Bloomberg Wins This Gun Battle--For Now

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg scored a victory for gun control groups when a federal judge issued a ruling on Thursday allowing NYC to sue out-of-state gun dealers. The ruling, which was issued by Judge Jack Weinstein, enables the city to proceed with lawsuits against over a dozen out-of-state gun dealers for supposedly contributing to crime in the Big Apple.

It is not as if the Big Apple needs any help from the outside to be one of the biggest crime hubs in the nation. The city manages to do quite well as a center for violent crime quite on its own.

Yet anti-Second Amendment groups and individuals, such as Bloomberg and Judge Weinstein, have always sought to address crime and violence by attacking firearms and the law-abiding citizens who own them.

It seems that the modus operandi of such gun-grabbers these days is to attack private gun ownership by suing firearms manufacturers and the shops that sell their products, often to the point of forcing them out of business.

As reported previously on The Liberty Sphere, upwards of 85% of American gun manufacturers and gun dealers have been forced out of business by the Feds since the middle of the 1990s. Apparently Mayor Bloomberg wishes to close down the rest by suing their pants off.

The State of New York lost an identical suit against the gun industry in 2003 in the Sturm, Ruger case. A state appellate court threw out the lawsuit, citing the lack of precedent in the state's theory of liability.

The fact that Bloomberg and the City of New York would bring the exact same suit that the state lost a mere four years previously, i.e., 'public nuisance,' is odd to say the least. However, when one considers the circumstances of the present scenario, including the Judge who happens to be involved, the entire matter begins to come into focus.

Judge Jack B. Weinstein is 86 years old. In spite of his age and his senior status in the federal court system, he maintains a full schedule and docket.

Weinstein was appointed to the bench in 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, one of the most liberal and corrupt politicians that has ever occupied the White House. In the Johnson tradition of vastly expanding the powers of the federal government and implementing the most far-reaching social experiment ever perpetrated on the populace, i.e., the 'Great Society,' Weinstein has been at the center of judicial activism his entire career.

The Great Society represents the beginning of the notion in America that individuals are never responsible for their own actions. If one is caught and charged with a crime, poverty is to blame, or a thousand other various and sundry excuses.

A dysfunctional family of origin, a disadvantaged upbringing, the lack of proper nutrition during childhood, sexual abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse are all likely suspects. Too bad they can't be charged with crimes.

Thus, the 'victim' mentality took root in America, meaning of course that if I get a lung disease from smoking, I am not to blame at all for smoking. It is the fault of the tobacco companies. If I walk into a crowded restaurant at lunch and open fire, killing 25 people, I am not to blame for my homicidal behavior. I probably had a cruel mother.

And more importantly, it was not I who did the killing. It was the gun I held in my hand.

Judge Jack B. Weinstein is the perfect Judge for perpetual victimhood.

A case in point is the class action lawsuit against the tobacco industry that was thrown out of court by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 2005. In the 'Simon II Litigation' the Court ruled that Judge Jack Weinstein had exceeded the scope of federal law by certifying a non-opt-out class of smokers who had been diagnosed with smoking-related illnesses.

Weinstein is notorious for his blatantly aggressive use of the class action lawsuit and consumer protection laws in order to resolve toxicity and product liability claims.

Further, the fact that Weinstein mysteriously seems to be the one Judge who rules over these cases is curiously suspicious. As David Hardy points out, every federal district in the country utilizes a random system of assigning cases to judges. Yet this random system seems to have a rather consistent pattern of choosing Weinstein to control product liability litigation.

And it just so happens that Bloomberg gets Weinstein.

Given that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has a history of citing Weinstein for his overzealous stretching of the law, it is a safe bet that the Court will look askance at the present case in question, given that New York State has already lost the exact same lawsuit.

But for now, Bloomberg has won himself a gun battle, thanks to an 86-year old activist Judge who will not allow a tiny matter such as the law get in the way of his rulings.

However, the loss of a battle is not the same as the loss of the entire war.