On the Surface it Looks Good: Or Who is the Ultimate Authority?

The story of the rich young ruler is an episode in the life of Christ.  The rich young ruler comes to Jesus to ask what he might lack in order to receive eternal life, since he had kept all the commandments from his youth.  Jesus’ response is to go and sell all he has and give to the poor.  The point being that the young man, even though he had kept all commandments, was short on one key ingredient that was a heart issue in which he held his riches just a little closer to his heart than his concern for the things of God.

While our Illinois sheriffs have made huge steps in the right direction, in my opinion they lack one key ingredient.  It has to do with the recent statement of the Illinois sheriff’s association: 

“Rule of Law. Sheriffs recognize the rule of law in the United States in which the Supreme Court and lower courts are the ultimate authority in determining the constitutionality of any law.”

Samuel Whittemore, Patriot…

The research is easy on this Patriot.  Just Google his name and “Patriot” and it will come up.  The man was 80 years old when April 19, 1776 rolled around.  He might have heard the “shot heard ‘round the world.”  He was out working in his field as he heard the early shots of the American Revolution begin.  As the story goes he hustled into his house retrieved his musket and two dueling pistols that he acquired in the heat of an earlier battle at the young age of 64, and a sword.

Justice and the pit bulls…

Recently it is reported that a man came to the aid of a child who was being attacked by 3 pit bull dogs.  The man ran back into his house and retrieved a hand gun that he kept in his home.  The man shot one of the dogs, in the mean time an officer who heard the commotion responded and shot and killed the other two dogs.

We would be perfectly logical to assume that as additional officers arrived on the scene that the injured child would be the first concern of the additional officers who arrived a few moments later.  We could assume that as they gathered the information about what just happened that the officers on the scene would be congratulating and thanking the citizen for valiantly coming to the aid of a child.  We could further presume that the citizen would be nominated for a humanitarian award for his efforts at saving a child from further maiming and possibly death.

When sufferings become insufferable…

The Declaration of Independence states that, “…all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms [of government] to which they are accustomed…”  This phrase has intrigued me for many years.  I always wondered just where that point is reached within the frame work of a free People when they say, “The sufferings are no longer sufferable.”

30 Round Mags...

I have been asked my opinion on the necessity of keeping 30 rounds magazines for guns.  To quote some comments: “The only reason for 30 round mag is to kill people – why should the government allow those?”  “What possible sporting use is a 30 round mag?”  And so it goes that it would appear to the average person that there is really no necessity for these large capacity mags, except to kill people.

So it is time to get down to the cold hard unpleasant facts that no one really wants to think about or consider.  The true purpose of the Second Amendment is not to preserve sporting purposes, or to make a better target shooter, or to hunt much of anything in the wild kingdom.  The true purpose is as check on, as last resort against, a government that has gone completely outside its boundaries. 

The Will to Resist...

In the Old Testament the Israelites had just crossed the Red Sea in a miraculous event.  Water came from the rock and many other numerous miracles had occurred.  However when they came to the banks of the Jordan and saw the giants and scary people on the other side of the river their hearts were faint and they pulled back from taking the Promised Land.  I maintain they had what I call the "slave mentality."

These folks had just come from many years of slavery and bowing and scraping and learning obedience from the time they were born.  The will to "resist" had been trained out of them.  In fact they were trained to be obedient to apparent authority just because the authority was clothed in the trappings of legality.

Hmmm.... It's beginning to look like the Chicago Machine is getting fully ready to battle the People in an attempt steal more Liberty.   The Machine is getting nervous that Illinois may have a measure of Liberty if they don't get everyone hyped up to steal everyone's guns by passing more unconstitutional laws.  It would appear that the plan as usual is to pass the unconstitutional law anyway then let "whoever" take it through the courts over the years it takes to fight this type battle; meanwhile there is an illegal law on the books that is being enforced, at least until it is struck down again.  Then they simply revise and pass again.

Well they have the number of days you see below to get it done.  Let's hope that it will get confounded by the pro-liberty legislators that are coming in.  Will they be enough?  We will see...  In the mean time continue on all other fronts.  Buy ammo and guns as the budget allows...

Furious...

In the past week my feelings have ranged from euphoria to fury.  Euphoria because a court has finally declared the complete ban of public carry of firearms by Illinois to be unconstitutional; fury at a government who would render citizens helpless against a broken rabid dog who takes his sickness out on young children and helpless teachers and staff at a school.

I am no more “mad” at a sick broken person than I would be against a rabid dog.  I am mad at the government who would prevent me or any other responsible adults from carrying protection against the danger.  I am mad at a system of officials who would continue to deny their oath to uphold the Constitution and its people and support a Chicago Machine government agenda to keep the People disarmed. 

It makes me furious that in the high school my children attend we have some willing staff that are unable to carry weapons which they have been trained to use responsibly that could defend my kids against rabid broken crazy people, yet they are not allowed perform that function.

The Might of the State Does Not Make Right

In a truly free country, such as ours has been, the government gains its power from the consent of the governed.  The governed is We the People.  When the People have made it clear that there are laws that get no respect from the People and further they are unconstitutional then it is time for the law to go.  In the case of Illinois we have a number of those laws, especially the gun laws. 

Now there are several ways to make these laws go away, or at least have their effect neutralized.  Let’s take a look at some of the ways.  They can be repealed by the legislature.  That isn’t going to happen anytime soon because the Chicago Machine rules with no consideration for the Constitution.  Another way is for State’s Attorneys and law enforcement officials to refuse to enforce unconstitutional law.  A third way is for sitting juries to refuse to convict when in their opinion they feel the law is not good.

Take a Stand!

Amazing!  There are some individuals in government who will take a stand from time to time.  It takes a tremendous amount of courage to stand in the face the status quo and choose to say, “I will not enforce unconstitutional law against otherwise law abiding citizens.”  This is what State’sAttorneys (SA) Ron Dozier from McLean County, and Mike Valentine,Edwards, County, Illinois, have chosen to do (Press Release).  

Dozier clearly stated that,

"Every SA is expected to prosecute persons who violate the criminal laws of the State of Illinois within his or her jurisdiction. However, there are literally thousands of criminal laws on the books, ranging in seriousness from extremely minor to extremely serious. Because of both budgetary and time limits, every SA must set priorities on which cases to prosecute and which to not prosecute. The pursuit of a just result and the wise use of taxpayer dollars are major factors in setting those priorities."

He also quoted: 

“The duty of a public prosecutor is to seek justice, not merely to convict.” [Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.8. See also Berger v. U.S., 295 U.S. 78, 55 S.C. 629, U.S. Supreme Court, 1935]

and,

“The SA is not merely a ministerial officer but is vested with a large measure of discretion. In the exercise of that discretion, he has the responsibility of determining what offense should be charged.” [Marcisz v. Marcisz, 65 Ill.2d 206, Illinois Supreme Court, 1976]

The Chicago Machine continues to stick its finger in the face of the Supreme Court and continues to rule Illinois with an Iron Fist against the wishes and rights of most Illinoisans.  The elected State officials have the choice as to whether they are going to enforce these blatantly unconstitutional laws.  Mr. Dozier's comment was, "So far, the City of Chicago and the State have done everything possible to defy, obfuscate and ignore the Court’s substantive rulings."

As I have quoted many times, "... the right of the People to Keep and Bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED."  Need any more be said than that?  It is time to confront present office holders and those running for office and ask them, “what part of SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED do you not understand?  Are you going to support these words on their face as intended by the Founders, and as made clear by the highest court in the land?”

Mr. Dozier also implied that cases will always require specific review on a case by case basis, but that otherwise law abiding citizens will not be prosecuted.  Another statement that is particularly poignant, "We are the only State to have a draconian FOID law that makes criminals out of ordinary citizens who have done nothing wrong except exercise their constitutional right to own a gun."

Dozier goes on to make it clear that, "Our message is this: we will no longer use the power and authority of our office to criminalize and punish decent, otherwise law-abiding citizens who choose to exercise the rights granted to them by the Second Amendment of the United States’ Constitution to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and their families." [Emphasis in original]

He encourages other SAs to join with him in returning our state to founding principles.  I personally applaud his effort.  It is time that We the People remove ‘offending’ (nice term) SAs across this state from their offices and replace them with people who realize their oath of office is to first and foremost, to uphold the constitutions of the United States and Illinois and to provide a frame work for justice, not just convictions.

These men and women and can help to bring justice to Illinois by neutering the Chicago Machine as they try to rule from their high rise ivory towers.  One article stated that Chicago, even with its draconian gun laws, now has the dubious distinction of being the “Murder Capital” of the world.  The Huffington Post had a recent article claiming that Chicago homicides outnumber troop killings in Afghanistan.  All these numerous gun laws have done is cause the law abiding citizen to be helpless sheep with the wolves preying on the flock.  The nice thing about it, if you are a ruler you can take training and carry.  The rulers definitely have it figured out!

So my solution is to ask the not so hard questions;

1. Will you join with other SAs and not prosecute otherwise law abiding citizens for gun laws which defy the constitution, such as FOID and carrying in public?
2. Will you go on record with your answers?

That shouldn’t take too much courage, after all someone else is already leading the way, all the other SAs have to do is get on board the train and win by sheer numbers.  That does not stop them from evaluating on a case by case basis, but at least it shows you will take a stand and that your heart is in the right place.

If you would like to correspond with me on this contact me at: editorial@pike912.org or leave a message at 217-285-2134, or follow my blog at: pike912.blogspot.com.

Benevolence or Malevolence

Dan A. Mefford, D.C.

As I write this piece I know not the outcome of the election or whether the People of Pike have decided in favor of including a small part of the Bill of Rights in our County legal code. It is my firm prayer the People decided in favor of individual Liberty, Freedom, and Self-reliance as opposed to dependency on government. It is also my sincere prayer that those in authority will recognize, regardless of passage of Constitutional Carry at the local level, that the Right exists, not because we passed it or didn’t pass it, but because we are endowed by our Creator at birth with certain unalienable rights, and among these is the right to keep and bear arms, no matter what the Chicago Machine and their henchmen say.

We need to teach our children the true number one function of government, which is, “to secure these rights.”-- the rights to Life, Liberty, and Property among so many others. It is so easy for a well meaning government to get into the “necessity” of protecting us from every supposed “evil” or “danger” that comes along that it loses track of its true function, which is, to secure our rights. That includes the right to make wrong choices - choices of eating the Politically Incorrect foods, using too much salt, gambling, ingesting politically incorrect things after achieving adulthood.

Choices are, in my opinion, the very essence of Liberty. How many choices did the Massa give a slave? The very essence of slavery is the requirement to ask permission in the exercise of any fundamental right. Did any slave you ever heard of have a right, at least according the Massa, to travel, to speak, to READ, to publish, petition for redress of grievances, to free assembly, to keep and bear armament in defense of himself or his family?

I may get some of my fellow Christians mad at me, but the truth is that our Lord and Savior allows his children to make wrong choices. He also allows the consequences of those choices to be visited on the ones who made the wrong choices at times. Unfortunately, their families and friends may suffer along with them as well. There is no way that government can make all things equal! Life just ‘ain’t’ fair that way. If you pass so many rules to try to even it all out then you are back to a tyrannical government and that just ‘ain’t’ fair either. Remember, it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.

Dear Government, I thank you for thinking of my safety etc. but for now, treat me with benign neglect. I promise not to intentionally harm my neighbor; in fact I might even try to do something good for him once in a while, if he doesn’t mind. Regards, Dan A. Mefford, D.C.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license.