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"Individual communities ought to have the power by Angel Shamaya October 31, 2002 On October 8, 2002, CNN Crossfire held
a debate between Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun
Owners of America and Dennis Henigan, Legal Director of the Brady Handgun
Control, Inc. organization. As could be expected, Mr. Pratt trounced Dennis
"Ban Handguns" Henigan. And also as could be expected, Mr. Henigan not
only made numerous objectionable statements, but he revealed the depth of what
he and his organization are really all about. One brief section of their interview
sparked this entire article. That section follows: PRATT: Let me ask a question. You
were saying that you don't support banning guns. Well, if so, did you disagree,
or do you disagree that handgun control went to court to try to keep the D.C.
gun ban? (See transcript here: http://www.cnn.com/transcripts/0210/08/cf.00.html.) If "individual communities ought
to have the power to enact whatever gun laws they want," that opens the
floodgates to enact laws that restrict the entire Bill of Rights. Local Bill of Rights
Nullification Power, if accepted, can and will be applied to the entire Bill of
Rights. Let's look at this idea, carried to its logical conclusion, one
Amendment at a time. FIRST AMENDMENT If individual communities ought to have
the power to ban firearms and imprison gun owners for mere possession -- "whatever
gun laws they want" -- that same
Mob Rule Theory applied to the First Amendment and carried to its logical
conclusion could eradicate what's left of America as we know it. The First
Amendment states: "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress
of grievances." Imagine stiff penalties for speaking
out on prohibited topics, or for assembling with friends of like mind, or for
publishing banned ideas. Imagine being arrested and thrown in jail for
petitioning the government publicly and offending the "wrong" official
with your "devious, unpatriotic" grievances. Like China, where
"American" flags and Little League baseballs are made -- where people
are still to this day executed by the hundreds and even thousands,
sometimes for what they say or how/where they say it. What's your preferred religion?
Strictly prohibited. And since the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and
unusual punishment can also be banned by "individual communities [who]
ought to have the power to enact whatever [protected right] laws they
want," if you get caught exercising that religion, you will be crucified
naked in town square in the middle of summer and forced to listen to a repeating
loop of Janet Reno justifying having torched Waco's youngsters to a crisp. Hey,
these individual communities are powerful now. "Whatever [protected right]
laws they want." For the rest of this message, be sure
to remember that the ban on cruel and unusual punishment has been lifted. SECOND AMENDMENT "Look, we believe that
individual communities ought to have the power to enact whatever gun laws they
want." Hmmm. Gotcha: "By order of the Mayor of New York
City," said police chief Scarface, "anyone caught with a firearm
without a permission slip personally signed by the Mayor and three of his
approved staff members will be shot on sight and left to rot for 40 days. Before
the day's end, all possessions left by the violent criminal will be confiscated
and sold at public auction, and any debts left by the criminal will be repaid
with hard labor exacted from no more than seven (7) surviving family members or
known associates." And don't even think about
praying in prison when you get there -- the Warden in Henigan's "Any Gun
Laws They Want" World makes the Mayor look like
Snow White. THIRD AMENDMENT "No soldier shall, in time of
peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time
of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law." As soon as the law gets around the
prescribing for post-jihad America, that Amendment is already ripe for abuse.
But local communities don't have to worry about the very flimsy alleged
protections it supposedly affords anyway, right? After some fellow named
Mohammed Ramadan turns a beer keg into a dirty bomb and dumps it on a state
legislator's front doorstep, you'd best not complain too much when Homeland
Security Team Bravo Sierra needs a place to sleep and a television to shoot. Refusal to
comply with their needs by sleeping at the neighbor's house is punishable by
determination of the weary commanding officer who likes your landscaping enough
to convince himself he'll get through the 60-day pseudo "cleanup"
procedure outlined on Page 871 of the USA SUPERPATRIOT Act without blowing his own
brains out. FOURTH AMENDMENT "The right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but
upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Henigan's World: "No, officer, I didn't realize I
was going 2 miles over the speed limit. I'm really sorry." "Step out of the car, mister.
Please remove your shoes, pants, shirt, jewelry and bend down and grab your
ankles. If you sit still, this cavity search will only take a minute and you can get dressed
while we rip your car apart." Far fetched? Hardly. Prince
George's County, Maryland's police department was exposed by the Washington Post
a while back for many "unbelievable" things -- including multiple
officers strip searching a man who'd been pulled over in his BMW, and doing a
cavity search behind a gas station while, according to the successful businessman with a
clean record who encountered these "law enforcement officers," they
joked, laughed and intimidated him menacingly with clear and concise threats. At the 2001 Gun Rights Policy
Conference, an Ohio attorney informed the entire roomful of people that police
officers who "catch you with a firearm" can order you to submit to a
strip search -- "and you have to do what they tell you." And that's with the alleged
"Fourth Amendment" in place... supposedly. In the Henigan "individual
communities ought to have the power to enact whatever [...] laws they want"
world, your City Manager, County Supervisor or Mayor can demand that you submit
DNA, hair, blood, stool and urine samples -- for each member of your family. "Privacy? Shut your mouth, or that
smile will be wiped off of your face with this nightstick. We'll be by from time
to time -- any time we please -- to make sure you don't have any contraband in
your house. We're watching you, and we think you are up to something." FIFTH AMENDMENT "No person shall be held to
answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or
indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval
forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public
danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put
in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be
a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public
use, without just compensation." 1) "Tell us the truth or we will do
it to your other thumb. Confess!" 2) "By order of this court, I hereby
dismiss this jury for failure to convict an obvious criminal and decree that the
fourth jury selection for this trial will commence at noon on Monday." 3) "Hey. Yeah, it's me!
Listen! The city is demanding that I vacate my family's home and land -- they
are giving me one one-hundredth of what it's worth and said that if I didn't
like it the Police Chief would like to settle this matter personally this
evening behind the station! ... Whadya mean 'what am I gonna do', you idiot -- I'm
packing! I want you to come help me so I get the most important stuff!" SIXTH AMENDMENT "In all criminal prosecutions,
the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an
impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been
committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and
to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted
with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense." Prisoner Number One: Welcome to
The Outhouse. What'd they put you in here for? Prisoner Number Two: I got pulled
over with my friend, and they found a flattened .22 shell casing in his trunk. Prisoner Number One: Idiot.
You should have picked smarter friends. What'd they do to him. Prisoner Number Two: He's
dead. Prisoner Number One: Right. Prisoner Number Two: How
long did it take you to get to trial? Prisoner Number One: I'm
still "waiting." Every now and then the Warden calls me into his
office to tell me the judge is still selecting my jury, but I stopped believing
him after the fourth or fifth time. Prisoner Number Two: How
long have you been in this hellhole? Prisoner Number One: What
year is it? SEVENTH AMENDMENT "In suits at common law, where
the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by
jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise
reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of
the common law." Newspaper Headlines: January: COMMON LAW RULED
ANTIQUATED March: JURY TRIAL UNNECESSARY,
SAYS MAYOR May: TRAFFIC CRIMINAL GETS 20
YEARS EIGHTH AMENDMENT "Excessive bail
shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishments inflicted." PORTLAND, Or. (AP) -- The
high bails being set for prisoners have led to yet another execution today. A
man accused of distributing flyers contesting high bails told the judge he
"could stick his $500,000 bail where the sun don't shine." Funeral
services have been waived by the family as they are all working in the newly
renovated Portland Penal Colony -- to pay their late father's bail, which the
judge said he still owes "even though he's lost his head." NINTH AMENDMENT "The enumeration in
the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people." Law Enforcement Officer
One: Law Enforcement Officer
Two: Law Enforcement Officer
One: In Unison: "Bwaaaa
haaa haaa ha ha HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" TENTH AMENDMENT "The powers not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to
the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." "Look, we believe
that individual communities ought to have the power to enact whatever [Bill of
Rights] laws they want." --Dennis Henigan, legal director for the Brady Campaign Against Gun
Violence, CNN's Crossfire Debate with Larry Pratt, Executive Director, Gun
Owners of America, October 8, 2002, 19:00 ET CONCLUSION Anyone who chips
away at one of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights is chipping away at all of them. Supporting
local Bill of Rights Nullification Powers is an invitation for the kinds of
abuses history has relegated to Totalitarian Dictatorships. Whether the Dictatorship is localized, regional,
statewide or national matters little to people living and dying under such
conditions. Basic human rights were
specifically enumerated as off limits by any government because the forethinking
men who discerned them as innate to the human being had experienced gross
dishonoring of these rights and the results such tyranny produced. If
government could legitimately strip away one human right, they could strip them
all. Thus the term "unalienable rights." The US Constitution is the
Law of the Land -- it says so in Article 6, Section 2, "anything in the
Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." It's not a buffet from which petty Dictator Wannabes can pick
and choose. As long as each community and state is a part of this nation, the elected officials of
that community must abide by The Law. They cannot choose which laws they want to obey
any more than individuals are entitled to do. We are one nation, bound together by the
contract that is the Constitution. This is what makes us the united States of
America. Anti-gun fanatics like Dennis
Henigan are scary domestic enemies, a bane to a free society, and they are
encouraged to carefully consider how much further they will be allowed to push
lawful, peaceable gunowners before a backlash of epic proportions becomes
unavoidable. When good men and women have no civil recourse for restoring their
rights, the only path left is uncivil. There are somewhere in the neighborhood
of 83,000,000 gunowners in this great nation, and many of them are increasingly
feeling their backs against the wall -- as a direct result of people like
Dennis Henigan who support, promote, endorse and consistently seek to build a
long and growing string of "local community" dictatorships. *** END *** In case
you'd like to read the section of the "debate" between Mr. Pratt and
Mr. Henigan, here it is. First is the intro. Click here to
go straight to the section where they were finally introduced. ... CNN CROSSFIRE Gun Control Advocates Claim Maryland Sniper Could Be
Caught If Tracking System Was In Place; Some Claim Bush Politicizing Iraq Issue Aired October 8, 2002 - 19:00 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS
FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. ANNOUNCER: CROSSFIRE: On the left: James Carville and
Paul Begala. On the right: Robert Novak and Tucker Carlson. In the CROSSFIRE:
Anguish, anger and a sniper on the loose. But first, a political briefing that really hits the
bull's eye: our CROSSFIRE "Political Alert." ..... CUT IRAQ/HOMELAND SECURITY PORTION ...... http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0210/08/cf.00.html First in the CROSSFIRE tonight are
Dennis Henigan, legal director for the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence. And
with him, Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America. HENIGAN: No. The point of this law is
not to put unnecessary burdens on the gun industry. And this could be done much
easier at the federal level, Bob. When a manufacturer sells a gun to a
distributor, the manufacturer could test-fire that gun and those markings, that
data, could go immediately into a federal computer. PRATT: Well, you know Mohammed Atta
seemed to be able to get a false ID without too much trouble. I don't think he's
going to go in and say, Hi, I'm Mohammed Atta. I'm from Saudi Arabia. I'm here
to kill you, will you sell me a gun? These guys are just a little smarter than
that. http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0210/08/cf.00.html |
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