IN STEUBEN COUNTY, NY
by Montgomery Blair Sibley, blogging at Amo Probos, ©2019
(Aug. 23, 2019) — In conjunction with my recently-filed Federal Lawsuit in which I challenged New York’s criminalization of handgun possession in the home in clear violation of the Second Amendment, I have filed a New York State Article 78 lawsuit under New York’s Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) challenging New York’s procedure for granting pistol permits.
In my Article 78 Lawsuit, I sought a “complete copy of records or portions thereof pertaining to all Pistol/Revolver License applications and Pistol/Revolver License files for each person granted or denied a Pistol/Revolver License in Steuben County for the years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.” In response, the Records Access Officer for Steuben County claimed that she was prohibited from releasing that information under New York Penal Law §400(5)(b).
Of course Steuben County must follow the law as written and deny my request. I understand, it is not for the administrative/executive branch to declare a statute unconstitutional which is what I am arguing. My point: Albany has created a secret, extrajudicial, Red Flag system to deny New Yorkers the right to possess handguns in their homes as secured by the Second Amendment. That system secrets pistol permit applications and determinations from public view. By hiding the “why” who is getting ‒ and who is not getting pistol permits ‒ Albany can and is treating persons seeking a pistol permit who are similarly situated differently. That allows for the arbitrary and discriminatory granting of pistol permits and thus violates Equal Protection guarantees.
The Honorable Judge Robert B. Wiggins has issued an Order to Show Cause in which he set a hearing on my Article 78 Lawsuit for September 9, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. at the Steuben County Courthouse, 3 E. Pulteney Square, Bath, N.Y. 14810.
Here’s my redundantly posted comment on the Second Amendment, part of the unalienable Bill of Rights. Those individuals that are tired of reading the same old hash, pardon my rubber stamp comment and welcome new readers who believe that my opinion is the elephant in the living room that everyone is ignoring.
To wit:
When framing the U.S. Constitution our Founding Fathers did not mince words, use needless phrases, nor leave doubt in the mind of the reader. The Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” One sentence formed by the Founding Fathers that is plain and simple to understand, except for Liberal Loons and RINOs.
The Second Amendment has no ‘exception’ clauses, phrases, nor sentences.
Many pro and con debaters imply that the Second Amendment grants authority to keep and bear arms. Not so. The Second Amendment does not GRANT the citizens of the U.S. the right to keep and bear ‘arms’. The Second Amendment commands lawmakers not to make ANY laws banning or restricting the God-given right to keep and bear any ’arms’. I.E. Our Founding Fathers had the God-given right to keep and bear arms before the Bill of Rights was signed and approved.
All ‘arms’ laws directed at non-incarcerated U.S. citizens, including the laws requiring the need to be licensed to ‘carry’, are unConstitutional.
When the Department of Justice starts prosecuting lawmaking politicians at all levels of government that make ANY laws that ‘infringe’ on our God-given right to keep and bear arms of any type, that’s the day that the Second Amendment will be understood.
The Second Amendment was not included in the Bill of Rights to make sure you had a weapon for buck season, but to make sure that citizens can protect themselves from tyrannical Kamala Harris types in the government by making it illegal to make laws contrary to our God-given rights. Focus on prosecuting lawmakers (aka politicians), not U.S. citizens, when it comes to the Second Amendment violations.
We need more District Attorneys to empanel Grand Juries to indict politicians that violate the Second Amendment.