NRA Attorney: ?YOUR HONOR, WE ARE HERE WANTING TO REGISTER HANDGUNS.?

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.infowars.com/print/2nd/nra_reg.htm


KeepandBearArms.com

(original link: http://keepandbeararms.com/information/Item.asp?ID=3619)
10/13/03

NRA Attorney:
?YOUR HONOR, WE ARE HERE WANTING TO REGISTER HANDGUNS.?


by Angel Shamaya

October 13, 2003

KeepAndBearArms.com -- NRA attorney Stephen Halbrook appears not only unprepared to effectively argue a Second Amendment case, but ready to give up the farm ? to register handguns and call it ?reasonable? ? when he gets his day in court. Read the annotated transcript of Mr. Halbrook's oral arguments from court just last week:

D.C. SECOND AMENDMENT FEDERAL COURT HEARING
Annotated Transcript of NRA Case Proceedings
by Roy Lucas
http://KeepAndBearArms.com/Silveira/Halbrook.asp

Here is a short excerpt from Mr. Halbrook's oral arguments last Wednesday, October 8, in a case the NRA calls a ?Second Amendment? lawsuit:

THE COURT: THE GOVERNMENT CAN PUT RESTRICTIONS ON THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS.
MR. HALBROOK: YOUR HONOR, WE ARE HERE WANTING TO REGISTER HANDGUNS. WE ARE NOT HERE WANTING UNRESTRICTED ACCESS. WE'RE NOT HERE ASKING TO CARRY THEM, OTHER THAN IN THE HOME.

THE COURT: YOU'RE SAYING THAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN IMPOSE REASONABLE RESTRICTIONS?

MR. HALBROOK: YES, YOUR HONOR. YES, YOUR HONOR.

[See: http://KeepAndBearArms.com/Silveira/Halbrook.asp for the full transcript, with annotations.]


Sarah Brady wants to register handguns, too. Maybe Mr. Halbrook should join her organization to help in their efforts. When you read the full, annotated transcript, the above will be one of many concerns raised.

Arguing a so-called ?Second Amendment case? while ?wanting to register handguns? is working directly against the rights of those who would never submit to such restrictions under any circumstances. Stephen Halbrook is an NRA-paid attorney, and he filed this lawsuit with their support.

Would Thomas Jefferson or James Madison have gone to court to fight a Second Amendment case merely wanting to register handguns in the home? Of course not. Would they have argued for handgun registration in the middle of a court hearing in which they eagerly agreed that the government can impose ?reasonable restrictions?? Not a chance. Doing so suggests that such an overt infringement on our Second Amendment rights is ?reasonable,? when it most certainly is not. Treasonable, perhaps...

You do not have to register your Bible, or your computer (First Amendment), so why should you register your firearms (Second Amendment)? Answer: you shouldn't. But NRA Management and their unprepared attorney obviously disagree ? and they are using members' donations to do just that. Handgun registration is NRA's idea of leading a Second Amendment court challenge. Yet they've been in operation since the late 1800's and have raised billions of dollars to ?protect the Second Amendment.?

Americans must realize that NRA management's ?defense? of Second Amendment rights in court litigation is destructive. Fortunately, the current Second Amendment lawsuit most likely to be heard by the Supreme Court ? Silveira v. Lockyer ? is beyond NRA management's control.

The Supreme Court is very likely to grant a hearing in the Silveira case soon. And thanks to careful legal research spanning the last year, the case is far better prepared than any Second Amendment litigation the National Rifle Association has ever brought in court ? with already-greater judicial success for the Second Amendment than the NRA's well-paid lawyers have ever managed.

Read the certiorari petition now being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in that case. The arguments for strict scrutiny far surpass what NRA's attorney weakly suggested to the judge last week: http://KeepAndBearArms.com/Silveira/cert.pdf

Mr. Halbrook should study the Silveira petition. He could learn a thing or two and certainly improve his arguments by doing so.

Three weeks ago, the Silveira lawsuit was attacked (and misrepresented) by an NRA-funded writer on a well-trafficked website. He told the world that NRA's Stephen Halbrook was the man to send to the Supreme Court to win a Second Amendment victory. Perhaps these gentlemen have a different idea of victory than we do.

With the help of grassroots activists, KeepAndBearArms.com is funding the necessary legal research and writing being used in the Silveira lawsuit (and another Second Amendment lawsuit, to be announced soon). More work is necessary, and it costs money to get it done. We've publicly displayed our books on funds raised and invested bolstering the case. If you'd like to help, please do by clicking here.

Silveira v. Lockyer Status of Fundraising
http://KeepAndBearArms.com/Silveira/funds_status.asp

Silveira Second Amendment Case Needs Immediate Financial Support, and Here's Why
http://KeepAndBearArms.com/Silveira/fundshelp.asp

Silveira v. Lockyer Home Page
http://KeepAndBearArms.com/Silveira/

[BLUEHAWK]

When to "keep and bear arms" is associated, as it must finally one day again be, with the maintaining of militia, then will America have returned to first principles. Not until.