Three Union Leader Commenters Who “Get It”

Richard Sauders said:

BTW – If any of you anti-gun folks are in a classroom with my daughter at PSU, and some yahoo starts shooting, you might want to be behind her, I give the perp 1-3 shots, which may kill some of you folks, before my daughter returns fire.

She’s ex-military, got back from Iraq, and realizes that the rules put in place by the campus officials are illegal, and yes she has carried on campus against the rules with all proper State documents for 2.5 years.

Couple more to add to the list of sayings:

When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

I would prefer to be judged by 12, than carried by 6.

Exactly. They’d probably expel her if they found out. Well, maybe not right now… as they realise their gig is almost up.

Actually, I wonder how many people have been disciplined under these illegal regulations. If you have, you should get a lawyer and ask questions about whether or not your rights were violated.

(more…)

Help Defend Self-Defense Rights in New Hampshire!!

Tommy Mozingo and I have retained the services of Attorney Brandon Ross and Attorney Seth Hipple to fight the horrible restraining order which turns specifically legal activity into “contempt of court.” If it were illegal in the first place, why would they need to have convinced a judge to make it contempt?

The first phase of our case in the Superior Court should run us around $1500. All donated funds will go directly to Attorney Hipple and Attorney Ross to fight the illegal regulations of the University System of New Hampshire which restrict firearm and knife possession on public property.

The Chip-in page can be found here.

Please consider donating and coming to the hearing on 12/13/11 at 2:30PM in the Grafton Superior Court to stand up for your, and everyone else’s, right to self-defense! Don’t let the state take away your natural, constitutional, and statutory rights to defend yourself without a fight!

People in government should know that every effort they put forward to strip self-defense freedom from us, The People, will be met with vicious opposition!

Thank You PSU Community & Law Enforcement

I would like to extend my thanks to the New Hampshire State Police, Grafton County Sheriffs Department, Plymouth Police, and the Plymouth State University Police for the professional manner in which they conducted themselves with regards to the outreach event we had at Plymouth State University today. Although I believe their large presence was a hyperbolic reaction to a peaceful demonstration against violation of state, constitutional, and natural law, it is my opinion they behaved exactly as police should behave when faced with opposing viewpoints.

I will state unequivocally now that although Tommy and I have no respect for the restraining order that was issued against us, we obeyed it. I did, however, hint several times throughout the day that no one knew if I was carrying a firearm or not. My intent wasn’t to be difficult, but to prove the point that criminals would not obey a piece of paper saying they couldn’t do something which is already horrific in the first place (murder). To all the PSU students who attended, thank you for sharing your viewpoints… in agreement or opposition. I again apologize for not picking the best day for this event and am very sorry for any logistical issue this may have caused you.

If you support firearm and self-defense freedom for yourself and your neighbors and want to help us, here are two things you can do:

1. We intend on presenting a thorough argument in opposition to the terrible restraining order that Judge Vaughn issued at the request of the University System of New Hampshire. The restraining order hearing is at 2:30PM next Tuesday (12/13/11). Come to support self-defense rights in New Hampshire and watch as the University System of New Hampshire does their best to erode them.

2. We are launching a chip-in to humbly ask for donations to help fund this legal battle. Initial reports are that $1,500 will fund the prosecution of this at the first level, the Grafton County Superior Court.

Stay tuned… more to come.

Open Response to the Robed Man Who Believes He Controls This Blog

If you’ve been reading this blog in the last week, you are aware of the controversy brewing around FK blogger and former cop Brad Jardis’ plan, along with former military member Tommy Mozingo, to walk onto the campus of Plymouth State University with guns, openly carried. Their purpose was to educate the students about their supposed right to carry weapons for self-defense. He announced it in advance here three days ago and since the government university system has been freaking out.

Now they have gone to the “Grafton Superior Court” to save them from the peaceful gun rights demonstration and outreach event. A man who wears a robe has decreed some pretty outrageous stuff in a “TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER”, issued today to Brad and Tommy.

First, Brad and Tommy are “enjoined” from carrying any weapons on any state university campus, including Keene State and UNH. But not just Brad and Tommy (more…)

Is The University System of New Hampshire a “Political Subdivision” ?

I have a very simple response to those who are calling me incorrect when I’ve repeatedly claimed that the University System of New Hampshire is a “political subdivision” and therefore has firearm and knife regulations that are illegal under New Hampshire law.

Well, actually, the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire and the University System of New Hampshire itself is the one with the response to this particular criticism. The response is found in University System of New Hampshire v. U.S. Gypsum 756 F.Supp. 640 (1991):

For purposes of this motion, the amount in controversy is not at issue. The issue is whether USNH is a citizen of the state of New Hampshire for the purposes of diversity jurisdiction. Defendants argue that USNH is a mere “arm” or “alter ego” of the state, and as such cannot be a citizen of New Hampshire for the purpose of diversity jurisdiction. Plaintiff USNH contends that under New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated (“RSA”) 187-A:1, it was established as a “body politic and corporate,”7 and thus, although it is a political subdivision of the state, it is not an “alter ego” of the state, and is therefore a citizen.

Based on its review of the status of USNH vis-a-vis the State of New Hampshire, the court finds that USNH is a governmental corporation of sufficient autonomy to escape designation as an alter ego of the state. USNH is therefore a citizen of New Hampshire, subject to the diversity jurisdiction of the federal court.

That’s right: the University System of New Hampshire argued in the United States District Court back in the early 90’s during an attempt to invoke federal diversity jurisdiction that it is a “political subdivision” of the State of New Hampshire. See section “c” of the statue I linked (28 USC 1332) to understand why USNH needed to be a “corporation” and not part of “the state” to proceed with their lawsuit. The court agreed with USNH’s argument.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind the University System of New Hampshire’s General Counsel (who will undoubedly be advising the Plymouth State University Police how to handle Tommy Mozingo and my information distribution on Friday) that this is still controlling law here in New Hampshire.

Quoting United States Magistrate Judge Landya B. McCafferty in the 08/25/10 non-published opinion of John Collins, v. University of New Hampshire and Bruce L. Mallory (Civil No. 09-cv-78-LM) “While Univ. of N.H. vs. U.S. Gypsum Corp. is nearly 20 years old, it remains good law.”

To everyone who doesn’t speak state: I apologize for getting all legal-eezy on you about this. It unfortunately is necessary given the nature of the issue.

Manchester Circuit Court Sets Professionalism Standard

In 11-years in law enforcement, I have been in front of my share of judges as a representative of the state. In my time as someone working towards greater freedom with the wonderful activists of the Free State Project I have seen my share of the system crashing down on people who commit victimless acts that are either prohibited by criminal law or the nearly whimsical common-law contempt power of a judge.

With this experience I feel I am in a fairly credible position to say that the judicial professionalism I witnessed under the supervision of Judge Lyons during the trial of State v. Garret Ean on 11/18/11 in Manchester, NH is the example that all judges and court security officers (CSO)/bailiffs in New Hampshire should strive to reach.

Before the trial began, a gentleman who appeared to be the supervisory CSO addressed the audience and asked politely that people turn their phone ringers off. As I looked around I saw something that rude CSO’s would rarely see: activists complying with this polite and reasonable request. During the trial Judge Lyons was extremely insightful and even helpful to Garret with interpreting and explaining the various rules of the circuit court system. He also went well out of his way to either respect the rights of and/or ignore Pete Eyre’s wearing of a Cop Block baseball hat on the stand as he testified.

I hope other judges and CSO’s in this state learn to exhibit as much respect to pro se liberty activist type litigants as Judge Lyons and his subordinate CSO’s did.

Who knows, maybe even the Judicial Branch in New Hampshire is starting to figure out how to deal with liberty activists without the headache: show respect and ignore things that really don’t matter.