At Seminar, Lawyers Agree to Snitch on Clients Who Have Guns

By Jose Nino

Gun owners could be at risk of losing their Second Amendment rights and other freedoms if their lawyers believe that possessing firearm defines them as dangerous.

At The Federalist, Rebecca Kathryn Jude highlighted a troubling scenario at an ethics seminar, “The ‘Perfect’ Match: Selecting Clients for Successful Representation (Ethics),” that she was attending.

Adam Kilgore, general counsel for the Mississippi Bar, put forward a hypothetical scenario the group of civil and criminal lawyers in attendance:

A man has been fired from his job. He is upset. He hires you as his attorney. You are of the opinion he has an excellent case and file a complaint on his behalf. You later discover he possesses a permit to carry a firearm. He also has a so-called enhanced carry license. While his case is wending through the courts, your client goes to a public area outside his former workplace. He displays signs that say he has been wrongfully fired. The man has no history of criminal activity, violence, or threatening anyone.

The instructor then asked the class what action they would pursue in this situation. In Jude’s view, “there was no reason to do anything except proceed with the client’s case.”

She then added that she “would also advise my client to avoid confrontations with anyone who worked for his former employer and what he might consider saying if approached by the media.”

Much to her surprise, however, was her peers’ response.

According to Jude, “many lawyers immediately said they would terminate the attorney-client relationship and contact law enforcement to report their client was potentially dangerous. The only reason offered was his firearm permits.”

Jude was “flabbergasted” and for good reason.

Mississippi is one of the most pro-gun states in the country, ranked in 16th place according to the Guns & Ammo magazine.

It is also one of the 16 states in the country with Constitutional Carry.

Jude was appalled that her colleagues “were proposing to violate the attorney-client privilege, which establishes one of the most sacrosanct confidential relationships” in this hypothetical scenario put forward.

She noted that the attorneys “focused on the fact the client owned a gun and had firearm permits” and that this “was enough to label him as reasonably certain to cause death or serious bodily harm and report him to the police.”

BLP has reported on numerous occasions how certain corporate interests like Dick’s Sporting Goods and CEOs have pitched in to undermine gun rights.

Gun controllers recognize that they don’t have full legislative control, so they’ll find other means to subvert gun rights.

May 4, 2019 0

Dick’s Sporting Goods Removes All Reasons For a Gun Buyer to Walk Into Their Store

Jose Nino

Dick’s Sporting Goods has kowtowed to anti-gun pressure yet again.

On March 13, 2019 the sporting goods retail company announced that it will stop selling guns at 125 of its stores.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the retail outlet will now be using the new space in those stores to sell “what it considers faster-selling, higher-margin items like outdoor recreation equipment and licensed sports gear.” This development is an expansion of Dick’s original plan in 2018, when it decided to remove guns from 10 of its stores.

Since CEO Ed Stack’s controversial decision to enact anti-gun measures such as no longer selling guns to under-21 buyers and taking so-called “assault” weapons and high-capacity magazines off the shelves, Dick’s sales saw a steady decline of 3.1 percent for the end of the fiscal year on February 2. Stack has admitted that these measures have contributed to the drop in sales.

According to Stack, the previous quarter witnessed increased sales in the 10 test stores that experimented with the anti-gun policies. Because of this, Stack believes there is potential for expanding his anti-gun policies. The 125 stores he recently expanded his anti-gun policies in were targeted specifically because they performed poorly in hunting sales.

Dick’s move is the latest in corporate anti-gun virtue signaling.

Thankfully, gun controllers are limited politically due to Republican control of the Presidency and Senate. This has forced them to focus on state legislatures across the nation.

However, on the corporate front, gun control forces are making their presence felt. From CEOs coming out in favor of universal gun registration to social media deplatforming of gun organizations, corporate gun control is arguably the greatest threat to gun rights in America at the moment.

As the government grows bigger, the lines between the private and public sector become blurrier.

Your favorite corporations are very likely not your best friend when it comes to your right keep and bear arms.

March 13, 2019 0

NEWSCorporate Oligarchs Want Gun Registration

Jose Nino

Corporate oligarchs are calling for more gun control.

With the U.S. House expected to vote Wednesday on universal gun registration bill H.R. 8, four CEOs signed a letter urging Congress to spearhead this legislation.

Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS’s shoes, has joined the anti-gun frenzy. At first, TOMS’s board of directors debated whether the CEO should be involved with political issues as controversial as gun control.

Mycoskie said “everyone was very concerned about us doing something like this” and was somewhat hesitant to take on this fight.

However, the board eventually embraced the gun control hysteria, as Mycoskie noted:

“But ultimately we recognized that this is an opportunity for us to really be a leader in business and to show our customers that we are engaged in the issues that matter most to them.”

Mycoskie joined the CEOs of Levi Strauss, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and RXT Realty in signing this letter calling for the U.S. to pass H.R. 8, legislation that would put the U.S. one step closer towards gun registration.

Instead of being upfront about the legislation’s true intentions, the CEOs wrote:

“… we are writing to you because we have a responsibility and obligation to stand up for the safety of our employees, customers and all Americans in the communities we serve across the country….

Mycoskie recognizes that roughly 12 percent of his customer base won’t buy his company’s shoes due to his anti-gun stances. Nevertheless, Mycoskie remains firm in his anti-gun ways stating that his company “lost some customers by doing this, but I think we also strengthened our relationship in a way that was far greater than whatever we lost.”

Scott Rechler, the CEO of RXR Realty, has also become a gun control advocate and believes that it is “important for CEOs to take a greater level of social responsibility.”

It remains to be seen if these statements will hurt Mycoskie and Rechler’s companies, but if Dick’s Sporting Goods’s experience is any indicator, it may not turn out so well for these gun control-supporting companies. When Dick’s decided to stop selling AR-15s and banned individuals under 21 from buying firearms, sales plummeted.

Ever since the Las Vegas and Parkland shootings, gun controllers nationwide have come out in force trying to pass gun control legislation in state legislatures across the country. From 2016 to 2018, Democrats were completely shut out of power at the federal level, so they turned to state legislatures and the corporate boardroom to undermine gun rights.

Corporations are continuing this gun control crusade by cutting ties with firearms vendors and gun-related organizations. This recent announcement shows that corporate interests won’t relent.

It’s time that gun owners fight back by hitting corporations where it hurts them most—their pocketbooks.

February 28, 2019 0