When the law breaks the law
In Tennessee, there is a law that states the local chief law enforcement must, within 15 days, sign off on paperwork for NFA weapons. There was a case in 2007 where a sheriff refused to sign this paperwork.
This is happening again. Everyone’s favorite local gun guy Leonard Embody (who took a jaunt through a park with an AK pistol, sued the state for taking his carry license, and had a Belle Meade law overturned) filled out all the paperwork and jumped through all the appropriate hoops to purchase a suppressor. But Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Long refused to give the forms law enforcement sign off. Embody is suing. He emailed me some court documents. And has posted them here. Leonard emails that the sheriff is trying to have the chancellor declare the law unconstitutional and the Attorney general is most likely in agreement due to his recent opinion on the subject. See page 19. Looks like the AG is stating that the certification is false.
Some discussion at this subguns thread, with concern that this could lead to bad case law.
This will be an interesting case to watch.
You know, despite my problems with Embody’s methodology, he’s quite effective.
October 4th, 2010 at 9:51 am
And will they go to jail for breaking the law? No.
And we wonder why politicians do things that are illegal (unconstitutional) day in and day out.
October 4th, 2010 at 10:22 am
When crazy people go all out, many times the results are astounding.
Sometimes it can backfire, too. But we’re not going to get anywhere unless we push the envelope a little. Maybe not as hard or as much as Embody, but we still need to push forward and not wait on a half bent knee for the first opportunity to compromise.
October 4th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Sometimes, you just have to say “What the fuck”.
October 4th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Embody provides me with some amusement. It is nice to see someone giving tennessee cops a rash. Talk about someone who enjoys dragging a dirty cops/politicians through the hog shit trough….. I hope he keeps it up.
October 4th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
The abolitionists were similarly effective, because they were extremists.
October 4th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
The argument that bad case law will be the result is the same argument the NRA used to try and block Heller. Sooner or later, we have to fight the fight in an offensive mode and cease with the pointless defensive rearguard action.
The time to go on the offensive is now. Where would the civil rights movement be today, if it were not for lawbreakers like Rosa Parks?
Embody is at the front of the battle lines. I applaud him for having the guts to do more than bloviate like the rest of the internet commandos.
October 4th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Another perspective is the old; “Speech that everyone agrees with requires no protection”. Only the outliers of any exercised right needs to be actively protected as the right either is or is not and those that either forego a right or choose to exercise a right as approved of by every Mrs. Grundy require no protection.
October 4th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
The AG isn’t stating the certification is false. Even Long doesn’t state that. He just states he’s under no obligation to execute and if he were under obligation execute means he can cross out whatever parts he doesn’t agree with on the document and it is executed within the law.
I just posted the answer to the complaint I got today.
October 4th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Time to get rid of some those “Boss Hogs” down in your neck of the Woods this November, ain’t it? Of course, a Class-Action Lawsuit or two from some Rich Folks down there wouldn’t hurt either.
October 4th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Long isn’t going anywhere. He is the only one running. He’s the one who helped defeat guns in parks here. Now he pulls this crap. The real problem is the Williamson County Republican party doesn’t vett applicants.
October 4th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Methinks someone might oughtta think about going to the next citizen’s academy