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Freedom Action of the Week
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Free-Market.Net's F r e e d o m A c t i o n o f t h e W e e k
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Edited by Thomas L. Knapp. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this and
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----- Featured Action of the Week -----
Fourth week of November, 2001:
Let's sic the cops on'em
My last few columns have concerned the upcoming celebration of Bill of
Rights Day (December 15), and I've also alluded to the concept of "Bill of
Rights Enforcement." I hope your plans for Bill of Rights Day Parties are
coming together. This week's installment concerns an action that can be
taken independently or as part of the larger activity.
September 11th is fading into memory now, but the legal and regulatory
structures which made it possible are still in place. To wit, 19 criminals
were able to hijack four airplanes and to use three of them as "flying
bombs" against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in
Washington. The fourth aircraft, of course, crashed when its passengers
took matters into their own, unarmed, hands.
Nineteen thugs, armed only with the little razor knives that workers use to
open cardboard boxes, murdered more than 200 airline passengers and around
4,000 people on the ground. This kind of crime would have been impossible
in an America which honored its Bill of Rights. And that, my friends, is
where Bill of Rights Enforcement comes into the picture.
Enforcement implies a penalty for failure to act in accordance with the
named policy. Bill of Rights Enforcement is about insisting that the
penalty be levied. In the case of the September 11th attacks, all elements
necessary to Bill of Rights Enforcement are present:
There is a policy -- the Second Amendment, which unequivocally states that
the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
There is a violation of the policy -- Title 14, Section 108.11 of the Code
of Federal Regulations, which prohibits the carrying of weapons on aircraft.
And, finally, there is a remedy -- Title 18, Section 241 of the United
States Code, which, in no uncertain terms, states that conspiring to
violate Constitutional rights is a crime and lays out the penalties for it.
Policy. Violation. Remedy.
Untangling it all can be a bit daunting, but that's what we have federal
prosecutors for, isn't it? The federal entity responsible for prosecuting
violations of USC 18, Section 241, is the Department of Justice, Civil
Rights Division, Criminal Section.
This week -- and on through Bill of Rights Day and beyond -- I want your
help in bringing some criminals to justice. I've created an online petition
for you to sign, demanding that the Department of Justice's Civil Rights
Division/Criminal Section enforce the Bill of Rights by investigating the
origin and enforcement of CFR Title 14, Section 108.11, and prosecute the
people involved.
This may seem like a quixotic "windmill tilt." It isn't. It's a beginning.
It's a return to vigilance and a demand for justice that should have been,
and must become, habitual if we are to ever reclaim the freedom won for us
on the battlefields of the American revolution.
I hope you'll make this into several actions:
1. Sign the petition.
2. Copy the petition and mail it, with your signature and the URL,
to the Department of Justice.
3. Promote the petition -- preferably at your Bill of Rights Day
party, through letters to the editor, etc.
We may be ignored or laughed at. At first. But our future depends on
building a movement that demands, and achieves, respect for individual
rights. "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you," said Gandhi. But
he went on to say "Then they fight you. Then you win." It's time to join
the battle for Bill of Rights Enforcement in earnest.
The petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/bore911/petition.html
CFR Title 14, Section 108.11:
http://frwebgate4.access.gpo.gov/cgi-
bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=88822219461+1+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
USC Title 18, Section 241:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/241.html
E-mail the Department of Justice:
mailto:AskDOJ@usdoj.gov?subject=Attn: Civil Rights Division/Criminal Section
Action of the Week Archive:
http://www.free-market.net/features/list-archives/activism/maillist.html
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