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Chuck Otey’s Pro Bono Barrister: Does Second Amendment also guarantee the right to slaughter people at will?

June 20, 2016 By Charles F. Otey, Esq. Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Donald Trump. AP photo
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It’s been a crazy and distressing week, with the entire nation struggling, once again, to grasp a tragedy that, ironically, might not  have resulted in the deaths of so many people had the murderer not been able to obtain a veritable machine gun, capable of firing hundreds of high-velocity bullets in very few minutes.

Shielded by an incredible decision by our Supreme Court that expands the right to bear arms vastly beyond anything the Constitutional framers had in mind — and could not have conceived in their wildest imaginations — too many leaders and political figures have stood by as hundreds, including children, have been massacred by mindless assassins in just the past few years.

Stirring credulity, some, including the terminally obtuse Donald Trump, claim that the slaughter of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando might have been diminished if someone in the club had a gun. The facts now known show otherwise. In reality, there was an armed police officer at the Pulse club who tried to shoot the terrorist before so many died. But the heroic cop’s handgun was no match for the fusillade of bullets exploding from the barrel of an AR-15, a weapon designed for military use only.

In addition, if the terrorist had not been armed with such a lethal weapon, engineered for mass killings, it wouldn’t have taken three long hours for the Orlando SWAT and other law enforcement personnel to finally breach one of the building’s outer walls, kill the assassin and rescue those who hadn’t already been picked off with frightful ease by a true villain who could roam the club’s rooms practically at will.

Hillary Is ‘Likeable Enough’ to Win Anti-Gun Majority

It bears repeating that the National Rifle Association (NRA) may pose as the mouthpiece for some gun owners, but the NRA’s real masters and the true culprits are the arms manufacturers who have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the pockets

of hundreds of elected officials.

The NRA started out as a safety first manual for hunters. Since it was “purchased” by the likes of Smith & Wesson, the NRA has become a clever and deadly front for selling products that kill hundreds of people just about every day in this country.

The NRA is not a “well-regulated militia,” as those who established the “rule of law” in this country intended. It is the tool of billionaires who regard the continuing carnage simply as the cost of doing business.

Will Congress finally act? Unlikely.

And, as many of its members seek cover behind a deadly misinterpretation of the Second Amendment, the growing outrage will likely encourage a majority of Americans to elect a woman who then-Sen. Barack Obama described as “likeable enough” — former Sen. And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

 

As Outrage, Sorrow Sweep Nation, Brooklyn Law School Dean Speaks Out Against ‘Corrosive Hatred’

(Columnist’s note: In the hours following the massacre of 49 people in Orlando, Brooklyn Law School Dean Nick Allard issued the following broad appeal to students, alumni and leaders.)

“Dear friends and colleagues,

“We awake once again to vivid, painful reminders of how dangerous our world can be and how cruelly corrosive hatred can be if we allow it to overcome our better selves.

“At a moment of overwhelming sadness and understandable concern triggered by the hateful terror in Orlando, I know from so many of the messages I have already received from people in our law school community that we cannot and will not let this happen.

“I know that, united in concern and purpose, you all intend to come through the fires of hate, tempered and bonded even closer to each other, despite our differences, and to become stronger together. I know that you will not surrender to those who seek to

destroy our way of life by becoming like those who abhor us and despise the freedom, equality, justice and peace we revere and yearn for imperfectly yet ceaselessly, especially as lawyers and aspiring lawyers.

“This is a time to overwhelm hate with love, division with tolerance and despair with hopeful confidence bred by knowledge of our collective virtues and our history of selfless sacrifice to make our nation and our world a better place.

“It is a time to blind darkness with light, to comfort those who mourn, to embrace and protect those who fear, to tirelessly stand with all those among us who are disparaged, disadvantaged, persecuted and attacked either because of their faith, or their sexual,

racial, national, cultural identities or their economic circumstances.

“Moving forward together, the role of lawyers in helping people maintain and strengthen a civil, democratic and just society will be as important as it ever has been in the history of civilization. I expect, given Brooklyn Law School’s traditions of openness, diversity, equality and service, that you will be in the forefront of efforts to navigate through the myriad legal issues of

extraordinary complexity arising from the vile threats we face.

“I am reassured with the thought that availing collectively will have a hand in demonstrating the power of law to make a positive difference for people and society at home and abroad.

“Knowing how well you and our fellow Americans rise to such challenges, I can, even on this very sad day, feel optimism about our future.”

 

Steve Cohn’s ‘Night of Stars’ Draws Luminaries from Civic, Political Elite

Steve Cohn — a local legal, civic and political leader — has hosted an annual community-oriented “Night of Stars” event that is strongly attended by those in his greater Greenpoint community, as well as local and state leaders from many fields. Last Thursday night, the “stars” really came out, packing the main ballroom of Giondo’s on the Water on Kent Avenue.  

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