PISTOL PACKIN JUDGES

Are the lives of Judges more valuable than yours???

By de Andréa

In spite of the additional security of our courtrooms across the country, as a result of the courtroom shootings in Atlanta and Chicago approximately a year ago, judges are arming themselves on the job.

Cynthia Stevens Kent, a Texas Judge in the 114th district Court where last year a man killed his ex-wife and son, says “Texas Judges carry guns all the time now, when it comes to personal defence, one must take personal responsibility”.

The New York State Unified Court System has decided that it is ethical for a judge to carry a gun into the court room for personal protection. In Nevada, and Oklahoma, Incidents there, have prompted new rules to allow judges to bring their guns into the courtroom.

A recent shooting in the 2nd Judicial District Court in Reno Nevada Prompted U.S. Senator Harry Reid, an avid anti-gunner, to introduce legislation to increase security in both State and Federal Courthouses.

A potential disaster was averted by Judge Thomas Thornburgh a district Judge in Oklahoma, when he grabbed his gun and held a prisoner at Bay until other deputies arrived. This resulted in the Oklahoma legislature passing a law that would specifically allow Judges to carry guns in the courtroom.

This coming year the State of Kansas plans to pass legislation to permit Judges to carry guns into the courtroom.

If anyone in this country is protected, it is the President of the United States and Judges. In every courtroom there is normally a Bailiff (an armed cop) and several other cops’, including those accompanying prisoners, in the immediate area.

With all the police protection that judges have, at least while on the job, they still believe that they must be responsible for themselves and have the right to carry a gun for their own personal protection.

Now don’t misunderstand; I believe, no! I know, a judge has not only the responsibility, but the right to defend him or her self on the job or anywhere else for that matter. Police, according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, do not have any more responsibility than anybody else in protecting citizens, their responsibility lies with enforcing the law.

The problem I have with all this sudden interest in allowing judges to protect their own lives by carrying a gun on their person is when has the life of a judge become more valuable or more important than yours or mine? Moreover where in the Second Amendment does it say that only cops judges and criminals have the right to bear arms to protect themselves?

Please correct me if you think that I am wrong, but I always thought that the Bill of Rights was for the people, as the Second Amendment says …”the right of the people to keep and bear arms”… or are the people that the Constitution refers to, just special people? Senators for example, like Diane Feinstein are allowed to carry a gun on their person while they author bills to restrict or ban guns altogether from the common ordinary law abiding citizen.

If judges cannot depend on the security and the police that are all around them everyday, how can the ordinary citizen depend on the police to come to their rescue, and protect their lives when they themselves look death right in the eye?

THE BOTTOM LINE: With all my research into the intent by the architects of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights penned by George Mason of Virginia 215 years ago this month, I have found that all the documentation in the First Ten Amendments were written to protect the rights of the people and not just the rights of government people or any special elite people such as judges, police officers, senators, or even Presidents, and certainly not criminals.

No, the Second Amendment does not give the people their rights; it simply documents the inalienable rights that we have as American citizens; they are given to us, as the declaration says, by our Creator. Every law abiding citizen in America, including people who believe that they are special, as well as judges, yes and even Diane Feinstein have the right and responsibility to …”keep and bear arms”… for their own personal defence and protection. It is the law, moreover it is the same right for everyone.

de Andréa

Link to the story, Judges Packing Pistols, click on this: http://www.law.com/ By Amanda Bronstad The National Law Journal 12-7-06