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>>>The law originated in a strategy by the National Rifle Association and the Bush administration to forestall further anti-gun legislation by emphasizing tougher enforcement of existing gun laws.
>>>Once they run out of serious gun crimes, they push on with technical and meritless indictments.
>>>No one should be surprised when many of those prosecuted in the name of Safe Neighborhoods are hapless gun owners who are no threat to society.
Upon initial review, this seemed like a reasonable law to enact. Now it appears, this law has gone over the line of reason and may be inflicting some seriously, excessive actions and burdens, on basically innocent people. I think a reevaluation by the Bush administartion, is in order.
B.S. As a lawyer - who both defended and prosecuted criminals for a decade, mostly in the 1990s - I can tell you that black jurors don't hesitate to convict criminals, black or otherwise.
The only "exceptions" are cases like O.J. where the guy has become an obvious "symbol of blackness." But even then, did being tried in the heavily-black Atlanta area get H. Rap Brown acquitted of shooting two officers this past year?
Racial jury nullification by black jurors may be happening in a couple of Sharptonized northeastern cities - but, to whatever extent it is, it's not much; state prisons are full of black inmates convicted largely by urban juries!
Many of the local and state groups formed independently of the NRA have warned about this for some time.
On the National Level Gunowners of America, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, Citizens of America, Right to Keep And Bear Arms etc. have also questioned this approach.
For whatever reason the NRA has more of an "inside the beltway" mentality than a pro 2nd Amendment, pro Constitution mentality.
As with so many other things, real Americans need to regain control of the NRA.
Best regards,
The affront to the Constitution was the passing of this unConstitutional garbage by Congress and Presidents who signed the laws. The only way to rid ourselves of these onerous laws is to prosecute them until the Supreme Court is forced to rule. Selective prosecution is a dangerous power to grant to the government and should be avoided. If the law is on the books, then prosecute.
This is the very valuable beginning to a process which will eventually end when judges recognize the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as the law of the land. Like Judge Cummings in the Emerson case, they need to dismiss due to violation of the Second Amendment and force the appeals courts to deal with the consequences. Failure to do this duty is a great part of why we find ourselves in the present mess.
There Goes the Neighborhood: The Bush-Ashcroft Plan to "Help" Localities Fight Gun Crime, by Gene Healy
David Holthouse article posted here:
Living in Exile -- Federal prisons are filling up with people whose only crime is gun possession
- Abraham Lincoln
