Members of the legislative and judiciary system don’t always share the views of their constituents. In fact, it’s probably safe to say these days that it’s a rare occurrence for people in government to accurately represent the views the citizens they supposedly serve.
At least that’s certainly the case in Missouri, where a gang of anti-gun “activists judges” just issued a ruling that stands in direct opposition to the Second Amendment and the opinions of the good people of their state.
Freedom Center of Missouri has the details:
Missouri Supreme Court Defies Voters, Rules Amendment 5 “Worked No Substantial Change” in Missouri Constitution
Mexico, Missouri—By a 5-2 margin, a majority of the Missouri Supreme Court’s judges have effectively nullified a state constitutional amendment approved by more than sixty percent of voters in 2014. Amendment 5, as the measure was known, made major textual changes to Article I, section 23 of the Missouri Constitution and was designed to establish the most stringent constitutional protections possible for citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms. But in a trio of opinions authored by Judge Laura Denvir Stith and handed down today that reject decades of rulings about how courts must interpret changes to legal provisions, the Missouri Supreme Court has concluded that the amendment “worked no substantial change in Article I, section 23.”
Judges Mary Russell, Paul Wilson, Zel Fischer, and Chief Justice Patricia Breckenridge each joined the majority opinion.
“The words of the Missouri Constitution are the most essential, most fundamental tool the people have to define—and limit—the powers of their government,” said Dave Roland, director of litigation for the Freedom Center of Missouri, who argued one of the three cases before the Missouri Supreme Court. “The people used the most powerful language available to them to demand protection for their rights to defend themselves using firearms; the majority opinion openly defies the people’s authority to protect this right or any other constitutional right.”
In a stinging dissent, Judge Richard Teitelman highlighted the flaws in the majority’s logic, saying, “The principal opinion asserts ‘context matters’ when courts apply strict scrutiny. If context matters, then this Court should consider the fact that the list of nonviolent and impersonal regulatory offenses is a long one and it grows every year. … [The felon-in-possession statute] strips the delinquent taxpayer of his or her constitutional rights on the same terms as a murderer. I fail to see how restricting the constitutional rights of those who bet on horse races or divulge the names and addresses of donors to a state-established trust fund is narrowly tailored to the prevention of gun violence.”
If members of our government are willing to blatantly defy the express wishes of the voters, then who knows what they’re ultimately capable of?
Give us your thoughts in the comments.
I’m not a constitutional scholar but is not the second amendment designed to defend against hostile government?
Dear Mike, you are one hundred percent, irrefutably correct. The origin of the second amendment was our use of arms, including artillery, to free ourselves from the tyranny of King George III. I’m no scholar either, but I feel pushed to read comments by James Madison, George Washington, John Jay, Joseph Story, and others, to help me better understand the basic principals that are the foundation of the United States. It seems that too many of those in power do not want to be restricted by these principals and the U.S. Constitution and other constitutions based on these principals. John Jay wrote, that in this country, the people are sovereign, not government. Joseph Story, in a commentary he wrote on the Constitution, I think about 1833, referred to the second amendment’s primary purpose in a blunt, in your face manner, that it is for self protection, protection of others, and protection against “tyrannical government” (his term).
“interpret the law”- what the hell’s so hard about the 2nd amendment?
You are correct. And there is one other point i’d like to make. Any violation of the Constitution is therefore unconstitutional and there is absolutely no requirement to follow it plus if an individual were to do so he or she would be violating the Constitution as well.
Ron, we have seen a number of laws being passed in the last few years that totally violate the Constitution, and this continues to take place … like a virulent disease … I would take your comments one step further, simply do not obay any law that violates the intentions of our Founding Father’s and our Constitution.
REVOLUTION will be the SOLUTION to save what iota is left of this dying Republic; Iit was needed to start this nation and it will be needed to save it and to think otherwise is to be a fool, an enslaved fool at that! Armr====================================?, you will be needing them – guaranteed!
Sounds like Missouri folks have some MAJOR house cleaning to do!
It sounds to me like Missouri Judges are the rule rather than exception; Always ready to make new gun laws, before they’ve even interpreted the ones already on the books. “When there is no vision the people perish.”
I know nothing about the wording of the Missouri Constitution – but, some other state constitutions have provisions to recall their judges. It sounds as if this would be a good time to check into that possibility.
Good Luck. Just don’t let it go unchallenged!
I lived in St. Louis county for five years between 1974 and 1979. I’m glad I don’t live there anymore.
This will become nation wide if we as citizens allow it
How can a gang of dumb-ass judges defy the U. S. Constitution’s Second Amendment provisions after the general populace has approved it?
They will probably be overturned on appeal if there is one.
Judges are connected to government and the government does not believe in the Constitution it only believes in more government
Why do the people of some of the United States allow their judges and lawmakers to violate their Constitutional Rights, especially when it comes to the Second Amendment! The States of New Jersey, New York and California are primary examples, New Jersey being at the top of the list of offenders! It just doesn’t make any sense that the people of those states would be so willing to allow their elected officials to violate their God given right to be able to protect themselves and their families against hard core criminals! The criminals will never follow the letter of the law, so those citizens who reside in those gun control states are allowing a few gun control legislators to utterly set them up for a sentence of death, rape and robbery without the ability to defend themselves in any emergency! I am so glad that I live in Arizona where our legislators are trying to pass laws that are more advantagious to the law abiding citizens than the criminals! PROOF that our state is doing the right things is our lower than average crime rate instead of the out of control crime rates that the gun control states are suffering!
Can you say, “Revolution?”
When a government gets to be King and Queen It’s people it’s time to take up arms and get rid of monarchy. This exactly why we have our second Amendment. And dispose of such government, we the people are the rulers of our fate. That’s why this country was named America not big England. We have built a country better then and other country in the world, if these judge’s and government want what’s in England then let’s force them to move to England.
I think it’s about time that we the people push our representitives to pass legislation that says ” any elected official at the federal, state, or city level who decides to stand against any word in the constitution SHALL be forced from the office that they took the oath to we the people to uphold”!
Obviously, a law which restricts the liberty of the innocent because of the behavior of the guilty, that rests on principle that the conduct of criminals dictates the scope of liberty the law will allow to the rest of society, in no sense “fights” crime.It is, instead, a capitulation to crime, born of a society in full-bore retreat from crime, a society fearful of and desperately accommodating itself to crime.” Missouri’s citizens need to get those assholes out of office.
Well when the French Style Revolution occurs in this Country from people believing they can unilaterally rewrite the Constitution of the United States and they are escorted to Madame Guillotine, I hope they don’t kick and scream too much because certainly they don’t believe we are going to allow them to get away with that.
I live in missouri and we need to get rid if these assholes in the missouri supreme Court. I don’t give a shit what they say I will have weapons and the only way they will take my rights to bear arms is to pry my weapons from my cold dead hands
Unfortunately, 50+ years of an education system that teaches everything but the founding principles of the Constitution have had this effect; the majority of people who have gone through higher education have no respect for the Constitution, nor for the protections it provides to us citizens.
This nation was founded upon the idea of freedom based in the principle of a government that is limited by what the people governed believe is right and correct. However, we now see that those who are taking the places of responsibility in our government offices and in our courts are not of this opinion at all. They believe that they no better than the people they are asked to govern, to serve, and that they people are for the most part ignorant fools, who do not have the sense to get out of the rain.
This attitude pisses me off! We have minds, we have beliefs, we have faith in a system in which we were taught to trust, that it would represent us with fairness and honesty. This is not the case any more. These justices have betrayed our trust, and do not deserve our respect. They are not worthy of their office and have betrayed their oath of office.
I believe that things will only get worse, because our children are no longer ours to teach and train, as they have been declared wards of the State, and we don’t have a say in what they are taught. As it is written in the Bible, “teach a child in the way he should go, and when he is an adult he will not depart from it, (that way.)
We are the victims of a great social experiment, and the results we see now.
I wonder what sort of protection detail these idiot judges have surrounding them to keep them and their
families safe from harm. If they do have a protection detail paid for by the TAX Payers of Missouri I would
suggest that it be cancelled immediately and they not be given any TAX payer funded protection. Let them
pay for it out of their own monies at their own expense. Wonder how long they would continue with their
moronic abuse of the United States Constitution and the will of the People of Missouri? I suspect that
a recall motion might arise very soon. I lived in Missouri for 7 years while in the USAF and ever person
I knew there enjoyed the Fantastic public land available for Hunting, Fishing and out door activities.
Sound like it’s time to recall some commie judges. One Stith is more like the Sith in Star Wars which believes in totalitarianism. All these clowns need to be reminded that “shall not be infringed” means that you or anyone can stop the right of the people to keep and bear arms. I wonder how many of these antigun nitwits actually know that they are why the 2nd amendment was put in place.
A Country Founded by Geniuses but Run by Idiots! AND TYRANTS AND BUREAUCRAPS!!!
If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for entering and remaining in the country illegally — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or to take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If you MUST show your identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book and rent a video, but not to vote for who runs the government — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If the government wants to prevent stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds, but gives twenty F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If, in the nation’s largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not one 24-ounce soda, because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If an 80-year-old woman or a three-year-old girl who is confined to a wheelchair can be strip-searched by the TSA at the airport, but a woman in a burka or a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If a seven-year-old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is “cute,” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government regulation and intrusion, while not working is rewarded with Food Stamps, WIC checks, Medicaid benefits, subsidized housing, and free cell phones — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If the government’s plan for getting people back to work is to provide incentives for not working, by granting 99 weeks of unemployment checks, without any requirement to prove that gainful employment was diligently sought, but couldn’t be found — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big-screen TV, while your neighbor buys iPhones, time shares, a wall-sized do-it-all plasma screen TV and new cars, and the government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If being stripped of your Constitutional right to defend yourself makes you more “safe” according to the government — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If the media panders to your openly socialist leader while the IRS targets groups with dissenting views— you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If your government ‘cracks down’ on legal gun sales to law abiding citizens while secretly supplying illegal guns to Mexican drug cartels— you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
If your local government (Chicago) outlawed gun ownership for ‘the safety of its citizens’ and now boasts the worst murder rate in the country — you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.
What a country!
How about we give God a reason to continue blessing America?
This was borrowed from another blog, authors unknown, please spread it far and wide!
RECALL , RECALL , RECALL ## USE IT DAM IT ## YOU ARE LOSING YOUR COUNTRY & FREEDOM & YOU WAVE BY BY ## THE DUMBEST PEOPLE ON THE PLANET AMERICANS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If someone killed anyone against our 2 amendment right and I was on jury duty. I would say innocent. I got your back.
The Battle of Athens Tenn 1946
It would be great if citizen Americans today had the keys to the armory as in this film of reality. This brings t mind the British with orders to confiscating the arms and armory back in the day of Concord Lexington when men were men with a belief to defend and die for. on our soil.
Speaking of stupidity, and absurdity, and all like that there, this here low-life peasant would like to remind Their Exalted Honors that the motto of the state is, “Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto”, which, in case they really didn’t go to law school and learn a little Latin, means, “The Welfare of The People Shall Be the Supreme Law” Not that I want to confuse them with facts, and liberty, and all that irrelevant stuff………
There seems to be a missing component in all this. Any violation of the Constitution is in itself unconstitutional and therefore not required to be followed. In addition if anyone were to willfully pursue this violation, that person would also be committing an unconstitutional act and subject to being charged with treason. This treason is an act of committing war against the Constitution and WE THE PEOPLE.
Most judges today do not interpret the law but use their own personal opinions to decide cases. Those judges should be removed from office. What is the use of having a judge if they are biased against the laws of the land?
The state of Missouri Supreme Court are elected judges. They are not lifetime members of the Supreme Court. Vote them out during their next election cycle.
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