Posted on 07/02/2010 7:04:45 PM PDT by Nachum
Jackson County will no longer prosecute people for certain gun related offenses. The District Attorney made his statement Friday following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling earlier in the week that says gun laws should be left up to the states.
Jackson County's District Attorney Gerald Fox says it's every law-abiding American citizen's right to arm themselves for self defense," The 2nd Amendment as part of the Bill of Rights really does protect an individual American's right to keep and bare arms for defense of self, home, family and community."
(Excerpt) Read more at wkbt.com ...
Wisconsin
Bare arms? Like short-sleeve shirts?
Bear arms?
Bet the crime rate goes down in that jurisdiction.
We don’t have much crime to speak of.
I don't think the ruling said that. Quite the opposite, I think.
Probably have less, now.
What? The government can't do all that? (sarc)
That also means less salary, pension and health care liabilities saddled on the backs of productive citizens.
The writer also thinks “fool hearty” is a proper term. Score another one for the spell-checker.
More and more fewer and fewer people can spell separating out the bare from the bear-much less express themselves in a manner that makes sense.
And don’t even start on punctuation and sentence structure.
Right at the top WTF is this? Is the rest of the article worth reading?
Around this part of the country, even large numbers of Dems have guns.
For those who have trouble reading the original .pdf, here's the text:
OFFICE OF GERALD R. FOX
JACKSON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release June 29, 2010
DISTRICT ATTORNEY GERALD FOX’S STATEMENT ON THE U. S. SUPREME COURT’S DECISION IN MCDONALD v. CITY OF CHICAGO
Yesterday, in a resounding victory for all freedom-loving Americans, the United States Supreme Court confirmed that the Second Amendment’s protection of our right to keep and bear arms applies everywhere in America, and serves as a rampart against state infringement of this fundamental individual liberty. In its ruling, the Court declared that the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right, and that self-defense is at the core of the freedoms protected by the amendment. This Supreme Court ruling is binding on all states and local governments, and immediately renders some of Wisconsin’s current laws unconstitutional. Therefore, in keeping with my oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, I hereby declare that this office will no longer accept law enforcement referrals for violations of the following statutes:
Section 167.31, prohibiting uncased or loaded firearms in vehicles;
Section 941.23, prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons, including firearms;
Section 941.235, prohibiting the possession of firearms in public buildings;
Section 941.237, prohibiting the possession of firearms in establishments where alcohol may be sold or served; and,
Section 941.24, prohibiting the possession of knives that open with a button, or by gravity, or thrust, or movement.
All of these statutes constitute unjustifiable infringements on the fundamental right of every law-abiding American to arm themselves for self-defense and the defense of their loved ones, co-workers, homes and communities. This change also invalidates Jackson County Ordinance Sections 9.01 (firearms in public buildings) and 9.29 (CCW).
Prior to this historic ruling, our state Supreme Court placed the state’s interests first, and would only create an exception to these laws when the individual’s need for protection outweighed the state’s interest. In the area of concealed carry, only 2 cases have approved concealed carry, one at home, and the other one at the defendant’s personallyowned place of business. Well, as the United States Supreme Court held yesterday, that view was exactly backward.
As with the other fundamental rights, such as the freedom of speech, of religion, of association, or of security in our homes, persons, and effects, government limitations on fundamental rights are lawful only in the rare case that the state can show a compelling governmental need that can be accomplished only by enacting a narrowly-tailored restriction, in terms of time, place and manner. Clearly, a blanket prohibition against carrying your loaded firearm in your personal vehicle does not pass that test. Put it another way: Does preventing the barkeep from protecting herself when she carries the bank bag home from the tavern make sense? Not here, not anymore. That’s not an American value; it puts concern for the criminal’s welfare ahead of the barkeeper’s right to self-defense. The fact is, criminals don’t pay attention to gun laws, only we good folks do. After 15 years of criminal law practice, I can state positively that when criminals resolve to harm someone, no law will stop them. These so-called “public safety” laws only put decent law-abiding citizens at a dangerous disadvantage when it comes to their personal safety, and I for one am glad that this decades-long era of defective thinking on gun issues is over.
I will watch for the legislature to make needed corrections in these areas. In the meantime, while I am happy to declare that we will follow the Supreme Court’s ruling, I want to emphasize that with fundamental rights come grave responsibilities, and I will continue to vigorously enforce the laws against unlawfully using firearms, such as the prohibition against felons being armed; going armed while intoxicated; using a firearm to commit a crime; and endangering safety by negligent handling of a weapon, to name just a few. Only by the strictest adherence to firearm safety rules and common sense will we show that the elitists who seek to disarm all of us are wrong, and that every law abiding citizen can be trusted to protect themselves and their neighbors safely.
A copy of the Supreme Court’s decision can be found at http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf
A copy of the amicus brief joined by J.B. Van Hollen, the Attorney General of Wisconsin, can be viewed at:
http://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/briefs/pdfs/09- 10/08-1521_PetitionerAmCuStateofTexas.pdf
Let Freedom Ring.
Gerald R. Fox
If you check http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2545906/posts, you will see the link is to a thread that has at its initial posting a text copy of the full document, not the PDF. There are also a number of follow-up posts responding to the text of the document.
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