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That seems to be the charge. It NEVER should have gone this far.

In an 18-page opinion, Judge Bellis engaged in what Justice Antonin Scalia would have called an embarrassing “bit of interpretive jiggery-pokery” in order to get out of doing what the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act compels her to do — dismiss this lawsuit.

Bellis spends page after page arguing legal semantics over the motion to dismiss; whether it was the appropriate motion for raising a lack of subject matter jurisdiction; if it properly questioned “the legal sufficiency” of the plaintiffs’ claims; or whether the defendants should have filed a motion to strike as opposed to a motion to dismiss (no really).

This is the worst kind of legal gymnastics and pettifoggery intended to try to justify what Bellis does at the end of her opinions — refuse to grant the motion to dismiss (or strike or whatever). This despite the fact that federal law could not be more clear — such claims against gun manufacturers “may not be brought in any Federal or State court.” Period.

Bellis wrote an opinion clearly designed to get to the end that I am sure the local families — who are entitled to a great deal of sympathy — want, which is the ability to go after the deep pockets of gun makers who manufacture and sell a product owned by many Americans, and a product they have a constitutional right to own. By doing so, the judge is basically showing her contempt for the rule of law and for the U.S. Constitution, which makes it clear in Article VI that laws passed by Congress such as the PLCA are “the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State [including Judge Bellis] shall be bound thereby.”