Saturday, December 30, 2006

The Fix is In: Destroy Wayne Fincher

A man charged with possessing illegal machine guns shouldn't be able to make constitutional arguments at trial, according to a motion filed Friday by federal prosecutors.

Hollis Wayne Fincher, 60, a lieutenant commander of the Militia of Washington County, is charged in U.S. District Court with possessing three homemade, unregistered machine guns and an unregistered sawed-off shotgun.

Trial is set for Jan. 8 in Fayetteville.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Johnson filed the motion asking U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren to preclude Fincher and his attorney, Oscar Stilley, from arguing matters of law to the jury as a defense. The government believes Fincher wants to argue the gun charges are unconstitutional and that the prosecution must prove an "interstate nexus" for the firearms, according to the motion.

Damn right--the Constitution has no place in America's courtrooms! Imagine, wanting to "argue matters of law" as a defense!

Here's how you can help.

[More from WarOnGuns]

We're the Only Ones Strapped and Unstrapped Enough

It seems a lot of police officers don't wear their seat belts when they are driving their patrol cruisers. And researchers think that played a role in the number of police officers killed in crashes while working...Many patrol car seat belts tangle with gun belts worn by officers, causing some of them to choose access to a firearm over seat belt safety...
And those same "choices" are available to us non-"Only Ones," aren't they?

Wrongful Termination for 2A Advocacy

A former security researcher for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at Richland says he was fired for advocating gun rights.

Fifty-one-year-old Joseph Huffman of Moscow, Idaho, has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in Benton County Superior Court. He says investigators monitored his Web sites to build a case against him.
He doesn't just "say"--he proves it.

Go get 'em, Mr. Huffman. He addresses the case, and denies the charge of unauthorized use of PNNL computers here. I don't know enough about his case, so I may be recommending something he's already got covered, but I hope his attorney subpoenas computer records to show other employees and managers routinely violating policy with no recriminations.

We're the Only Ones Scared to Death Enough

Thieves stole the gun and nearly $5,000 worth of other police equipment from the personal car of a Cincinnati police investigations supervisor earlier this month, according to a Cleves police report.

Acting Cleves Police Chief William Renner said his department has a lead on the thief who stole Lt. Michael Savard’s equipment sometime on Dec. 18 or Dec. 19.

“We taking missing guns seriously,” Renner said. “It scares us to death.”
Yeah, us too. Especially since us non-"Only Ones" can't have hidden guns in our "personal cars" in Ohio--even those whose names are published in the papers as concealed carry permit holders. Maybe they're afraid we'll leave them unattended in our cars where they could get stolen.

Reflections on Silveira

Part of the recent attack on me has focused on criticism of the Silveira case. While the commenters in this instance aren't high on my list of favorite people, it's undeniable that some very credible and respectable attorneys argued the case was a bad one to make. I'll get into that another time, as the inclination strikes, but would just offer these observations:

If we wait for the "perfect" case and the "perfect" court, we will never resolve this "legally." That happy convergence will simply never happen. In the mean time, we are utterly powerless to prevent a really wrong case from being made that will settle the matter (again, "legally") without our input and with overwhelming public sentiment agreeing with the decision--for instance, if a child molester files the suit.

And this is assuming that the initiative is taken by the "side" claiming 2A applies to We the People--if the government prosecution of, say Wayne Fincher argues he has no individual right, or if a lawsuit filed by Michael Bloomberg or the Brady Campaign predicates itself on establishing a national "collective rights" precedent, what will the Silveria critics do then?

The recent tempest over FAA asserting a "collective rights" interpretation of the Second Amendment should demonstrate that it's a legal argument the federal government is willing to make and/or uphold--as in California, where decisions at both the state Supreme Court and federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have created exactly such precedent.

If there is one constant we can demonstrate about those who would render us disarmed, it's that they will not wait around for us to suit up for the game on our terms. They will bring the fight to us at the times and places of their choosing, again and again and again.

If there's one thing we can demonstrate about battles is, every war won by we Americans required going on a totally committed offense. It's, incidentally, why we haven't won one for over 60 years.

My position? If the government at all levels intends to deny us our birthright, I want to know about it, and the sooner the better. Perhaps it will galvanize us, perhaps not, but at least we'll know the score, with no further illusions that cynical faux leaders can use to manipulate us with. Perhaps, if the change in temperature is stark enough, the frog will jump.

If not, we're screwed anyway, but in a manner that humiliates us, robs us of our dignity as men, and conditions our children for enslavement by the example we set.

This Day in History: December 30

On this day in 1803, Francis Lewis, signer of the Declaration of Independence, dies in New York City, at the age of 90.