Apparently the SAFE Act is having an unintended consequence for Amish farmers. The Amish maintain a religious objection to being photographed. Before the SAFE Act, private transfers of rifles used to be legal in New York, so the Amish still had means to get a firearm without photo-id. Since SAFE outlawed private transfers, there’s now no way for an Amish person to get around the photo-id issue. New York State has required photo-id for pistol licenses for some time. The Shooter’s Committee on Political Education (SCOPE) is meeting with the farmers to presumably discuss a lawsuit.
The Brady Act essentially requires photo-id to purchase a firearm, and ATF has been pretty clear on the matter:
ATF has been asked whether firearms purchasers may be exempted from the requirement for an identification document with a photograph based on religious objections. The Brady law does not provide for such an exemption. All over-the- counter transfers are subject to the photo identification requirement.
The SAFE act is another matter, however, being a function of state law. The federal RFRA was ruled not to apply to the states under the 14th Amendment, and unlike most other states, New York has never passed a state analogue. I am not aware of whether or not New York provides religious protection through its courts that is greater than the federal courts provide, but it looks like as of at least 1999 they had not. There has, however, already been a case in the New York courts involving this very subject, from that same article linked previously:
In an interesting application of the state constitution’s free exercise clause, the court in In re Miller recently authorized a religious exemption to a requirement that an applicant for a pistol permit must submit a photograph. An Amish man refused to allow himself to be photographed for the permit on the ground that being photographed was against his religion. In lieu of a photograph, he offered to allow himself to be fingerprinted. The court balanced “the importance of the right asserted” against the governmental “needs and objectives being promoted” and concluded that the defendant’s right to free exercise justified an exemption from the photograph requirement. Although the court did not explicitly spell out a compelling interest test, it did note that “the Assistant Attorney General has argued very ably and cogently that the State’s interests in requiring a photograph are ‘compelling,’ extending beyond mere administrative convenience.” Nevertheless, the court decided that the applicant’s free exercise interest outweighed these compelling state interests because a less restrictive means of identification was available.This would help them if they pursue relief in state court, but it would seem to me that if it is the federal photo-id requirement that is at issue here, the federal RFRA would be the easiest way to force an accommodation here. If the photo-id requirement is a function of the SAFE act directly, and not just an indirect consequence of banning private transfers, it’s good to see there’s existing cases in the New York Court system that make an accommodation for people’s religious practices and beliefs.
SCOPE may want to consider engaging the ACLU, who has shown a willingness to get involved in these kinds of suits that involve Second Amendment rights, but also touch on some of their traditional areas of litigation, like this case. Their presence on the case may play well with old-school liberal judges (who date back to when liberals cared about civil liberties), and they are experienced at fighting cases like this.
http://www.pagunblog.com/2015/04/27/amish-farmers-in-new-york-denied-gun-rights-by-safe-act/
Isn't it obvious? If Operation Jade Helm were happening in any other country, it would be immediately labeled a military drill for martial law
I'm always amazed at how people can be programmed by the mainstream media to ignore the obvious reality happening right in front of their eyes. Right now, America is being lulled into a hypnotic sense of denial while military training for martial law is happening right in their own neighborhoods and city streets. Yet, strangely, no one is allowed to refer to this exercise as training for martial law... even though that's obviously what it is.
Most Americans remain totally unaware of the fact that a massive military drill spanning 10 U.S. states will soon put military troops, helicopters, armored transports and military weapons directly on the streets of communities across the nation. "Operation Jade Helm begins in July and will last for eight weeks," reports the Daily Mail. "Soldiers will operate in and around towns in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado where some of them will drop from planes while carrying weapons loaded with blanks in what military officials have dubbed Realistic Military Training."
The military drill labels Texas and Utah "hostile territory," where military special ops personnel are supposed to try to covertly move among the public, undetected. As reported in the Houston Chronicle:
"They're going to set up cells of people and test how well they're able to move around without getting too noticed in the community," said Roy Boyd, chief deputy with the Victoria County Sheriff's Office. "They're testing their abilities to basically blend in with the local environment and not stand out and blow their cover."
Operation Jade Helm is fully described in this unclassified document which was first publicized by InfoWars and All News Pipeline. Both sites were heavily criticized for suggesting this martial law drill was a martial law drill... in precisely the same way anyone who says the stock market reflects a massive bubble is also heavily criticized even though the stock market, indeed, reflects a massive bubble (it is wildly overvalued thanks to the Fed's money creation schemes).
It is notable in America that Brian Williams, the discredited NBC news anchor who lied to the world about his fictitious journalism escapades, was suspended for six months for lying. Had he been caught telling the truth about the real news, however, he would have been fired for life.
In America today, no truthful analysis or reporting is allowed on any subject that really matters, and the primary function of the news media is to conduct elaborate theater that distracts people from the real world happening around them. Part of this effort involves programming people to psychologically delete from their awareness things which are happening right in front of them. (Is this really possible? Absolutely. Read about the invisible gorilla on the basketball court experiment in which people fail to see a gorilla right in front of them...)
http://www.naturalnews.com/049180_Operation_Jade_Helm_military_drill_martial_law.html#ixzz3YbL4QEVl
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