When a Federal District Court Judge parrots the National Rifle Association’s arguments for why unrestricted firearm ownership is considered a “popular” right, one has to suspect said Judge is a dyed-in-the-will gun fanatic or an operative working for he NRA – or both.
On Friday a Federal District Court Judge appointed by George W. Bush struck down California’s 32 year-old ban on assault weapons. The Judge, who is apparently some kind of gun fanatic, is Roger T. Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Mr. Benitez determined that the state’s penal code defining assault weapons and restricting their use was “unconstitutional and shall be enjoined.” The idiot the gave some typical NRA reasons for why Californians need to possess battlefield weapons and frankly, made a monumental fool of himself in the process.
The judge’s ruling came on National Gun Violence Awareness Day and served as a great big F*ck You to the families and victims of gun violence on behalf of the National Rifle Association.
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The atrocious ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed in August 2019 by several gun fanatics’ groups, including the San Diego County Gun Owners Political Action Committee(PAC), California Gun Rights Foundation, Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition.
As California Governor Gavin Newsom said after the ruling:
“Today’s decision is a direct threat to public safety and the lives of innocent Californians, period. The fact that this judge compared the AR-15 — a weapon of war that’s used on the battlefield — to a Swiss Army knife completely undermines the credibility of this decision and is a slap in the face to the families who’ve lost loved ones to this weapon.”
For the record, an assault weapon this bonehead judge compares to a Swiss Army knife was used to slaughter 20 6-year old children and 6 of their teachers in Connecticut, kill 60 people and wound 411 in Las Vegas at an outdoor country music concert, murder 17 innocent people and injure 17 others at a Florida high school, and kill 49 people and wound 53 in an Orlando nightclub.
Honest to dog, no Swiss Army knife could possibly wreak so much death and destruction no matter who wielded it. Still, the judge compared a multi-use knife to a weapon created specifically to allow one person to kill large numbers of human beings in a very short span of time.
Only a dyed-in-the-wool gun fanatic or an NRA lobbyist posing as a federal judge would even think to compare a weapon created for the battlefield to a Swiss Army knife. A knife is clearly not any kind of firearm and was not created to kill large numbers of enemy combatants. If that was the case, then the military and federal law enforcement agencies would be issuing Swiss Army knives to soldiers and police officers; and no small number of victims of mass shootings would be alive today.
Obviously, using a Swiss Army knife in a war zone against an enemy with real weapons of war would mean our brave soldiers would be slaughtered on the battlefield. But they aren’t because they go into a battle with weapons of war, not Swiss Army knives.
The judge also claimed that California’s ban on assault weapons is wrong because battlefield assault weapons “are popular” among gun fanatics; a cult-like special interest group enriching the gun industry for the National Rifle Association and Republican politicians.
If the judge is willing to strike down a law based on popularity, then he should strike down laws against robbery and theft – because nothing is as popular as free money, free groceries, free furniture, free gasoline, and free cars.
However, if the judge was referring solely to just what’s popular with special interest groups, then he should get busy and strike down drug laws because heroin, methamphetamines, cocaine and all manner of opioids are extremely popular among drug addicts. He could justify legalizing those hard drugs by comparing them with potato chips, or oatmeal cookies.
Also, among white supremacists and many people in the Deep South, slavery is a very popular notion, and it is in the Christian Bible. And speaking of popular subjects embraced by evangelical groups, one wonders if the judge will allow bible-thumping evangelicals to proceed with an extremely popular notion they heard existed somewhere in the ancient Jewish mythos – murdering members of the LGBTQ community.
The judge, and it is a title he does not warrant, also said that because other states allow possession of battlefield weapons, California has to as well. That is like a parent acquiescing to a 12-year old’s assertion that they should have free access to all the whiskey they want because one of their friend’s parents allow it.
This ruling is a mockery of common sense as much as it is a threat to public safety. And, in light of recent comments by Matt Gaetz that the 2nd Amendment exists for rebellion against the government, one is suspect that this gun-loving judge believes Gaetz is right.
There is nothing good in this horrible ruling except that the NRA and gun fanatics will have to wait 30 days for California officials to appeal the decision before they can arm themselves for battle in California communities. And with security officials warning daily that the threat of violence from angry Trump acolytes, the people of California should prepare for the same mass bloodshed that Florida, Connecticut and Nevada experienced because those states allow gun fanatics easy access to weapons of war.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
