense.” Obviously, armed self-defense isn’t considered a genuine reason for owning and possessing a firearm in Australia. And, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the past U.S. President, Barack Obama, and the woman who had claimed the "throne" of the U.S. Presidency and who had her ambitions and hopes dashed, a second time, Hillary Clinton, would--both of them--emulate the Australian example, seeking to thrust it on the American people.Isn't armed self-defense, though, a legitimate basis for owning and possessing firearms? You would think that no one in Australia would need a firearm for self-defense. If that assertion is false, we don’t hear of such reports; nor do we hear of instances where Americans have utilized a firearm for self-defense. We never see DGU (Defensive Gun Use) statistics reported or even alluded to in the mainstream media. We don’t encounter DGU statistics in mainstream news accounts because those who seek to demolish Americans’ sacred right of armed self-defense would undermine their own argument in favor of dismantling the Second Amendment. Antigun proponents and the secretive benefactors who bankroll their efforts relish the latest national gun tragedy because that serves to promote their agenda—an agenda that is antithetical to the preservation of the core of our Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms—one salient fundamental right that defines us as Americans and distinguishes us, in a positive vein, from all other populations on this planet.If we attempt a one-to-one match of each instance where an innocent American lost his or her life to an armed gunman to an instance where an innocent American preserved his or her life by wielding a firearm, the difference between loss of life to an armed assailant to preservation of life by an armed law-abiding American would be on the order of one life lost to hundreds of thousands saved. Of course, every innocent life is precious. But, to deny the right of any one innocent American to possess a firearm on the ground that more guns in the hands of sane, rational, law-abiding but “ordinary” Americans equates with more gun violence is a proposition at once not only false, but hypocritical. It cannot be the value of human life then that the antigun crowd is most concerned about, their assertions to the contrary. It is the desire to destroy the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, partly for its own sake, and partly predicated on odd aesthetic grounds and obtuse ethical ones, and on the desire to make ready the wrapping of this Nation into a new world globalist order--one necessitating a new constitution; one conformable to the political, social, legal, and financial structure of the European Union.The saner approach and one consistent with the fundamental, natural right of the people to keep and bear arms is to expand, not restrict, the fundamental, natural right of the people to keep and bear arms, so that individuals are best able to defend themselves from those who seek to harm them. But that idea is anathema to those who seek de facto repeal of the Second Amendment, even, though, an armed citizenry would likely significantly reduce the number of innocent individuals injured or killed in a mass shooting incident. Consider: “American massacres, in which dozens of unarmed victims are mowed down before police can arrive, astound Israelis, who note what occurred at a Jerusalem [crowd spot] . . . : three terrorists who attempted to machinegun the throng managed to kill only one victim before being shot down by handgun-carrying Israelis. Presented to the press the next day, the surviving terrorist complained that his group had not realized that Israeli civilians were armed. The terrorists had planned to machinegun a succession of crowd spots, thinking that they would be able to escape before the police or army could arrive to deal with them.” “Under Fire: The New Consensus on The Second Amendment," by 86 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 150, by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz.The New York Times, the bastion of hate toward exercise of the natural, fundamental right codified in the Second Amendment has, in the last several days, published a plethora of Op Ed articles, damning not Paddock, the maniac responsible for horrific gun violence, but “the gun” itself. This is nothing new for the Times newspaper. The curious thing is that most of the writers for the Times use the tragedy to promote an agenda, essentially calling for the dismantling of the Second Amendment, even though no present gun law or contemplated gun law would have prevented the horror that transpired in Las Vegas.Nicholas Kristoff, in his editorial, appearing in the Op Ed section of The New York Times, on October 5, 2017, titled, “We Can Act Before the Next Mass Shooting,” (titled, "Preventing Mass Shootings Like the Vegas Strip Attack" (in the digital version, posted on October 2, 2017)) calls for, what he refers to, as “modest steps we could take that would, collectively, make a difference.” What are those modest steps? We have seen them before. In fact, we have seen them many times. Apart from one of them that Kristoff mentions, they are nothing new.In Part Two of this Article, we look at Kristoff’s “modest steps” that he argues “would, collectively, make a difference,” and we explain why these “modest steps” would not make a difference.__________________________________________________________________*We rarely, if ever, see mentioned in the mainstream news statistics and articles involving defensive use of firearms. We do not see statistics and articles involving defensive use of firearms because those who seek to demolish Americans’ sacred rights and liberties—those who control the mainstream media—will never acknowledge that defensive use of firearms exists. They will jump on the latest national tragedy to promote an agenda antithetical to the preservation of the core of our Bill of Rights—the one document that best defines us as Americans—but fail to acknowledge successful use of firearms in one's self-defense.But, legitimate evidence exists that average law-abiding Americans use firearms defensively hundreds of thousands, even millions of times a year and, given that fact, even a mass shooting incident pales in comparison and significance to the many, many lives that are saved every year due to the fact that such Americans choose to exercise their fundamental, natural right to keep and bear arms. Consider: “For almost a decade scholars have been debating about how many defensive gun uses (DGUs) occur annually. Gary Kleck and colleagues, citing a series of polls culminating in the 1993 Kleck-Gertz survey, argue that at least 2.55 million people use a firearm for protection against criminals each year. Hemenway and others, relying on the National Crime Victimization Surveys (NCVSs), contend that only about 55,000 to 80,000 victims use guns against offenders in a given year. The estimates are wide apart and their academic champions staunchly defend their respective figures as correct and accurate, while dismissing the opposing figures as invalid and implausible.Neither side seems to be willing to give ground or see their opponents' point of view. This is unfortunate since there is good reason to believe that both sides are off-the-mark. Below the main shortcomings of the two approaches and some of the keys issues of contention are discussed.First, it appears that the estimates of the NCVSs are too low. There are two chief reasons for this. First, only DGUs that are reported as part of a victim's response to a specified crime are potentially covered. While most major felonies are covered by the NCVSs, a number of crimes such as trespassing, vandalism, and malicious mischief are not. DGUs in response to these and other events beyond the scope of the NCVSs are missed. Second, the NCVSs do not directly inquire about DGUs. After a covered crime has been reported, the victim is asked if he or she ‘did or tried to do [anything] about the incident while it was going on.’ Indirect questions that rely on a respondent volunteering a specific element as part of a broad and unfocused inquiry uniformly lead to undercounts of the particular of interest.  The only known significant source of overestimation of DGUs in this survey is ‘telescoping,’ the tendency of Rs to report incidents which actually happened earlier than the recall period, such as reporting a six year old incident as having happened in the past five years. It is likely that telescoping effects are more than counterbalanced by Rs who actually experienced DGUs failing to report them. Nevertheless, it is worth discussing how much effect telescoping could have on these estimates. In evaluating the ability of crime victims to recall crime events in victim surveys, the U.S. Census Bureau selected a sample of crimes that were reported to the police, and then interviewed the victims of these known crime events. Using a twelve month recall period (the same as we used in the present survey), they surveyed victims who had been involved in crimes which had actually occurred thirteen to fourteen months before the interview, i.e., one or two months before the recall period. Of these ineligible crimes, 21% were telescoped forward - wrongly reported as having occurred in the twelve month recall period. Since the months just before the start of the recall period will show the highest rates of telescoping, the rate should be even smaller for crimes which occurred earlier. Nevertheless, even if it is assumed that the 21% rate applied to events that occurred as much as one year earlier, thirteen to twenty-four months before the interview, telescoping could inflate the DGU estimates for a one year recall period by only 21%. Adjusting the 2.5 million DGU estimate downward for telescoping effects of this magnitude would reduce it to about 2.1 million (2.5 million/1.21=2.1 million), an adjustment which would have no effect on any of our conclusions. Telescoping would inflate estimates based on the five year recall period even less, since the ratio of memory loss errors over telescoping errors increases as the recall period lengthens.  Nevertheless, it should be stressed that this is just a numerical demonstration. There is no reason to believe that these modest telescoping effects outweigh the effects of Rs failing to report DGUs, and therefore, no reason to believe that these estimates are even slightly too high.” “Policy and Perspective: A Call for a Truce in the DGU War”, 87 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 1462 (Summer 1997), by Tom W. Smith, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago.____________________________________________________**The author of the article, Denise Cartolano, Attorney Advisor for the Executive office for Immigration Review as part of the Department of Justice's Attorney General's Honors Program, is obviously well-credentialed, but, she presumes, in our estimate wrongly, that Australia's draconian gun laws are, for the most part, consistent with American law and that they can and should be implemented here in the United States. She clearly does not support the notion of armed self-defense in this Country, tacitly emulating Australia's highly restrictive gun laws. She points out, as alluded to by the Australian subject, whom the author quotes in her law review article, that, while "Australia's gun laws include a provision to show a genuine use for owning, possessing, or using a firearm [p]ersonal protection, or self-defense, does not qualify as a genuine reason to own a firearm in Australia.  Only 'reasons relating to sport shooting, recreational shooting, [or] hunting, collecting, and occupational requirements' are valid reasons for gun ownership or use in Australia.As discussed, the Supreme Court of the United States' cases Heller I and McDonald held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms in the home for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense, and that the Second Amendment applies against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.   Therefore, in light of the Court's interpretation of the Second Amendment, it follows that the United States cannot implement a law that excludes self-defense as a genuine reason for owning, possessing, or using a firearm." Is this to suggest that the author of the article, Denise Cartolano, is supportive of the Heller decision and of the Second Amendment? No! The author concludes her article, asserting, "What is clear from the glaring statistics and media coverage of multiple mass shootings occurring at elevating rates in the United States is that the gun control issue needs to be tackled and new legislation implemented. Members of federal and state legislators need to start a conversation on gun control and work collaboratively to establish policies that effectuate change. The murder of innocent American citizens at the hands of those with firearms is an issue of national importance and should be a bipartisan one. America's culture and climate of gun ownership needs to be analyzed and reevaluated in order to spare the United States from another mass shooting tragedy. Australia was able to implement sweeping legislative reform regarding gun control only twelve days after one mass shooting event.  As discussed in this Article, the United States can effectively implement most of the Australian gun control legislation and should work towards making that a priority."  While the author, writes a compelling account of mass shootings in this Country and adequately dissects Australia's draconian National Firearms Agreement, her failure to take into account, or, for that matter, even to mention the fact that the American public utilizes firearms defensively hundreds of thousands or, conceivably, millions of times in any given year, and her failure to  take into account the import of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, even as she acknowledges the import and purport of the Heller and McDonald cases, weakens, considerably, and, in our estimate, fatally, the force of her message, although, certainly, antigun groups would find her argument compelling.But, for those wondering what Australia's National Firearms Agreement mandates, Denise Cartolano provides this succinct statement, citing, Kelly Buchanan, Australia, in FIREARMS-CONTROL LEGISLATION AND POLICY 16, 17 (2013).  "The National Firearms Agreement: (1) prohibits automatic and semiautomatic assault rifles; (2) stiffened licensing and ownership rules--for example, the private sale and transfer of firearms is prohibited unless conducted and registered by a licensed firearms dealer; (3) instituted a temporary gun buyback program that took approximately 700,000 assault weapons out of public circulation; (4) requires licensees to demonstrate a genuine need for a particular type of gun--self-defense does not qualify; (5) requires a firearm safety course; (6) determined that licenses cannot be issued until after a waiting period of not less than twenty-eight days and for a period of no more than five years; (7) mandates that licensees need to comply with storage requirements and submit to inspection by licensing authorities, subject to immediate withdrawal of license and confiscation of firearms in certain circumstances; and (8) requires separate permits for the acquisition of every firearm."The author, Denise Catalano believes that "most" of the Australian Firearms Agreement can be implemented, which is to say, she believes that most of the Agreement is compatible with the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and to the U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Heller and McDonald. We, however, believe that Catalano's assertion is a stretch, at best, even if some members of the American public would like to see an Australian style firearms law enacted. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton certainly would. U.S. Senators Schumer and Feinstein would, as well. We, though, definitely would not. Enactment of any of these measures is inconsistent with our Bill of Rights. Keep in mind that Australia doesn't have a Bill of Rights. Whatever rights and liberties Australians enjoy only exist, if at all, by grace of the Queen of England and, so, can just as easily be revoked as granted to the Australian subject by the Queen, through the Governor-General, the Queen's Representative._________________________________________________Copyright © 2017 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.