Politics Via Gavel

A Minnesota Appeals court handed a victory of sorts to a church in posh Edina that wants to flout Minnesota's concealed carry law and ban legally-permitted guns in the church parking lot.

What kind of a victory? Alfred Fingulin - longtime majordomo at Concealed Carry Reform Now, has a long-overdue blog, and he discusses the subject.

It seems a great legal victory. But not if you attended the Appeals Court panel hearing. I did.

All during the oral arguments, I half-expected a judge to stand up, produce a gavel, start tapping David Lillehaug lightly upon the head, and say:

"Listen up, Lillehaug. The law has been in effect for a few months. There's no case law. There's no precedent. Heck, Lillehaug, your original lawsuits are still on the docket. Now you come and waste our time. Why should we do anything but return standing and send the case back?"

Which is exactly what they did. Many judicial rulings are mundane, the equivalent of telling an attorney to "Go do your job, dammit."

It's also "politics by other means." By filing an appeal, Mr Lillehaug stretches out the case, and gets a ruling three weeks before the legislature convenes. This puts pressure on the legislature to eviscerate the carry-law.

And it gets Mr Lillehaug notoriety for a possible political campaign. He's already run for Senate; just 'cause he lost doesn't mean he's going to give up.

Simple fact: Minnesota's shall-issue law didn't pass into law three years ago only because Roger Moe made sure it died in the Senate. The votes have been there since then, and haven't gone anywhere. Citizens for a Supine "Safer" Minnesota is deluding itself by thinking they can repeal the Minnesota Personal Protection Act in the legislature - which is why this case is in court.

Which is not to say it's time for concealed-carry supporters to let up.

Posted by Mitch at January 15, 2004 01:00 AM