Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. – William Pitt
Who can protest and does not, is an accomplice in the act. – The Talmud
One of the most illuminating bits of the Game of Thrones series produced by HBO was the short segment in which Ned Stark, having established to his satisfaction that Joffrey “Baratheon” is not King Robert’s son, seeks assistance from Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish. Stark knows that the tiny force that directly answers to him would have no chance against the forces commanded by Queen Cersei and the Lannisters. He appeals to Baelish, Westeros’s Master of Coin, to put the city guard at his side:
Baelish, a true villain, has nevertheless stated an important truth. He who hires and pays enforcers will usually find those enforcers to be loyal to him; their livelihood is his to perpetuate or terminate. This isn’t an absolute – there have been cases of men who’ve “taken the King’s shilling” turning against “the King” – but as Damon Runyan once said, it’s the way to bet. The bet becomes even safer when economic conditions become perilous, as they are today. In times of economic stress, the enforcers would have little confidence about finding a new employer should their current one fall.
Now let’s look at the situation in New Mexico:
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced on Friday a new public health order that outlines immediate actions aimed at quickly reducing gun violence and illegal drug use in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County.
The recent shooting deaths of a thirteen-year-old girl on July 28, a five-year-old girl on August 14, and an eleven-year-old boy on September 6, as well as two mass shootings this year spurred the governor to declare gun violence a public health emergency on Thursday. Today’s public health order includes directives to curb the gun violence and drug abuse that the Governor has declared to be public health emergencies.
Those “public health emergencies” have moved Grisham to announce that the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States no longer has force in the state of New Mexico – i.e., the right to keep and bear arms has been “suspended” within that state.
I thought we settled this after Hurricane Katrina. Apparently not. Nevertheless, there are some differences of opinion on the matter, including from the Supreme Court of the United States:
The forfeiture of office the Court has directed must now be in force…but will it be enforced? If so, by whom? Will the enforcers of New Mexico, whose salaries are at Grisham’s mercy, drag her out of the Governor’s Mansion? If not, will the federal Justice Department send enforcers to do so?
Place your bets, Gentle Readers.
The Usurpers are already planning to disregard a Fifth Circuit ruling that they may not persuade, intimidate, or coerce private organizations into infringing on Americans’ freedom of speech. I can’t see them frowning upon Governor Grisham for infringing upon New Mexico residents’ right to keep and bear arms. Like Joe Biden, Grisham has proclaimed that her loyalty to the Constitution is “not absolute.” I think the Dementia-Patient-in-Chief would approve of a colleague at the state level doing as he would like to do.
Who, then, will enforce the right to keep and bear arms of the people of New Mexico? What opposition would such an actor face from those who answer to the Usurpers and Michelle Grisham?
At least one New Mexico sheriff has said he will refuse to enforce Grisham’s decree, though that’s not the same as pledging to defend it actively should it be threatened. How many of his colleagues will follow suit? And what about New Mexico police? I don’t think they answer to New Mexico sheriffs, but to their own commanders and chiefs of police.
New Mexico might be where we learn whether the Usurpers and their allies in the private sector are ready to finish us off. Just now, the enforcers answer to them: those who pay them.
Pray.
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What is the source of the attachment? There weren’t 50 states at the time of that SCOTUS ruling.
Regardless, the EO is so blatantly unconstitutional that it serves as a source of mockery for the governor and anyone who supports her actions.
This seems to be a relatively new, but successful tactic from the left: Pass clearly unconstitutional laws or mandates, have the police, and especially business, enforce them, and allow them to be enforced. Then wait for the legal challenge which will drag along in the courts forever and a week. In the meantime the bad law is enforced at gun point, and the people can go to jail, and rot there if they do not comply.
JWM
The court in ‘Ex Parte Milligan’ defined what conditions would have to obtain for such orders to be placed, and they boil down to “if the civilian courts are functioning”. Localized rioting, natural disasters, criminal gang activity, none of it qualifies as sufficient to overturn the Constitution. There is also 18 U.S. Code § 241, which explicitly covers this situation, and since the Governor has issued an order, the instant ANY government official tries to enforce it, that meets the “two or more persons” part of the conspiracy.
“If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.”
I note for the record that if the police take someone away and confine them without lawful authority (and they all took the same oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution they are violating), it counts as kidnapping.
Are you an attorney?
“Just now, the enforcers answer to them: those who pay them” Back the Blue, LOL!
[…] Francis does a damned fine breakdown on “why it matters” and what grounds are being disturbed, leaving quite a bit open for speculation. Please, go read, and do some speculation of your own. And even David Hogg chimed in apparently,,, WTELF? […]