Andrew Cuomo
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If you’re on the right side of the political spectrum, you probably don’t think much of the ACLU. After all, they’ve gone to bat for all manner of unpopular individuals including including nazis, satanic churches, and even child molesters. One the most notorious cases that earned them almost universal hate was when they defended NAMBLA (the North American Man-Boy Love Association). So, yes, it’s no exaggeration to say they’ve defended actual child molesters.

You probably also know that one of the civil liberties they’ve been noticeably shy about defending is the right to keep and bear arms. That being the case, you might think that their recent decision to represent the NRA is unusual.

There’s a deeper truth behind the ACLU that many of its detractors don’t get. Most political organizations tend to stick to whatever partisan leaning they prefer. Republican groups support Republican causes. Democrat groups support Democrat causes. But, the ACLU is actually pretty consistent, at least where freedom of speech is concerned.

Back when virtually everyone raked them over the coals for defending NAMBLA, they said . . .

In representing NAMBLA today, our Massachusetts affiliate does not advocate sexual relationships between adults and children.

What the ACLU does advocate for pretty consistently is robust First Amendment rights for everyone. The NRA lawsuit involved here, if it fails, would strike at the heart of freedom of speech and empower governments to severely restrict the rights of anyone with views they disapprove of.

Predictably, though, in announcing its support for the lawsuit, the ACLU made sure to do a lot of throat-clearing to make it very plain to one and all that it nauseates them to be on the same side of an issue as the NRA.

But the First Amendment issue before the Court is important enough that the ACLU felt it had to overcome its disgust for the plaintiff.

The case before the Supreme Court challenges the state of New York’s attempt to blacklist the NRA following the Parkland shooting with threats made against other businesses like banks and insurers that did business with the association. Basically, Governor Andrew Cuomo tried to use the regulatory levers of government to squeeze an organization that espouses a message he didn’t like.

Basically, the ACLU is (and really always has) playing the long game on freedom of speech. The ACLU may like shutting down the speech of someone they don’t like in the short run, but in the long run, it can come back to bite everyone in the ass.

And really, that’s how free countries slide into authoritarianism. By taking advantage of something heinous like a school shooting, bad people working in government trick the weak-minded and shortsighted into supporting what seems (at the time) to be a reasonable restriction. Later, however, they find that those restrictions tend to expand. Bad things happen again and then another salami slice of freedom is lost.

They’re not perfect by any stretch, but the ACLU understands that and tries to step in when nobody else will. Even if you don’t like nazis, satanism, or pedophiles, letting the government establish a precedent for taking some people’s rights away sets the stage for taking everyone’s rights away down the road. When satanists lose their freedom of religion, Christians aren’t far behind, for example.

While they’re pretty solid on freedom of speech, one area where the organization is notably short-sighted is the right to keep and bear arms. The national ACLU doesn’t stand up for gun rights, and has repeatedly said that they think “reasonable restrictions” are lawful. In at least one case, however, the organization’s Nevada affiliate did stand up for gun rights, so not everyone in the organization feels that way.

Fortunately, there are plenty of other gun rights organizations like Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition, among others, who are there to fight for that right.

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57 COMMENTS

  1. They actually came out in support of Rush Limbaugh when he got busted for buying opiate pin-killers after he got addicted to them after a surgery…

    • ACLU is a semi-franchise operation. It’s not homogenous, the local groups have a lot of leeway in what they do or do not do.

  3. They should support 2A rights, for all the reasons they are for 1A rights — government over reach.

    • Nah, they should just change their marketing to stop saying they “support the Bill of Rights” and make it clear that they specialize in some and not others. There’s nothing wrong with that — the Institute for Justice takes cases only in four specific economic areas, but all their literature is very clear about what they do and don’t do. If the ACLU tried to defend the 2A, they’d be crap at it because their heart isn’t in it. Better to hire someone who is.

  4. I don’t remember the circumstances, but I do remember the ACLU defending a pro 2A case decades ago. So, there is a precedent.

  6. The wrong “Civil Right” group is coming to the wrong “Gun Rights” group for all the wrong reasons.

    I hope the two groups spiral off in a flat spin locked in death’s embrace all the way down to the planes of hell.

    • “Fortunately, there are plenty of other gun rights organizations like Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition, among others, who are there to fight for that right.”

      Unfortunately, there are many claiming to be active 2A supporters who don’t realize that if Vullo “wins”, or somehow NRA is shelled, the groups Sensiba mentions above will fold in a month under the same pressure NRA has endured for several years. And those wielding that pressure would be emboldened a hundred-fold in their efforts.

      Even if NRA membership is below 4 million at present, that number is still higher than all of the other groups added together, despite what Dudley Brown claims. Note also that many members of those groups are also NRA members, and vice versa.

      Be careful what you “wish for”.

      • Moron49er demonstrates his lack of knowledge of the English language.

        “Plane” as in a “plane of existence,” nit the flying machine.

        • “Plane” as in a “plane of existence,” nit the flying machine.“

          The correct word is ’plains’ as in a geographical feature:

          “In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands“

          You really need to speak to your handlers, their tradecraft instructions seem somewhat deficient.

          And what do ‘nits’ have to do with it?
          If you have a nit problem, you might want to try Kwell…

          https://www.drugs.com/cons/kwell.html

    • Actually, it’s 1, 1, 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 14, 15, 19.
      Websearch “The American Civil Liberties Union : illustrated guide to the Bill of Rights digital file from color film copy transparency” at the Library of Congress/

  8. I have no problem with the ACLU taking the correct side in this case, they recognize that giving The State power to shut down groups that have a different opinion is flat out fascism.

  9. What, they don’t think the first A is a “collective” right like they do the second?

    Half-assed, fair-weather, partisan, hypocritical douchebags.

  11. Why. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Thats why. That will be used down the road to attack people who don’t agree with their stance on the 1st Amendment and other ideologies, they support. Such as their support for mentally ill people who believe they can choose their sex and demand everyone else to bow to it. As they fight for it to be taught to children in schools. Without the consent of or in many cases without being known. By their parents.

  13. Attorney General launches INSANE ANTI-GUN lawsuit for BEING robbed AND buying OUT OF HIS STATE… In tonight’s episode, we dive into the absolute insanity that is the Attorney General of New Jersey. He is suing a gun company because they were robbed and the other because they sold to NJ residents OUT OF STATE… This is truly insane.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1kLbnRC0XA

    • the gun shop that was robbed did not properly secure the firearms and practically made it easy for them to be stolen, they actually had pics on there website showing the firearms within easy access to the front of the store and glass windows.
      several states actually have laws about proper security and storage for firearms retailers.
      this business failed in security.

      the other stuff is bs from nj

      • It doesn’t matter how secure something is. My local gun store has been robbed twice at night. The first time they used a vehicle to pull the door off the hinges. After the security of the door was beefed up, they just drove the car through the wall. Now they have a beefed up door and a retaining wall 8 feet in front of the building. If criminals are going to drive through the wall, it doesn’t matter how hard you try to hide them. And even the criminals are stupid. They left all the automatics and suppressors hanging on the wall. They wanted GLocks and more glocks. And both times there were caught, once with the business tags still hanging on the guns

      • They were asking for it, in that neighborhood, with those sexy glass windows.

        Can we please hold thieves responsible for the thievery?

  15. I’m 67 years old. In that time, the ACLU has frequently made headlines. I suppose I despise their efforst about 70% of the time. Another 15%, I just roll my eyes, and ask “Why bother?” The remaining 15% – they actually do some good on issues I agree with.

    I’m left asking, “Why can’t we get some conservatives to infiltrate the ACLU?” Seriously, the left shouldn’t have all that power at their disposal, unchallenged and unanswered. Where is the conservative version of the ACLU?

    • Other than their utter failure to even acknowledge that the Second exists I have never had any issues with the ACLU upholding the Constitutional Rights of extremely unpopular people who exercise them in unpopular ways. THIS is the reason the Bill of Rights exists. Popular opinions and actions don’t need protection.

      I suppose this is why I wont vote for most Republicans. They are no better than the fascist liberals. Tyranny is Tyranny. The only issue I care about is Civil Rights and the most important of those are the First and Second Amendments of the Bill Of Rights.

      • Another example of someone blaming others for the things their ideology does. In order to justify it in their own mind.

        • The leftist’s game plan is:
          1. Identify a respected institution.
          2. kill it.
          3. gut it.
          4. wear its carcass as a skin suit, while demanding respect.

    • 70% of the time the ACLU is making America worse, but conservatives still support them, because those 15% of instances will make it up in volume!

  17. “When satanists lose their freedom of religion, Christians aren’t far behind, for example.”

    LOL satanists don’t practice a religion. They’ll even tell you that, unless they’re trying to say they need abortion because baby sacrifice is part of their religion (yes they tried that). They spend most of their time being an anti-Christian hate group. There are two main branches in the US. Years ago, I followed a twitter link in an article about one of their latest anti-Christian stunts. Scrolling through their twitter feed, you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between them and any other generic Democrat activist group.

    • Are you implying the Satanic Temple is the only satanic church, or that the represent all satanists? Do you do that about fudds? Do they represent all firearm owners?

      • Hi Sho Rembo.
        You’re the reason I included the following sentence in my comment that you’re replying to:
        “There are TWO main branches in the US.”

        Try mulling over that cryptic (not) bit of writing to see if you can figure out what it means.

        I probably understand the Church of Satan and the Satanic Temple as well as anyone here. I’ve actually read the Satanic Bible. I don’t mean a few passages online. I mean I read the physical book. I know exactly who the Satanic Temple is as well. They’re a different group. Their founder admitted to founding it as a counter to George W. Bush policies. They’re nothing more than Democrat activists who use Satanic symbolism (which they say they don’t even believe in). Take away the symbolism and they’re no different than someone like Miner49er. They’re anti-free speech. They exist to censor speech (Christian) they don’t like.

        TST founder:
        “The first conception was in response to George W. Bush’s creation of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives,” said Mr. Jarry, who was raised by irreligious Jews. “I thought, ‘There should be some kind of counter.’ ” He hit on the idea of starting a faith-based organization that met all the Bush administration’s criteria for receiving funds, but was repugnant to them. “Imagine if a Satanic organization applied for funds,” he remembered thinking. “It would sink the whole program.”
        https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/11/us/a-mischievious-thorn-in-the-side-of-conservative-christianity.html

        They admit they’re using “religion” as nothing more than a tool.

  18. They officially consider the 2A to be a collective right, not an individual right, despite the Supreme Court ruling otherwise in at least three cases this century.

    That said, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

  19. Did you have to put that photo of Andrew Cuomo at the top of this article?
    I almost lost my lunch.
    I have an old catcher’s mitt that has fewer wrinkles than Cuomo’s forehead!

  20. When satanists lose their freedom of religion, Christians aren’t far behind, for example.

    Complete bullcrap.

    • Remember the Coexist bumper stickers? Some people actually believed that. The “free speech” liberals became extremely hostile to speech they didn’t like the moment they got some power. It was always a lie. An ACLU official said censoring a book on the dangers of tranz ideology was a hill they were willing to die on. They were pro-censorship of something simply because they didn’t agree with it. The ACLU is just another left wing organization with cash and clout.

  21. Because the NRA has been gutted and is now just pretending to support the 2A, and the ACLU wants to appear to support the 1A.

    All the real work in the courts is being done by SAF, FPC, and others. The NRA just waits until it looks like a case is already won to file an amicus brief that does nothing to help but allows them to pretend to be supportive.

    • “The NRA just waits until it looks like a case is already won to file an amicus brief that does nothing to help but allows them to pretend to be supportive leading.

      FIFY.

      • E.g., all the bows they took after Heller, a case they labored desperately to scuttle without being heard.

      • That sounds just like the ATF. ATF doesn’t make busts, or almost never does. Local cops make the bust, then pick up the phone to notify ATF, who then adds charges on top of whatever the cops have. Useless, and worthless.

        • “Local cops make the bust, then pick up the phone to notify ATF, who then adds charges on top of whatever the cops have. Useless, and worthless.”

          Useless and worthless? I dunno. Not sure I could turn down a job where someone else does all the work, and I get credit.

  22. Just as a stopped clock is correct twice a day, so the ACLU can occasionally stumble upon the correct side of a clearly right-vs-wrong issue. It all boils down to the cui bono of the moment. Don’t count on them anymore than you would count on any governmental elected or appointee. Our political life in the US is one massive crap-shoot that dwarfs the most fevered dream of any Las Vegas casino owner or stock/bond-monger.

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