USA – -(Ammoland.com)- The SAPPA Group~ Several weeks ago Ammoland posted our article on the ongoing Federal Lawsuit now before the Honorable Judge Shipp in the District Court of Trenton. [Purpura v. Christie, et al. Docket Number 15-03534]
The SAPPA Group joins in thanking Governor Christie for finally taking the “Executive Action” discussed in the article “Governor Christie Blinks”. We say finally, because it has been almost a year since our group sent the Governor several letters which demanded that he take the actions he is now undertaking.
At that time we were in the process of finalizing the Federal Brief Chaplain Purpura was about to file. Neither Governor Christie, nor anyone in his office acknowledged either the preliminary letter or the follow-ups. For this reason, among others, Governor Christie was included as a defendant in the Lawsuit which was filed under violations of the RICO Statutes involving infringements of Civil Rights.
If Christie had of done then, what he is doing now, he would not have been named defendant in the Petition which asks for Seven (7) Claims of Relief. And while we believe that this step he has taken is a good beginning, it clearly does not go far enough.
Defining when and why a person can stop or alter his route while transporting legally owned firearms, is long, long overdue. To be fair to many NJ Republican legislators who support the 2nd Amendment, they have tried countless times over the years to clarify this ridiculous law. Those efforts always have not just been stifled by the Democrats but ignored by the Governor.
However, the “showing of a need” to carry a firearm must not to be defined or adjusted. It needs to be done away with completely. It is unconstitutional. The Bill of Rights does not allow for bureaucrats to hold court over whose life is in more danger or is more important than another’s. The 2nd Amendment prohibits just that type of infringement as does in fact, the 14th Amendment.
Over the years the ideologues running NJ have used that regulation for cover from the legal system in that they can say they do not prohibit the right to carry. But at the same time it makes it impossible for the law abiding citizen to be armed outside his home.
That regulation needs to go and to go completely.
Some have claimed that this Executive Action by Christie has made moot Purpura V. Christie. It does not, for several reasons.
- The Brief must be taken to the ultimate high court, the US Supreme Court, in order to set Federal Law in place that will not just end the violations Christie is looking at in his Executive Action but all the illegal and unconstitutional laws on the books in New Jersey and across this country.
- It must be fully and Federally adjudicated to prevent future Governors of New Jersey from colluding with leftist ideologues to undo any of the good work Governor Christie is now undertaking.
- And finally one of the most important Claims of Relief in the Petition is the demand that any law abiding citizen who has been caught up in these egregious stupid gun laws, who has been incarcerated and lost his right to vote, have his record expunged.
For these most important reasons and many more, this Petition will be taken through the court system where a demand will be made that the Constitution be followed and that the Civil Rights of law abiding citizens will no longer be violated.
As those who have been following the progress of this suit know, it has been almost a year since it had been filed, several unsavory and possibly illegal actions have been tried to end this case. To date they have all failed and it won’t be long before Judge Shipp will have to make a ruling. Whether he rules in favor of the FRCP and the Constitution or the powerful political elite, this case will be moving on to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Chaplain Purpura has just filed an additional lawsuit, a Writ of Mandamus, with the Third Circuit Court which demands that the protractive delays and questionable activity of the District Court be reviewed and requests that a Directive be issued demanding that District Court do the job they have sworn an oath to do and for which the taxpayers are paying them to do.
Regards,
Dwight Kehoe
Executive Director –The SAPPA Group
Editor and Founder -TPATH