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Old January 14, 2010, 07:23 AM   #3
Bartholomew Roberts
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Join Date: June 12, 2000
Location: Texas and Oklahoma area
Posts: 8,462
I think that was written primarily for a specific audience - criminal defense lawyers. The author accurately recognizes that many of the people facing firearms charges are criminals and that because of the novelty of Heller, many criminal defense attorneys end up making a Second Amendment argument thinking "maybe it will work" without taking the time to look into the actual underlying law or the issues.

He is reminding attorneys that you must competently represent your client and making a Second Amendment argument you cannot competently present in the hopes of hitting a "Hail Mary" pass is a violation of the California standard of ethics.

He then encourages these attorneys to seek out the advice of the experts in the field before pursuing a Second Amendment claim and goes on to list what would make a good claim.

It looks to me like the article is really a plea not to create a lot of bad Second Amendment precedent by carelessly making Second Amendment claims on the hopes that maybe your client will get lucky. He is basically asking the criminal defense bar to leave it to the professionals on this issue.

A well-meaning request to be sure; but probably an unrealistic one since it depends on attorneys actually having an interest in promoting the Second Amendment and I don't think that is the case in most of the cases he is seeking to prevent - not to mention that there is also an ethical obligation of the lawyer to zealously represent your client and not making an argument you can make because it might create bad legal precedent - well, it is good strategy to be sure; but not so great for your client.
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