‘Reckless’ Excuse Good Enough for Hillary to Skate but Not for Gun Owners

By David Codrea

ScreenHunter_09 Jul. 05 14.04
If you’re one of the elites, you can get away with practically anything. If you’re not, a mere act of recklessness can result in a lifetime gun ban.
AmmoLand Gun News
AmmoLand Gun News

USA –  -(Ammoland.com)- “Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” FBI Director James Comey said in announcing the wholly unsurprising decision to not recommend criminal charges to the Loretta Lynch Justice Department.

“All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice,” Comey explained.

“This is not to suggest that in similar circumstances a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences,” Comey cautioned, demonstrating there are rules for the elites and rules for the rest. “To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions, but that’s not what we’re deciding now,’ he said.

Whereas Hillary can skate on perceived reckless conduct when Comey himself acknowledges it is “a felony to mishandle classified information either intentionally or in a grossly negligent way,” gun owners also deemed guilty of recklessness now face a “terrifying new precedent,” per a Conservative Review analysis of the Supreme Court’s 6 -2 decision in the Voisine case.

“[T]he court ruled that crimes of recklessness rise to the same level as ‘misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence’ which preclude individuals convicted of such a crime from firearm ownership by federal law,” the article explains.

“Congress was not worried about a husband dropping a plate on his wife’s foot or a parent injuring her child by texting while driving,” Justice Clarence Thomas protested in his dissent. “[U]nder the majority’s approach, a parent who has a car accident because he sent a text message while driving can lose his right to bear arms forever if his wife or child suffers the slightest injury from the crash. This is obviously not the correct reading … The ‘use of physical force’ does not include crimes involving purely reckless conduct.”

That’s an important distinction to make, especially when considering Thomas’ inarguable observation that “We treat no other constitutional right so cavalierly. At oral argument the Government could not identify any other fundamental constitutional right that a person could lose forever by a single conviction for an infraction punishable only by a fine.”

This significant departure from all precedent along with the magnitude of such risks for all gun owners, make it all the more unfathomable to understand why the Gun Owners Foundation is listed as the only “pro-gun group” having filed a friend of the court brief in Voisine (read the GOF brief here). Meanwhile, the “anti-gun” side had no problem presenting a tag team pileup including the Brady Center, Everytown and half a dozen well-funded citizen disarmament-pushing groups.

It’s probable NRA and others didn’t want to deal with the PR fallout of being portrayed in the media as defending domestic abusers. In this case, Stephen L. Voisine and William E. Armstrong III can hardly be described as model gun owners — and that’s an understatement. Using a federal public defender in a legal long shot for two such individuals was probably viewed as a loser going in, something those planning Second Amendment legal defense strategies wished had never been filed in the first place. That said, it was filed, and that made it no longer about about Voisine and Armstrong, but about the concepts articulated in the GOF brief and in Justice Thomas’s (joined in part by Justice Sotomayor) dissent. That’s what merited being represented, what may have made a difference had legal scholars elevated arguments to those of principle, and why deliberate indifference to weighing in on such cases can be harmful.

Progressive” media is now celebrating both Hillary’s victory with the false meme that she’s been “cleared” (they did the same thing with Eric Holder on Fast and Furious), and a new chance to stick it to gun owners.

What none of them in government and media seem to get is giving a pass to corrupt elite officials, while infringing on the fundamental rights of people without such connections, is so intentionally arrogant and reckless as to be downright dangerous.

David Codrea in his natural habitat.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.

In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

23 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Alan

Whatever claim for the public’s respect and or regard there might have been, The FBI blew it.

hijinx60

The only way to see justice done where Clinton is concerned is ELECT TRUMP. He is the only one with the ba((s to press for conviction. He said that,” 5 year Statute of Limitations is a long time.”

MBH

Hillary is an Attorney, she knows the law. That makes it worse than know knowing the law, but still no excuse. The Clintons must be stopped

Al Schmidt

James Comey is a piece of sh*t!

Wild Bill

Since when does the Director of the FBI dictate to federal prosecutors who will get prosecuted? This is another example of the elites throwing away the rules when it suits their purposes. Tyranny, no rule of law, just tyranny.
Commey has perverted the purpose of the FBI from investigations to coverup specialists. You could tell that he did not like to betray his country, though, because he shredded Hillary’s literary fictions.

Grey Beard

Deciding who is prosecuted or not is NOT in the FBI wheelhouse, it is totally up to the DOJ and, hopefully career prosecutors, but we see now that LL has his back and has “ruled” there will NOT be anything further on this issue.

CRIMINAL behavior on the part of the FBI Director AND the AG.

Janek

Since when are ignorance of the ‘law’ and ‘recklessness’ viable reasons to not prosecute? It doesn’t apply to you and I.

Gene Ralno

Hillary escaped justice. But the FBI didn’t. From now on, actions of the FBI will be viewed as less important, more corrupt, less competent, more biased and trusted far less than ever. America’s most elite law enforcement agency has just joined the IRS as a simple minded water carrier for the pen & phone president. If you don’t like seeing this happen in the U.S., vote for the GOP candidate. A vote for the democrat is a vote for more elitism, injustice, oppression, taxes and above all, a general dismantlement of the Constitution. And at the end, you’ll have to… Read more »

eaglesnester

I want to throw up

2War Abn Vet

What the FBI is essentially saying is that the Hilldog, “didn’t intend to violate laws”; she just didn’t give a $hit if she did.

mbh

It is up to the American People to retake the country, only problem the liberials have brain washed so many, the vote does not work and it is rigged as well. We have to speak loud and clear, just like everyone else has. Organizing a day to fly the flag upside down is a start, maybe the media will pick it up.

Whit

Yesterday should be remembered forever as the day the rule of law died in America

Wild Bill

@Whit, Combat Leaders Field Guide by CSM James Gallagher, USA (ret.)

Dave

My guess is HRC gave truthful testimony to the FBI to avoid indictment on perjury charges. I want to see the full testimony released so the American people can see exactly how many times she lied to us.

Janek

Ignorance of the law is not a valid ‘legal defense’.

MBH

Hillary came from one of the top law firms in the country, whe knows the law.

Franklin Tompkins

Been flying our American Flag upside down since 9-11-2001
http://www.PatriotFamilySurvival.com/

Eric

He had used Bill’s other cigar with Hillary. But didn’t have sex .

trumped

I wonder what blackmail was used against the FBI director? Did it come from the obama admin, or was it from the clintons? Or did hillary blackmail obama abbout fast and furious or some other criminal behavior? Or maybe Comey did not want to end up gunned down in a parking lot like barry seal, had his throat crushed while lifting weights, or shoot himself in the head with his non dominant hand in a muddy park without managing to get any mud or dirt on his shoes or clothes. I believe Comey was making it clear to those who… Read more »

Carlos Perdue

Excellent comparison to the foregone, Fix-Is-In, de facto amnesty of super-citizens like Hillary. However, as the premier 2A investigative journalist, you should do some more research before speculating that the NRA and SAF were just afraid to do an amicus brief. It’s far beyond that. The reason NRA & SAF didn’t brief isn’t because they didn’t afraid of being tarred with supporting domestic violence. It’s because they have long actively and passive-aggressively supported this sort of subversion — Soviet-style prohibited personhood in denial of fair trial by jury as constitutionally intended – the only true American due process. NRA rolled… Read more »

Carlos Perdue

“As the premier 2A investigative journalist, you should do some more research before speculating that the NRA and SAF were just afraid to do an amicus brief.”

I apologize for the way that sounds, because I meant it as a compliment. Let me rephrase: I encourage you to look into it. I’m sure there’s plenty on your plate. Thanks for the research finding out GOA was the only amicus.

Danny W

Upside down American flags should be flying all over this country.

TEX

@D. L.,it’s weird that you would say that because me and my son were talking about doing just that a couple days ago.