Submitted January 21, 2001

Follow-up to: Kiss my guns goodbye? I don't think so.

I wanted to write to all those who responded to my plight when my former wife had the audacity to file a specious restraining order against me. If she had been successful in this action I would have been denied my right to keep and bear arms for life. In addition, there could have been other far reaching results, such as possibly losing my right to vote and my right to hold a public office.

On September 19, 2000 I was served notice that a temporary restraining order had been requested and I was to appear in family court in San Diego on September 25, 2000 for the hearing. This hearing was eventually extended to October 10, 2000 when my former wife blind sided me with a police report that claimed that I was a drug trafficker, dealing in illegal firearms and that I associate with known white supremacists in the San Diego area. Nothing is farther from the truth!

My attorney aggressively defended me in this action and filed several affidavits on my behalf. As the date of the hearing neared, the petitioner tried unsuccessfully to unilaterally remove the matter from the court calendar. The court clerk would not allow that action to occur without consent of my attorney. My guess is that my former wife started to get cold feet when my attorney accused her of filing a false police report. In any event, when it was time for my day in court, she was no where in sight. As a result, the judge ordered the case to be dismissed -- with prejudice -- which means that she can never again bring this action or similar charges against me.

I had another hearing on December 22, 2000 on a matter brought by me asking for attorney fees for my defense of her actions. Since visitation was the reason for the restraint order, I also requested court ordered visitation of my youngest daughter.

When the judge heard all the evidence in my favor and the blatant attempts to deny me my rightful and reasonable visitation requests, she ordered my ex to ensure that I have a minimum of 3 weekend visits over the next three months. The request for attorney fees was put off until March 23, 2001, the date of our next hearing. At that time the judge will review her performance and rule on the attorney fees and a permanent visitation order.

This judge (a young woman) saw through the rancor and contentious attitude of my ex and made a positive and decisive move to prevent further adverse behavior on her part. It was even a defeat for her attorney because of her support of this damaging and specious action. The closing words the judge spoke to my ex wife said it all:  "I will have my eye on you!"

There is a lesson here for all of us. I came dangerously close to losing my right to own a firearm or defend myself with a firearm, all because of someone who doesn't like guns and doesn't want me, or you, to have them. It is time that we demand that Congress overturn this outrageous and unconstitutional "Lautenberg" amendment that makes felons of innocent firearm owners. Furthermore, never take those rights for granted, and fight each and every one who dares to limit or deny our rights.

There are laws in many states where you could have a restraining order issued against you for any reason without your knowledge, or guilt. By the time you find out about it, it is too late. Once you have lost your rights, they are lost forever unless you go through a difficult, tedious and drawn out process to restore your rights that -- if, like me, you were innocent -- should never have been taken away in the first place. I was fortunate; the judge did not issue an emergency order because of the geographical distance between us. Therefore, I had the time to prepare a defense.

Conclusion and Concerns

The police report was forwarded to the San Diego Sheriff Special Investigations Division. They conducted their own investigation regarding the charges involving drugs, weapons and white supremacist involvement. As we all know, "hate crime" legislation and "gun control" is on the lips of every anti-rights politician in the nation. I feel that this investigation placed me in a very hazardous position. Especially if notice was given to federal agencies with jurisdiction over these crimes.

Do keep in mind that the false charges that were levied against me were no more or less serious than those waged against the victims at Waco and Ruby Ridge.

The Sheriff's office probably has not received notice from the court that the charges were dismissed, and wouldn't care if they did know. My fear has been that this investigation could cause the offices of the FBI, BATF and the DEA to over react and perform a middle-of-the-night, multi-jurisdictional no-knock search of my home.

It would not take some members of these agencies long to figure out that even though there is no criminal record, there might be something to the charges, and "for the safety of the community" they could make something of nothing. I am not paranoid, but someone convince me that this scenario could not occur!

How can an honest, hardworking, law abiding citizen live with this fear? The fact that some unbalanced person, any person, can completely alter your life and your freedom by bringing false and illogical charges against you is just plain scary. I dodged the bullet on this one. Will the next person be as lucky?

Thanks again to all of you who sent e-mail in support regarding this assault on me (us).

God Bless you,

Dennis Jackson
DennisJ@KeepAndBearArms.com

"In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce and brave man, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot." ~~ Mark Twain