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Written by Don B. Kates
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Thursday, 08 April 2010 12:59 |
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Alan Korwin (author of Gun Laws of America) publishes The books on gun law from his Bloomfield Press. He has rcently written the following to someone who wanted to go off half-cocked challenging a gun law in court:
It's a VERY bad idea to up and "test" a law on your own. That's the way horrific precedents are made. You need legal geniuses behind the effort, hundreds of possibilities and ramifications considered, and the PERFECT test case structured so it can be won. No amount of personal frustration is sufficient justification for a "wildcat" I'm-gonna-test-this-fool-law-and-right-the-world badly played game.
Find enough of the right people to back the plan FIRST, bankroll the effort, structure the test case, then go, I'm all for it. Oh, I'm sorry, that's hard? That's a lot of work? You don't know if you can or how to do that? You don't have a clue who the right people are? You just want to run with the football? Tough. Better to find your brain before you step in the quicksand and drag us all down with you. Otherwise, the chances that you'll doom everyone to a bad decision, in the wrong court, with dire consequences, well, you'll say I wish I knew then what I know now.
It doesn't matter how bad or unconstitutional you think a law is, what matters is if you can win in court. If you want to win on this point that's bugging you, assemble your team, hammer out strategies, raise the money, let all the gun-rights players know what you're up to, and go after it. Ask Larry Pratt about Ken Rineer's case.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 08 April 2010 13:00 |
Comments
While I sometimes get frustrated with seemingly over-cautious, under-aggressive lawyer types, the record shows that there are a few who know how to build a winning case and a whole lot who don't. I'll keep urging those few on to bigger and better challenges and continue discouraging the "Second Amendment Martyrs."
I have come to understand that lawyers and courts operate in a totally different dimension where right and wrong, common sense, and even the rule of law really have very little to do with their activities. I say leave that realm to its chosen inhabitants and keep hammering at the political side where we at least have a vote.
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