Second Term - A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 1) (25 page)

FOR PUBLICATION

BY THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE UNITED STATES

IN THE MATTER OF AN EMERGENCY WRIT REGARDING AN ACT
OF CONGRESS (U.S.- 113-S.1)

THIS COURT, having fully examined
the briefs submitted by Counsel, the oral argument offered in open Court and
having thoroughly reviewed the legal issues involved, concludes that there is
no valid legal justification to extend the consideration of this case further.
A lengthier opinion will be released as expeditiously as possible, authored by
Justice Newton, writing for the majority. To assuage public concern in the
interim, and so as not to further impede the enforcement of a law validly
adopted by the Congress of these United States, this Court orders that this
appeal is resolved in favor of the Appellee U.S. Government, and that,
accordingly, the Lawrence McAlister Hate Speech and Hate Weapons Elimination
Act is affirmed, as in compliance with the Constitution of the United States,
and all of the Amendments thereto. So ordered. Copy to all Counsel.

The McAlister Act was
now confirmed as the law of the land.

IV.

The
ATF Enforces the

Lawrence
McAlister

Hate
Speech

and
Hate Weapons

Elimination
Act

FIFTY
FOUR

Elmhurst,
IL, Philadelphia, PA & Des Moines, Iowa

The Attorney General
was ready. Once the call came from the Department of Justice staffer who had
been stationed at the Supreme Court, tipping the AG to the Court’s expected
Order upholding McAlister, the Department of Justice sprang into action. The
government had learned decades before that the best way to insure taxpayer
compliance with the April 15 tax return filing deadline was to file federal tax
evasion charges against a few hapless miscreant taxpayers, and do it just days
before the deadline. Wide media attention to the filing of the criminal charges
guaranteed that tax return filing rates jumped.

Likewise, the
Administration had laid careful plans for charging several gun owners, in major
media markets, who hadn’t yet complied with McAlister, now that the redemption
deadline had expired. They knew that the mere act of showing how serious the
government was, by the arrest and indictment of several gun owners, would bring
in many thousands more guns, particularly now that the law had been affirmed on
appeal by the Supreme Court. It was time for the ‘perp walk’, the televised and
photographed hauling of criminal defendants, ‘perpetrators’ in police language,
in handcuffs, into official-looking grey limestone buildings. Nothing, the AG
knew, promotes compliance with the law like a good ‘perp walk’ viewed by
Americans on their nightly televised newscasts.

Perp
Walk I

Charles Robinson was
a law abiding resident of Elmhurst, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He owned a
small travel agency, which because of the growing use by travelers of the
internet, was not doing all that well. On weekends, during hunting season,
Charles Robinson liked to drive up to northwestern Illinois, to the Apple River
Canyon area to Castle Rock to hunt northern bobwhite, which most people just
called quail. His dad had taught Charles Robinson how to hunt, and he had
passed on that training to his son, Charles, Jr., now in his mid-twenties. They
enjoyed the time they could spend together hunting. When Charles Robinson first
read the text of the McAlister Bill in the Chicago Tribune, he was surprised
that firearms might be outlawed in America. But, as he read further, he saw
that the Bill had an exemption in Section 5.1 for firearms to be used for
hunting.

At first, Charles
Robinson concluded that he would just apply for the exemption for his firearms
used for hunting, and that would be that. But, the more he read, he realized
that he might not be granted an exemption hunting license because he usually
didn’t hunt for purposes of acquiring food, and he wasn’t going to lie about it
on his application. Then, he read that he could only use his firearms for
hunting under the license if he was directly supervised by an ATF agent or by
an agent from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. What kind of
hunting would that be? Baby-sat by a ‘gubmint’
employee, he thought,
using his favorite expression for the government.

Charles Robinson
talked to his son about what they should do. They neither one wanted to give up
their primary recreation, so they decided to apply for the exemption, eat some
of what they caught and see how long the government really wanted to accompany
hunters out into the field. They agreed that the gubmint boys would soon tire
of traipsing through the woods with hunters, and just let them go hunt. The
problem developed when they tried to apply for an exemption hunting license.

Charles Robinson
called his son, as it was nearing hunting season. They picked out a date a few
days away on the calendar, so they could line up either an ATF agent or an
Illinois game warden to accompany them hunting, under what they assumed would
be a quickly issued hunting exemption license. As silly as they thought the
whole process was, they were law abiding citizens, so they decided to comply
with the McAlister Act, as best they understood it.

The cordial young
lady at the ATF Field District office asked the Robinsons to fill out a six
page ATF form. The form included several questions about the applicant, and
also required details of the firearms that would be used by the applicant,
under ATF supervision. The applicant had to supply the manufacturer of the
firearm; the date manufactured; any known serial numbers; the price paid; from
whom the firearm was purchased; the current location of the firearm; location
at said address; nature of storage facility; locked or not locked;
accessibility to others; any other known prior owners; address; telephone
numbers; future intentions of the applicant regarding the sale of the firearm;
and the intentions of the applicant regarding redemption of the firearm to the
ATF under the McAlister Act. Charles Robinson read over the form, then he
re-read it. None of this was mentioned in the McAlister Act, so why was the
government asking so many questions, he wondered, his anger beginning to rise
up within him. He asked his son, who was with him in case he needed to sign
anything, to read over the form. They both agreed that it was more than
intrusive, but what could they do? They loved to hunt, and this form was their
ticket to hunting. Or at least, that’s what they thought.

After nearly an hour,
which included calls out to gather requested information, the Robinsons had
completed their respective forms. They asked the young lady to speak to an
agent so they could confirm a time to go hunting. She asked them to have a seat
while she buzzed an agent to come out and talk to them. Forty minutes later,
ATF agent Falendar found the time to meet with the agency’s latest applicants
for exemption hunting licenses.

“Name’s Falendar.
Agent here in Chicago Field District office.  What can I do for you? Busy days
here, what with the new law, and all.”

“Thanks, Agent Falendar
for talking with us. Real simple. We filled out your forms, though I think the
ATF asked us for a lot of unneeded information on our firearms. We want to
schedule a time, sometime in the next two or three weekends to go hunting….with
an ATF agent….like it says in the McAlister Act.”

Agent Falendar didn’t
exactly laugh, it was more like a short nasal snort. “Nuhuh….Do what? To
schedule….go hunting?.....Umh, let me ‘splain how this all works. Cause….you
both seem like good law abidin’ folks. We got here in the Field District Office
a limited number of agents. We’ve all got important things that have to be
done, a lot more now with McAlister, what with trackin’ down law breakers. We
got zero….that’s zero….time to tramp around with hunters, holding their hands
so they can own guns, and not turn them in like everybody else. So, sirs, what
we’ve been told to do by our HQ in DC is we take your names and put you on a
waitin’ list. We will call you when an agent has a free Saturday and wants to
spend it with hunters, instead of with his family. Not saying, you understand,
that it won’t never happen, just that it may be a while before it does happen.
Any questions?”

“Yes, Agent Falendar,
how long it will be before we can hunt – that is, with an ATF agent?”

“Like I said, you
seem like nice folks. I’d give it a couple, maybe three years, something like
that….maybe not that soon. That’s not for publication, you understand. I’m just
levelin’ with you here, OK?”

“Wow….Really?....Well,
thanks for being honest….I guess….so….should….we just contact the Illinois
Department of Natural Resources down in Springfield?”

“You can do whatever
you want….but, you’ll just be wastin’ your time. They’ll give you the same
response. Their guys are real busy, too, just like we are.”

Charles Robinson, Jr.
didn’t have his father’s ability to stay calm when he was tempted to be angry.
His father through the years had tried to teach his son how to control himself
when he wanted to lash out. He saw out of the corner of his eye that his dad, though
normally calm and collected, was not calm, nor was he collected. His face
reddened. He clinched his fingers around the ATF forms which they had labored
to complete. His son, sensing that his dad was about to do or say something he
would later regret, reached over and grabbed his arm, saying “Dad, it’s ok, if
they don’t want us to hunt anymore, we’ll turn in our guns and take up
something else, like bowling, or fishing, or….”.

“Chuck….we….are….not….giving….up….our…hunting….NOT….Gonna….Happen….
I don’t give a rip about this crazy new law. They can’t stop us from what God
has given us to enjoy. Agent Fal….whatever your name is…”

“Now, Dad, we can…”

Charles Robinson, Sr. was not about to
be hushed. He had fought in Vietnam for his country to stay free. He didn’t
feel today that his efforts had worked, as he saw his freedoms eroded, taken by
his own government.

 “As I was about to say….Mister Agent.
You can take this hunting exemption form….and….file it….where….the sun….or the
moon….will never shine! Got it? If my son and I want to hunt, we’ll hunt. Get
used to it.”  

Robinson crumpled the pages of the ATF
forms and tossed them at Agent Falendar, hitting him on the forehead. The
Robinsons stalked out. Agent Falendar made careful notes of the encounter. The
notes became the basis for a rush report to ATF Counsel, who then converted the
details into a formal charge by the Department of Justice. The Agent swore in an
affidavit that he had been assaulted by disgruntled license applicant Charles
Robinson, Sr.

The Robinsons, father and son, were
arrested by the FBI three weeks later. They were perp walked, handcuffed and
heads down, into the Everett McKinley Dirksen Federal Court House in Chicago,
with full media coverage. When they were arrested, the warrant allowed FBI
agents to search their homes, where they discovered and seized several
firearms, mostly hunting rifles and shotguns, owned and possessed by the
Robinsons in what was charged was a direct violation of the McAlister Act. They
had no hunting exemption licenses. The Robinsons were charged with illegal
possession of hate weapons in violation of the recently passed law, as well as
assault on a federal official. 

Perp Walk II

Not many years ago, if one wanted to
share one’s written thoughts with the world, letters to the editor were the
major venue. Most editors limited how many letters they would publish from a
single writer, which crimped the style of those who had a lot to say. Things
have changed. Bloggers today, particularly skilled bloggers who have something
to say, can attract more readers than newspaper columnists, and frequently do.
James Elizas Brown was the pen name of one of those bloggers who attracted a
following of readers, primarily because his readers loved to read his rips on
the liberal left and his frequent attacks on firearm opponents. The writer who
adopted and used Brown’s pen name was in his real life Peter Samuel, a captain
in a metropolitan fire department in Pennsylvania. Depending on the day and the
heat generated by a scorching hot blog, Brown may have readers numbering in the
hundreds of thousands.

One of Brown’s/Samuel’s columns
printed early during the debate on the McAlister Bill started out with these
memorable words:

WHO DO THESE PINKO/NAZIS THINK THEY ARE?

I know that Communism is, well, supposedly, dead.
Tell that to the Chinese who are still in jail for their beliefs, or because of
their religion. Tell that to the Cubans. But, whether you call it Communism, or
Socialism or National Socialism (a/k/a Nazism/Fascism), what it all boils down
to is this, these political ideologies all took away their citizens’guns.

NOW, IN THE GOOD OLD USA,
THEY WANT OUR GUNS!

I’m announcing that they can’t have them!

This sicko pale excuse for a law, the McAlister Act,
deserves a quick death. Put a stake in its heart. Bury it under ten feet of
concrete. Never let it rise again. Confinement in federal prison for owning
what has been legal in this country for over 300 years? Even the Brits, when
they owned us, allowed us simple folks out in the Colonies to own guns, don’t ‘ya
know. Now this liberal, lefto, pinko, yes, Nazi, Administration wants to ban
the right to own firearms. I say that we ban this President from coming in to any
State where more than 10% of the population own   guns!

Might not be safe for him, don’t ‘ya know!

Needless to say, James Elizas Brown,
widely followed by his readers across the country, was not very popular with
the White House, which asked the FBI to locate the man behind the pen name.
Brown’s/Samuel’s suggestion that the President not visit certain states because
he wouldn’t be safe from gun violence earned him a referral by the Secret
Service to the Department of Justice.  The fact that he had several guns
stashed under the back floor board of his well-used Jeep Wagoneer, which the
arresting agents quickly located, added to his value as a target defendant.

When Brown/Samuel was perp walked, his
hands cuffed behind his back, into the James A. Byrne Federal Courthouse in
Philadelphia, the alerted media dutifully recorded the event. Ironically,
Brown’s/Samuel’s public humiliation was near the Liberty Bell Center, also on
Market Street. His website was shut down the same day, on petition by the DOJ
which alleged that the website was in violation of the Patriot Act. He was also
charged with negative attacks on a public official under the McAlister Act. The
DOJ Deputy in charge of responding to media inquiries said that Brown’s/Samuel’s
case may not come to trial for some time, due to “national security concerns.”