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Posted: 10/21/2001 5:56:15 PM EDT
... and my covert op as a lone wolf.

This was a letter I fired off in mass to the city administration, state reps, the media, major money people, etc... for the city's recent lawsuit filing against gun manufacturers. In April of this year, we had a week-long riot because a white cop shot an unarmed black-kid (who would not stop after ordered). It was such a retarded situation and I will not go into the details about the incident or the riots (you can look all that up on your own). But as a result, Cincinnati had it's worst crime summer in many years because the cops pulled out of the neighborhoods (after all... they rioted so the cops gave them what they asked for). 100+ shootings later in just under 3 months, the city administration decided to file an action against gun manufacturers blaming them for the shooting violence. HCI has been on the ground here for a couple of years as a result of the challenge to the ban on CCW.

This was the letter that got fired off to LOTS of people. Made some real waves too.

--------------------------------

Mr. Mayor Charles Luken & Cincinnati City Councilmen & Councilwomen,

I am writing to you today with great disgust. I could not believe the Enquirer's story about the City's administration's determined effort to
AGAIN squander valuable tax dollars by compensating legal professionals in your gun manufacturer lawsuit. Voters like myself are paying attention to you and what seems to be another feeble attempt to "pass the buck" with
this action. We are also paying attention to what apears to be an ominously subversive, political agenda, which will continually be monitored and scrutinized. Even the Post printed an editorial today regarding this
nonsense. http://www.cincypost.com/2001/oct/03/edita100301.html

I believe that this lawsuit serves you two purposes:

First, I believe it is an effort to publicly shift the attention and blame away from a track record of poor leadership. Many people believe that your inability to manage the city's business affairs is largely caused by your
fragmented focus. This lack of leadership focus has contributed to many mistakes. It's a fact of life that mistakes cost time and money and no
lawmaker should expect to continue "passing the buck" ad infinitum at the continued expense of the taxpayers. How about simply facing up to the fact that the city administration and safety department have made some tragic mistakes? You should accept this responsibility since you wanted the jobs.

Attempting to recoup losses and shift attention with this baseless, sleazy scam of a lawsuit, does NOT change the fact that along with the violent offenders, YOU are just as financially culpable with your lack of leadership focus and distorted senses of priority. Trying to cast blame on legitimate gun manufacturers is no different than me suing Cutler because they forged the knife that I cut myself on tonight while taking it out of the dishwasher. Is General Moters or Ford to blame for someone being struck and killed by a driver under the influence of alcohol? Neither guns nor cars
kill or mame people. Irresponsible individuals and criminals kill and mame people.

continued...
Link Posted: 10/21/2001 5:56:54 PM EDT
[#1]
continued...

Like all of you, I am troubled by the severe dent in fiscal planning as a result of the foolishness in April. However, I am boiling in anger that the city leadership is willing to pay tax dollars to some sham of a legal team
because they convinced you that gun manufacturers are somehow liable for the
actions of a few lawless misfits. Are you pursuing this agenda because you are betting on a long shot with the expectation that you will have to fight new legal battles filed by local victims and families? Maybe you would have
enough of the money required to compensate those damaged by the mistakes if you quit spending our tax dollars on falsely-pretensed agendas.

This brings me to my second opinion regarding your motives. I believe there exists a more subversive motive behind your action. I believe that certain policymakers, along with their deceptive buddies at Handgun Control, Inc.,
are attempting to further an ongoing, subversive, political agenda. The growing base of educated, aware, conservative voters hasn't forgotten your having paid them for assistance with Klein vs. Leis.

By observing their tactics, it is evident that many lawmakers dream of forcing citizens to be totally dependent upon law enforcement for ANY means of defense. Sure, it might be easier to manage, but the fact remains, we ALL enjoy a Constitutionally protected guarantee in defending ourselves from harm with arms. That is just the reality of being an American.

We law-abiding, common-Joes are expected to place 110% of our faith in your leadership and our police departments for encompassing protection. However, it is naievity and false security to believe this is remotely possible. Mr. Streicher and Mr. Leis cannot possibly protect every law abiding citizen from all chances of harm. Even if it were a 99% guarantee, I am not sure that is an appropriate expectation. I believe in self-empowerment and
personal preparedness, as these attributes are what will restore strength to America. With all due respect, I also believe in the Constitution a great deal more than either of the two aforementioned gentlemen.

Need I remind all of you about April's special opportunity to see the ugliest side of law enforcement? I am not talking about Officer Steven Roach shooting Timothy Thomas. I am 100% behind Steve Roach's actions and hope that he would do it again if another situation held the possibility of threatening his life. I am specifically referring to the contingency of
officers who spent an afternoon lifting cash and personal belongings off of innocent people while spewing tyrannical rhetoric about their actions being 'lawful' since the city was "under martial law". Wasn't there a comment a few years back about the 'jack-booted thugs', referring to those officers who subscribe to this mentality? We didn't forget about this little 'bad' on their part. I admit that you have done a pretty good job of burying the
issue. I haven't forgotten about it.

With these kinds of incidents in mind, I am supposed to demonstrate my TOTAL faith? Please! As a flag-waving, patriotic, law-abiding, God-fearing citizen with a spotless criminal record, I will give SOME benefit of the doubt by
granting the government with 75% of my faith. I only reserve the 100% faith percentile for myself, my Constitution, and my God.
Link Posted: 10/21/2001 5:57:58 PM EDT
[#2]
continued...

Thomas Jefferson seemed to also hold a similar view of freedom when he said, "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." Despite the repeated, liberal attempts to discredit the spirit of the 2nd Amendment, they weren't referring to hunting when they drafted the text. I believe that It doesn't say small caliber, low capacity, rifle arms. It doesn't say pepper spray or stun gun arms. It says ARMS. The framers of the document expected that
weapon technology would advance. The ingenious ambiguity of having used the literal word 'arms', guarantees a greater life expectancy of true freedom. The document can be repeatedly interpreted to allow citizens to make use of whatever technology becomes available into the future. 'Arms' means ALL
arms.... even those scary looking rifle-thingies that have been demonized as 'assault weapons', yet account for less than one tenth of one percent of all firearm crimes.

Now you all have House Bill 274 (Ohio CCW) looming in front of you. I received a personally signed letter answering some specific questions from Governor Taft. In addition to answering my questions, he stating that he will sign the bill into law if it contains background checks and training.
I support both of these criteria, as do many politically-moderate, Ohio gun owners. If it is signed into law, the city is simply going to have to accept the reality that the Second Amendment is still scrawled on that handy
little document called the Bill of Rights. You know... the one that liberal activists would have stricken from the page long ago as they bindly plod through life with the naieve, utopian desire for blanket, pacifist safety.
It is my personal opinion that this is same ilk of liberal contingency who exposed themelves as 'pro-terrorist' this past week by protesting any retaliatory military action by our government against sponsor states.

Truth eventually prevails over subversive politics. Nearly every municipality and state having passed pro-gun legislation has enjoyed a
meaningful decrease in violent crime in a way that the best-trained, most-equipped police departments only dream of achieving. Even though you don't want to accept the  conclusions, the statistics regarding pro-gun
legislation point to the truth. Sadly though, I don't believe that many liberalesque lawmakers bother themselves with complicated things like
numbers. After all, we are talking about people who supported a president who needed a court decision defining the definition of 'is' to cover for his embarassing behavior.

I do not believe that your lawsuit has any legal basis or merit. This is why two other cases have already been thrown out of the Supreme Court. Your pursuing this folly is the reason why I believe that you have ulterior
motives. What are you REALLY attempting to accomplish?
Link Posted: 10/21/2001 5:58:55 PM EDT
[#3]
continued...

If you have some insatiable desire to spend more money on frivolity, I suggest that you simply set a pile of cash ablaze in the middle of Fountain Square. If you wait a couple of months before you torch it, at least homeless people might derive some benefit by staying warm for a while.

Better yet, why don't you actually get something of value from your squandering by commissioning a poll to reasearch how many of your liberal voters have hardened their views due to the recent riots and terrorist events? That's a statistic I am interested in seeing.

You may also want to think about your marketing efforts to attract more middle-to-upper income voters from the suburbs. You know... people like me. You might just come to the conclusion that the days of irrational politics are coming to an end. More and more intelligent, law-abiding, higher income-producing voters continue to move in and pay attention to these
things.

You are all intelligent people capable of logic and reason. I have had the privilige of speaking before City Council in the past, and I have enjoyed periodic communication with some of you regarding other issues. I have the
utmost respect for our electoral process and our elected officials. Please stop dimming this respect and use your rational minds to learn the FACTS.

I don't care if the Cincinnati FOP endorsement is the strongest in the city, take a stand before the people do at the polls. Please call a stop to this insane legal action immediately. We aren't buying it. Also, please stop wasting our tax dollars with a subversive war against the Second Amendment.

May God prevail HisHerIts wisdom upon our Chief Justices and may HeSheIt bless America, its people, and its leaders.

Thank you for your time,

Michael Hiles, just some average-Joe voter with a loud mouth
Cincinnati, Ohio 45214

-------------------------------------------------------------
Need more REAL facts on guns????
http://www.citizensofamerica.org/
http://www.ofcc.net/lott.php
http://www.gunowners.org/op9806.htm
http://www.justfacts.com/gun_control.htm
http://www,ohioccw.org
http://www.chuckkleinauthor.com/Feely.html
http://www.nra.org
http://www.frenchu.com/gun/guns_watch.html
http://www.ar15.com
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link Posted: 10/21/2001 6:12:02 PM EDT
[#4]
Link Posted: 10/21/2001 6:15:54 PM EDT
[#5]
Quoted:
According to my State Represenative, John Willamoski and also my State Senator Jim Jordan as of October 8th Ohio prohibits lawsuits against gun manufacturers, dealers and distributors. This law is retroactive and effectively kills any active lawsuits. I have not kept up with the status of any of the Ohio lawsuits recently but if what they told me was correct any of the lawsuits are done and Ohio is looking a bit better as far as firearms go.

Now if we could only get a friggin' shall issue CCW passed.
View Quote


That one is new to me and I really try to stay on top of it. The plan of attack for us since then has been to file a lawsuit against the city based on Art 1, No. 20, Ohio Constitution http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/constitution.cfm?Part=1 and the U.S. Constitution, 14th Amendment.

Filing civil law suits - by singling out - out-of-state manufacturers of a legal product to recoup alleged losses is clearly "not herein delegated...." per the Ohio Constitution.

Do you have a Bill # on that passage? I would love to read up on it.
Link Posted: 10/21/2001 6:18:05 PM EDT
[#6]
Good letter.  I doubt anyone important ever reads it or takes notice of it though.  They already have their agenda and the little guys like you & me are going to get screwed.    
Link Posted: 10/21/2001 6:24:14 PM EDT
[#7]
Quoted:
Good letter.  I doubt anyone important ever reads it or takes notice of it though.  They already have their agenda and the little guys like you & me are going to get screwed.    
View Quote


Not entirely true... I have since gotten several response from the 'right' side including the one from Sen. DeWine's kid who sits on our city council:


Thanks for your letter. I oppose the lawsuit and signed on to a motion trying to stop it.

-Pat DeWine

-----Original Message-----

From: Michael Hiles [mailto:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX]
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 2:04 AM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Subject: City's gun manufacturer lawsuit
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