Article Archive

Distortion in the Courts - Judges display little respect for Second Amendment rights

by Jeff Knox

It can be argued that the only personal property specifically protected by the US Constitution is firearms. While the Fourth Amendment promises "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" and requires a sworn warrant "describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized," it does specifically allow for such seizure if the "i's" are properly dotted and the "t's" correctly crossed.

Similarly the Fifth Amendment guarantees against a person being "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation," but again, it recognizes a process for such deprivation and taking. The Second Amendment contains no such provisions for circumvention.

While I would not argue that the Second Amendment precludes society from ever restricting arms in any circumstance – such as to inmates in prison or briefly while police sort out the good guys from the bad guys at an incident – I do believe that it places firearms in a very special and protected place under law; a place where any deprivation of the right should receive special scrutiny and careful consideration. But our judicial system seems to take the exact opposite view. In any legal issue firearms are typically the first thing taken away and the last thing returned – if they are ever returned at all.

A couple of recent cases renewed my concern about the attitude that the courts routinely exhibit toward guns.

An Open Letter To All Urban Residents – And Especially Jews

by Rabbi Dovid Bendory, Rabbinic Director, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership

The mainstream media is doing its best to belittle a dangerous trend in America today: the "flash mob" of "youths." The term "flash mob" originally referred to groups of peaceful citizenry who gathered for what are best called "social experiments" – jovial sing-alongs and dance-alongs and other forms of harmless improvisational theater. I was personally caught up by several such "flash mobs" in New York City – and smiled at the entertaining street theater.

Times have changed rapidly, and ominously so.

In Wisconsin – home to JPFO's office – "Witnesses' accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night." (WTMJ News).

In Philadelphia, the "mayor talks tough to black teenagers after 'flash mobs' ...attack people at random on the streets of the city's tourist and fashionable shopping districts.” (Washington Times). The mayor has now imposed a curfew on the City.

"In Chicago on Memorial Day weekend, roving teens flashed gang signs, knocked cyclists off their bikes and harassed picnickers." (decried the proposed lawWashington Times)

We've seen similar events in Peoria, IL; Atlanta, GA; Las Vegas, NV; and – close to home for me personally – South Orange, NJ. (Flash Mobs).

And while you won't see it in the MSM, you can find plenty of blogs that highlight the racial undertones – and overtones – of these flash mobs. Here's an account of a Peoria eye-witness who says the mob chanted "kill all the white people." (See Blog).

As most decent people are watching the stock market gyrations and following our federal government’s mismanagement of both monetary and fiscal policy, our nation is entering an unpredictable phase. I’m sorry to say that, based on history, things are going to get worse. Just look at London, England, where four nights of rioting hooligans have resulted in the deployment of an extra 16,000 police officers in an attempt to stop the looting, vandalism, destruction, assaults, and robbery.

My response to "flash mobs?"

GET A GUN.

Click here to read the entire letter at JPFO.org.