Evan Mintz, a 2011 graduate from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, prefers lawyers over guns. He thinks lawyers are the solution to government oppression, when in fact lawyers are the problem to begin with. In his way of thinking, you’d be better off calling a lawyer than grabbing your gun when a thug is trying to break into your house.
ARM YOURSELF WITH LAWYERS IN FIGHT AGAINST GOVERNMENT
In battles over rights, a cadre of attorneys always defeats guns
By Evan Mintz
Houston Chronicle
May 3, 2013
As our nation has spent this past year lurching from mass murder to mass murder, the inevitable arguments often boil down to a simple question: Why do we have the constitutional right to bear arms?
The answers span from the philosophical to the practical - hunting, self-protection, limited government. But if you dig deep, there is often one underlying justification of the Second Amendment: People need arms to protect against government tyranny.
This idea is not based in real life. When in modern U.S. history has anyone used guns to successfully defend themselves from government tyranny? The correct answer, of course, is, never.
The idea of armed insurrection against a government run amok may be an appealing and violent dream for those who fantasize of society's bloody collapse, but the reality is distinctly less sexy and likely involves massive student loans. If you want to protect yourself from the government, don't get a gun, get a lawyer.
We live in a world where the most powerful weapon against the government is the law. Like a wooden stake for vampires or silver bullets for werewolves, government is a beast that can only be thwarted by a judge's gavel.
If the police wrongfully arrest someone, what recourse is there? A Second Amendment response of shooting the police officer isn't going to help. A civil rights attorney, on the other hand, could bring a 1983 case for violation of federally protected rights. If a city tries to stop a political protest, switching from signs to rifles won't help secure that First Amendment.
When the state tries to take the life of an innocent man wrongly on death row - certainly the act of a tyrannical government - rescue comes not from an armed militia but from law students at the Innocence Project.
Even the fight for the right to bear arms has been won not by marksmen, but by attorneys before the U.S. Supreme Court. In a battle against government power, guns are an impotent tool in the face of an experienced litigator. Freedom in modern America isn't protected at the barrel of a gun, but by the skill of a lawyer's arguments. After all, the biggest corporations with the most to lose don't spend millions on military hardware in case the government tries to seize their assets. Instead, they fill office buildings with lawyers to fight the government in court. That is how you beat an overpowered Uncle Sam.
There is a reason that law firms don't need to stock up on guns, but the military has a JAG Corps filled with attorneys. If you want to put a check on the police, or military, or federal government, don't call the NRA. Call the ACLU.
The U.S. Constitution protects the right to bear arms, and the Supreme Court has established that this means personal ownership of handguns. But people who think that a safe filled with grenades and AR-15s is going to prevent a violation of constitutional rights or an expansive unitary executive are only deluding themselves.
There are many arguments to be had in the national debate about gun rights, but it's time to strike government tyranny from the list of realistic options.
Really want to fight the government? Go to law school and bring suit against the feds every chance you get. It requires a bit more work than buying a gun, but it may actually be successful.
After all, this country was founded by lawyers, and it is saved by lawyers.
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