By Gary Hunt ——Bio and Archives--January 24, 2017
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Though I have posted the Preamble to the Bill of Rights a number of times, people still ask if there really is a Preamble to the Bill of Rights. A preamble sets forth the purpose of the document, as the Preamble to the Constitution sets forth its purpose. It is not a part of the document, rather an explanation as to why the document was created. When Congress approved, and sent the Bill of Rights to the States, as required by Article V of the Constitution, the first paragraph explained why the Joint Resolution was passed. It states, "declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added" for the purpose of "extending the ground of public confidence in the Government." To wit:
The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining Witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.We must also look to the Seventh Amendment:
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
TRIAL BY JURY ON MISDEMEANOR COUNTS
The Court concludes each of the misdemeanor counts in the Misdemeanor Information (#1628) are Class B misdemeanors and, therefore, are petty offenses on which Defendants do not have a right to a trial by jury as to those counts. Pending further order, the Court will conduct the trial on the Class B misdemeanor counts at the same time as the trial on the felony counts in the Superseding Indictment (#282), that is set to begin February 14, 2017. The Court, nonetheless, will consider the parties arguments regarding whether the Court has the authority to provide Defendants with a jury trial on those counts and, if so, whether it should do so. Accordingly, the Court directs the parties to file no later than Noon, January 25, 2017, a single, joint status report that sets out (1) the parties' arguments as to the Court's authority to provide Defendants with a trial by jury on Class B misdemeanor counts; (2) if so, parties' arguments regarding whether the Court should exercise its discretion to provide Defendants with a trial by jury on the Class B misdemeanor counts; and (3) the parties' recommendations as to trial procedure in the event that the Court determines it will conduct a bench trial as to the Class B misdemeanor counts.
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Upon conviction of the offenses set forth in Counts 1 through 7 of this Information, defendants JASON PATRICK, DUANE LEO EHMER, DYLAN ANDERSON, SEAN ANDERSON, SANDRA LYNN ANDERSON, DARRYL WILLIAM THORN, and JAKE RYAN shall forfeit to the United States pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(d) and Title 28, United States Code, Section 2461(c) any firearms and ammunition involved in or used in the willful commission of the offense. All pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 924( d) as incorporated by Title 28, United States Code, Section 2461 ( c ).The U. S. Code is broken into "Titles". You will note that they want firearms to be "forfeit to the United States pursuant to Title 18, United States Code". It continues on to say, "All pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(d)". Well, heck, according to the law books, Title 18 is titled "Crimes and Criminal Procedures". So, they are going to make them forfeit any firearms, by using Criminal Statutes, but the crime that they did not commit is not criminal. Darn, that is enough to boggle the mind.
NOTE: Even before I got this far in writing this article, I had visions of Alice in Wonderland. And, yes, it did include the Queen of Hearts, acting as Judge Brown, and saying "Off with their heads."!Now, the Information does cite the "Code of Federal Regulations" (C.F.R.) as the authority, or, well, the "law" that has been violated. But, the C.F.R. is often only of rules promulgated by administrative agencies, and not laws. Congress enabled rule-making, though they have no constitutional authority to delegate that authority, as the Constitution describes them as holding, "All legislative Powers". However, they have also created a Fourth Branch of Government, which is explained in greater detail, in "Administrative Agencies - The Fourth Branch of Government". Perhaps, since they are rules promulgated by administrative agencies, they really are not criminal. However, if that were the case, we can clearly see that the government that was created by the Constitution no longer abides by the Constitution. This warrants a final thought, from a North Carolina Supreme Court decision, given prior to the culmination of the Constitutional Convention:
"But that it was clear that no act they could pass could by any means repeal or alter the constitution, because if they could do this, they would at the same instant of time destroy their own existence as a legislature and dissolve the government thereby established."-- Bayard v. Singleton [1 N.C. 42] 1787
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Gary Hunt was a Professional Land Surveyor. Having been the County Surveyor for Orange County, Florida from 1974 to 1978, he began private practice in 1978 and continued as such until 1993, when events in Waco, Texas caused him to leave his business in pursuit of restoring the Constitution.
In 1989, he began researching, investigating and studying history, law and events where the government was “pointing its guns in the wrong direction”. He began publishing a patriot newspaper, “Outpost of Freedom”, in February 1993.
Since that time, he has investigated numerous occurrences, including, Waco, the Murder of Michael Hill, Ohio Militia Chaplain, Oklahoma City Bombing, and other events. He has attended the sites to investigate the events, and has reported on his investigations.
He has continued to report on his findings on the Internet, as well as write articles about other current events; about the history of the Revolutionary era; and the founding documents.
His Internet home page is outpost-of-freedom.com