ProShooter wrote:user wrote:Moccasin wrote: But someone is going to have to be arrested and go to trial
User - are you aware of this opinion?
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/un ... .0.wpd.pdfIN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT No. 08-31197 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee v. CLARENCE PAUL DOROSAN,
Defendant – Appellant
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana USDC No. 08-CR-42-1....
Yes. I was aware of it. This is an example of really bad lawyering, in my opinion. The defendant's lawyer allowed the U.S. to frame the case, and it appears that his response was, "Yeah, but, like, the Second Amendment, y'know!". There was apparently no discussion about how the USPS as a property owner is constrained by federal statutes governing the possession of firearms in federal facilities, nor was there any discussion of the defendant's right under the statute to carry "for other lawful purposes". This is so depressing. This case basically does absolutely nothing except to let the district court put the postal patron away for some time. It is certainly not precedent here.
One thing it is likely to do is to give the prosecutors fodder for straw-man arguments in the future. That is to say, no matter what the defense
really is, they'll argue that the defendant is merely reciting the second amendment as a magical incantation. They routinely treat the Constitution as a historical artifact with no legal compulsion, and the federal judiciary accepts that.
The Second Amendment argument should have been a good one, really. The exercise of arbitrary power in the absence of adherence to controlling law is tyranny. And that's what we've got when the United States treats its charter as a mere historical artifact.