 Denial of Constitutional Rights **PLEASE READ!**
"The Right of the People, ... to Keep and Bear Arms, shall not be infringed." - Federal Constitution, Amendment II, emphasis added
Hello all, I am a new participant to this website, but not new to the H/P/A world, been striving towards it since eleven, but on to the subject.
I am a 23 year old male electronic engineering student, in good legal standing with the state in which I live (no criminal record), and I own a pistol.
About two months ago, I went into the Sheriff's Office to apply for my Concealed Handgun Permit. Everything went as I expected it to, I had to fill out a lengthy form, revealing all my personal information like employment history, residence history, etc. (DAMMIT!!!) Well, I went through thre form and got fingerprinted and photographed, and had my weapon credentials checked (I have a Hunter Education Safety Certification from the state, in good standing, and have trained with weapons at least every two months for the past eleven years) and was told to wait thirty days, and my permit would arrive in the mail.
Well, 26 days later, I got a letter from the County Sheriff's Office saying that my application had been denied because my "past pattern of behavior" represents a "danger to yourself and others". So, I promptly went down to the courthouse and filed an appeal against this crass, arrogant decision; considering that I don't have a criminal record, and have never been caught commiting a crime, I had assumed that the Sheriff must have made an honest mistake.
At this point let me make the readers aware of the fact that I suffer from a chronic medical condition: temporal-lobe pseudoseizure disorder. I have been wracked by this disease ever since I was a boy, but until I was fifteen, the seizures only occured after bedtime but before sleep, during which I was in the twilight-sleep psychological state. Being an innocent child, I merely assumed it was a simple, if boring, recurring dream.
For those of you well-versed in medical terminology, I should stress that although most cases of pseudoepilepsy have been cured by psychologic means, I have undergone the full battery of tests and I can say with relative certainty that my individual case appears to be hormonal in nature, i.e. the seizures that plague me are most likely caused by a neurotransmitter or hormone imbalance.
Having laid my soul bare to all of you, most of those among you are probably wondering, "Okay, so, this guy's got seizures, but he wants WHAT? He wants to walk around with a pistol? This guy's NUTS!" But before you draw that skewed, woefully inaccurate conclusion, let me mention the mitigating factor: THE AURA.
If you ask anyone with seizures about the AURA, chances are they'll have experienced it, or at least know what it is. For those who don't know (probably most who read this), the AURA is a pre-seizure period during which the afflicted person still maintains control of their faculties, but can 'feel' the onset of the approaching seizure event. During this period, the victim is made aware of the impending loss of consiousness (sp?), and can EASILY TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO PREVENT DANGER / DAMAGE. For most seizure victims with the benefit of an AURA, the pre-seizure period can last from 10 to 45 minutes. For me, it's usually about twenty to twenty-five.
Anyway, back to the story, I went to court on the appointed day, ready to do surly battle with the evil legal forces of the state, and was shocked by the day's events.
At the outset of the trial, the opposing counsel (the County's lawyer, I appeared pro-se) made clear that the Sheriff's issue had nothing to do with criminal behavior, or my competence with a deadly weapon. The Sheriff's Office's entire case, their entire reason for denying me my LEGALLY ENTITLEDRIGHT to possess a concealed weapon hinged on the fact that I am afflicted by seizures.
Well, I argued my appeal vigorously, testifying at length before the judge, then calling my grandfather as a witness (it is with him that I do most of my shooting and training) and questioning him at length as well, about the hours and hours of safety drills, about the quality of my gun handling and marksmanship, about how the AURA gave me ample time to safely unload the gun and store it before there was ANY danger of me having a seizure with the gun, and even about how my medication affected me while shooting (it didn't, but more on that later).
When it finally came time for the County's counsel to make their rebuttal (the appeal, if it could even be called that, took the form of a civil action, with the County and Sheriff's Office as defendants), all the lawyer did was stand up and briefly mention the tragic possibility of an armed citizen (he didn't even name me) having a seizure in a public place (he used a grocery store in his example), and the state being responsible for the accident victims. Never was mention made of the AURA, and how its existence and effect in my case would preclude any possiblity of such an 'accident' occuring, at a grocery or anywhere else.
I stood and gave my closing argument, about my years of training and safe handling, about my marksmanship skill, about how the AURA precludes my having a firearms accident involving a seizure, but mostly about how my particular predicament necessitates that I be armed as often as possible.
Why, you ask, must I be armed all the time? Well, the medication that I depend on to stave off the seizures and provide quality of life is... you guessed it, marijuana. Now, before any of you get all high and mighty on me, I'd like to inform all of you about the reality of my drug-trial period. For 2 AND A HALF YEARS, I was imprisoned in a small bedroom for 23.5 hours a day, seven days a week. During this period, I tried every single anti-epileptic drug on the American market.
I had an average of twenty-three seizures a day, every day.
Well, for those that don't know, prolonged seizure activity has been known to stop the heart (induce cardiac arrythmia), so I wasn't too happy about this prolonged drug-trial, and it only ended when I discovered something that actually stopped them: weed. When I equalized myself out on it about three months later (standardizing the amount smoked per day), after about six weeks I noticed the 'hop-headed' state induced by the drug wore off, and didn't come back when I stuck to my 'regimen'.
Fast forward to the present (the drug-trials were five years ago), and the painful reality is that my whole neighborhood knows who I am, what I do, and why I have to do it. I am a legitimate medical marijuana patient, and the state has made no contest of my status as disabled. However, because of the relatively high-profile that this behavior imposes, there is no way for me to conceal the fact that I'm sick and have to 'smoke pot'. As I'm sure most of the readers know, weed is a very popular thing for people of all ages, but teenagers especially seem drawn to it. Coincidentally (or maybe not), those teenagers who are drawn to it are also usually the ones drawn to petty crime, burglary, etc. Being such a high-profile target in a crime-rich environment is DEFINITELY going to attract the wrong kind of attention, and the cops don't want to be called out to deal with crap all the time, ERGO I NEED TO BE ARMED.
Laying out my case as shown above to the judge, I thanked the judge for his attention to the matter, and sat back down at the plaintiff's table, wondering what would happen next.
INSTANTLY the judge rendered a verdict against me, WITHOUT DELIBERATING, without considering anything I had said! Without any consideration to the AURA or my individual social circumstance, he flatly declared that the order to deny me my rights was upheld, and that the proceeding was adjourned. I leaped up out of my chair and demanded to speak with the judge at the sidebar (pro-se parties are traditionally given a wide laditude), and asked him how he could, in good conscience, doom me, one of the state's most vulnerable, (ever try getting a job with "medical marijuana" on your application? try it you'll see) to being a crime victim so easily and without compunction. He replied simply that "the State has met the burden of proof", and declared, 'Step Back'.
I angrily gathered my papers and stormed out of the courtroom.
What should I do about this? I ask you, humble Internet readers, for your advice. 'Free Legal Counsel' told me flatly that there was nothing I could do. Well, I've got to protect myself and my interests, so fuck Free Legal Aid. Sorry, but they really ARE the worst kind of spineless, exploitative idiots. I need YOUR help. What course of action should I take?
Please reply.
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2003-07-30, 21:50
