Big day in Court

Seems covering the outdoor and shooting industry means you’re not exactly going to get away from covering law-or business. In fact, you’re probably going to spend some time with both.

Today, I’m in Washington for the oral arguments before the Supreme Court on McDonald v. Chicago – the lawsuit challenging Chicago (and Oak Park, Illinois) handgun bans. There won’t be a ruling on the case today, but it’s the only time you’ll see both sides of a case making their best arguments before the final arbiter of law in the nation.

At this level, lawyers need to be prepared for questions from the bench that may reveal they’ve done more than a little homework on any case appearing before them. After all, their ruling will set the tone-and the law-for all cases in the future.

Yesterday, I had the unusual opportunity to travel to Washington with a sitting United States Senator (we were in coach). He agreed that this morning’s case was “big” and had implications for both firearms and individual rights.

But that conversation did more to open my eyes to the fact that some of our legislators are still in contact with their homes -and their constituencies. When I remarked that I didn’t expect to see a U.S. Senator in coach class, he snorted and responded “we should all be flying back and forth to home, and sitting in coach. We’re no better than anyone else, and acting like we are is why so many people think we’re all crooked or corrupt.”

Good point. When I admitted that I’d not had a lot positive to say about our elected representatives in Washington, he smiled and remarked that the problem with our representatives was they spent too-much time “in Washington”.

And what about the current political climate? It’s toxic, he observed. Seems there’s only partisan politics today, and coalition building is a thing of the past.

The surprise was when he asked me my feelings about the Tea Party movement. “My colleagues,” he snorted, “seem to think it’s some sort of short-term thing that will pass.” When I said it looked to be a movement that was only going to get stronger – and would doubtless prove its resiliency in the November elections, he nodded in agreement, “some of the people in Washington are going to be wondering why they’re not in office in the fall, and it serves them right for ignoring their constituents.”

His feeling is that politicians seem to “chase the far-right and far-left” while ignoring the middle-of-the road. That, he observed, “is where America is- not far-anything, but good, middle-of-the-road people who don’t vote liberal or conservative all the time – they vote what they think is best.”

In the pursuit of the edges (where lots of campaign funding resides), the office holders infuriate the middle-ground. “They decide elections,” he said, “I hope they decide a bunch of them in the fall. The system needs repairs- badly.”

When I hear someone from the United States Senate speaking frankly and sincerely about listening to the people, I have to admit, it gives me hope that the system’s not quite as broken as many of us believe. We just need to put more of those “middle ground Americans” into government -and hold them accountable.

Speaking of accountability, BAE Systems, PLC has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and impede and impair its lawful functions. It’s another of those cases involving foreign business – and businesses, and has collected BAE Systems a $400 million fine- one of the largest criminal fines in the history of the Department of Justice’s enforcement efforts of U.S. export control laws.

It’s important to note that BAE Systems, PLC, is not the same as BAE Systems, Inc. That’s the BAE most of us know – and the Rockwell, Maryland BAE Systems was not involved in this case.

The case is another of those that sounds more than slightly like the big bust of firearms folks in Las Vegas during last month’s SHOT Show. An ongoing investigation into payments to shell companies and third party intermediaries that were not “subject to the degree of scrutiny and review” the company had promised. In fact, the company said it regularly retained these “marketing advisors” to secure sales of defense items to foreign groups.

If it sounds vaguely like the sting operation in Las Vegas, it should. In fact, it seems the United States is once again trying to impose its morals on international business. No, I’m not advocating illegal payments, but even Japan has a term for the kind of financial lubricants that keep international business moving. The word? “Go”.

As news breaks, we’ll keep you posted.

–Jim Shepherd

www.shootingwire.com