JPFO logo

JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION
OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP

America's Most Aggressive Defender
of Firearms Ownership

We recommend having
scripting enabled for
full functionality


What Happens When … The Courts Don't Care
About Your Rights?

By Richard W. Stevens

"We need to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court!"

With jaws set and fists clenched, so many gun owners want to charge forth into the courtrooms to win our right to keep and bear arms. Many Americans think that the truth is all you need to cause a court to declare our rights as the law of the land.

A group of decent California gun owners tested that idea. They challenged that state's ban on certain semi-automatic firearms, hoping the lower courts might strike down the law on Second Amendment grounds. The Second Amendment, after all, declares that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The California law doesn't merely infringe – it prohibits exercise of the right (for certain firearms).

Lower Court Losses

The Californian gun owners' case, named Silveira v. Lockyear, lost at the federal district court. They appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, and lost again, in a 2-1 split decision. The lone dissenter, Judge Alex Kozinski, blasted the majority's ruling and supported the gun owners' rights.

Determined to get their Second Amendment rights affirmed, the Californians petitioned to the U.S. Supreme Court. As is common for Supreme Court cases, several organizations filed "friend of the court" ("amicus curiae") briefs. The petition and the various amicus briefs strongly urged the Court to grant a full hearing on the issues.

JPFO Petitions The Supreme Court

In an unusual move for our organization, JPFO prepared and filed an amicus brief in the Silveira case. (Excerpts of the text are available on-line at www.jpfo.org.) JPFO's brief, penned by three excellent volunteer lawyers, informed the Supreme Court about the direct connection between citizen-disarmament and genocide/mass murder.

JPFO's main argument, backed by incontrovertible facts, raised an issue that affects the lives of millions of people. There is no backing away from the truth that "gun control" policies prepare the way for criminals, whether individuals or governments, to devastate the defenseless people.

Black Robes Duck The Truth

The Supreme Court received the evidence from JPFO, but it didn't matter much. The horrors of genocide did not move the Court even to consider the issue. Without issuing any opinion, the Court this year denied the petition. The Silveira case was never to be heard. It was over.

When a petition is denied by the Supreme Court, the minority of justices who favored granting the petition sometimes issues a statement to that effect. Justice Thomas and Justice Scalia, two reputedly "conservative" justices on the Court, did not even issue that statement for the Silveira petition. They could have noted the issues of extraordinary importance, e.g. the connection between a powerless citizenry and genocide; they said nothing.

JPFO's amicus brief delivered the information. The JPFO brief is available on-line, in full text, to lawyers who subscribe to the major legal research services, and to judges nationwide. The sobering facts and figures are there.

Yet the Supreme Court ignored the facts because the justices and their law clerks do not care about civilian defenselessness and genocide. They do not care that millions of innocents worldwide were disarmed, betrayed and slaughtered by their own governments in the 20th Century. They do not care that powerless minorities in the U.S.A. suffered terribly at the hands of the powerful. They live comfortably, oblivious to the fact that the September 11 disaster could only have taken place because all of the immediate victims were legally disarmed.

Little Hope In the Courts

So long as Americans remain ignorant of the real reasons why "gun control" schemes are evil and dangerous, we will never see the courts enforce the Second Amendment as written. The Supreme Court will never strike down any "gun control" laws until the educated elites and large segments of the people fear and detest "gun control."

Until JPFO's message becomes common knowledge, the Supreme Court, the lower courts and the legislatures will continue to ignore the crucial issues and the truth. They will act like they don't know. They will not care.

Show Our Evidence to Your Jury

So it's up to us – and up to you. If the courts won't listen, then we must take the case against "gun control" to the juries of our peers, our fellow gun owners and fellow Americans. Every time we show the documentary video, Innocents Betrayed, or circulate copies of JPFO's Death by "Gun Control" book and other freedom resources, we are advocating to the "court" that really has the power: the American People.

Get the most powerful evidence available. Join JPFO, visit the website, order the materials, and help us take this fight to the hearts and minds of America. Call (800) 869-1884 to get membership and information, or click on www.jpfo.org. The defense of our rights must never rest.

[ JPFO Home  > Common Sense]


© 1997 - 2004 JPFO < webmaster@jpfo.org >

Home  |  Commentary  |  Campaigns  |  Network  |  Books, Videos, Apparel  |  About JPFO  |  Privacy

Mirror Site: JPFO.net

All Rights Reserved 2011 JPFO

P.O. Box 270143 | Hartford, WI 53027
Phone (800) 869-1884 | Fax (425) 451-3959 | jpfo@jpfo.org