Adventure Outdoors denied jury trial

That Judge Jack Weinstein despises the Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental, absolute human right of the individual to keep and bear arms has been well established. Now, it seems that he is also not a fan of the accused receiving a jury of one's peers.

Mr. Wallace, 51, was referring to a ruling last month by Jack B. Weinstein, the presiding judge, to put in place what is known as an advisory jury — one whose decision would not be binding and would leave the judge himself as the final arbiter of fact and law. Mr. Wallace’s lawyer, John Renzulli, argued that Judge Weinstein had already made up his mind about the case, making any trial “a mere formality.”

I suppose it's a great deal easier to legislate from the bench when the activist judge/would-be-legislator doesn't have to deal with a jury.

For background, this is in reference to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's lawsuit against Adventure Outdoors, a Georgia gun shop that Bloomberg has claimed, on the "evidence" of his amateur sting operations, facilitated so-called "straw purchases" of firearms.

With notoriously anti-gun Judge Weinstein having set himself up as the dictator of the proceedings, Adventure Outdoors owner Jay Wallace has realized that there was no point in playing with the opposition's stacked deck, and has entered (for the moment) into an agreement with the city.

Mr. Wallace, who owns Adventure Outdoors in an Atlanta suburb, presented his decision to withdraw not as a retreat or a defeat, but as a strategy to avoid financial ruin by speeding up the process of appeal. By entering a so-called default with the city, Mr. Wallace can now skirt the costs of a trial and move more quickly to an appellate court with what he claims are fundamental frailties in the case.

“Am I not an American who deserves the Constitution?” he asked at an often angry news conference held in a park outside the Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where the trial was to have begun. “Why am I not allowed to have a jury of my peers?”

Bloomberg, conveniently ignoring the fact that the case is now moving to the appeal phase, is crowing about a "victory" for New York.

“This is an important victory for New Yorkers, as good as a win at trial, and a validation of our innovative efforts to hold gun dealers accountable for following federal laws,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement.

It's not over yet, Mayor, and the next phase won't be presided over by your pet fascist . . . er, judge.

War on Guns has more.