On June 1‚ 2020‚ Heriberto Carbajal-Flores‚ a migrant illegally living in the United States‚ was found in unlawful possession of a firearm in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago‚ Illinois. The charge falls under Title 18 of the United States Criminal Code‚ which makes it illegal for undocumented individuals to possess or purchase any firearm or ammunition. RELATED: California Liberals Who Want to Shield Illegal Immigrant Felons From Deportation Hesitate — For Now Two motions were previously made in 2022 by Carbajal-Flores to drop the charges‚ but both were denied. This month‚ a third motion for dismissal was granted by Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois‚ who cited cited Carbajal-Flores’ previously clean criminal record in her decision.  Additionally‚ Carbajal-Flores had stated to the court that he was in possession of the handgun for “self-defense‚” as the city of Chicago and many across the U.S. had seen “civil unrest” following the death of George Floyd on May 25‚ 2020. Coleman asserted that Carbajal-Flores had a reasonable right to defend himself and his property from potential harm during this time. (RELATED: The Regime Attacks Chauvin Defenders) When it comes to firearms‚ the U.S. is unique in enshrining its people’s right to keep and bear arms in law; it’s one of only 10 countries worldwide that have done so. This isn’t just the case for the Second Amendment‚ though; the United States’s entire Bill of Rights is distinctive in that it never uses the word “citizen‚” implying that all who live in the country are entitled to those rights upheld in the first 10 amendments. “Citizen” rarely appears in the Constitution at all‚ its language falling instead to the use of words like “person‚” “people‚” or “individual.” The implication of this has been argued in many cases concerning non-citizens‚ starting with the 1903 landmark decision Yamataya v. Fisher by the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling stated that even those who have entered the country unlawfully deserve the same due process as citizens and legal residents. Throughout the years‚ Yamataya v. Fisher has been posited as a springboard to afford illegal immigrants increased constitutional protections. The Supreme Court’s 1982 ruling in Plyler v. Doe allows children of illegal immigrants access to “free public education‚” for example. Coleman herself cited lower court rulings in her own decision to dismiss the firearms charges against Carbajal-Flores. The issue now stands that her ruling sets another new precedent: Illegal immigrants now have the same right to keep and bear arms as legal residents and citizens do. But should that be the case? If a citizen or otherwise legal resident of the U.S. were to be found guilty of breaking a law‚ specific rights he or she had as a law-abiding citizen would be temporarily or permanently revoked. This often includes the right to bear arms‚ depending on the severity of that person’s crime. Using the same basic logic of criminal prosecution and punishment‚ illegal aliens are guilty of breaking immigration laws and should‚ therefore‚ not be allowed certain rights that their law-abiding counterparts are granted. Furthermore‚ Colman’s precedent-setting decision comes as the country has seen a surge of illegal immigration at the southern border. Unlawful border crossings hit record highs in December of 2023‚ according to the Pew Research Center. Almost 250‚000 migrants crossed the border that month alone. Since January 2021‚ nearly 8 million immigrants have illegally entered the United States. Those who illegally cross the border come with no vetting‚ no accessible documented past‚ and no criminal history. They can say and be whomever they want without a paper trail following them. It is not only unwise but downright dangerous to allow these individuals the legal protection to keep and bear firearms. A whopping 80 percent of Americans believe the government is “doing a bad job” at protecting the border. The same concern over the number of illegal border crossings should bleed into this issue. It is paramount to take a hard look at what protections illegal aliens are being afforded and how these protections are making the United States a more dangerous place in which to live for its law-abiding residents. The post Precedent-Setting Ruling Allows Illegal Immigrants With Criminal History to Own Guns appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

I’m a hippie. I don’t think there’s anything more fun than growing my hair long‚ getting into a sky-blue Volkswagen Campervan with huge daisies painted on it‚ and driving across the country from coast to coast banging out ’60s tunes on a Spanish guitar. I drink wine from a carton‚ pee in park hedges‚ and have declared war on cologne. The only fragrance that satisfies me is the smell of freedom. I know that declaring wars isn’t too coherent with ’60s orthodoxy‚ but what can you do — one still has those reactionary twinges of youth.  READ MORE from Itxu Díaz: The Secret to Finding the Perfect Date: Flirting at a Funeral I have bought round sunglasses. I’ve thrown away all the bottles of expensive rum‚ except those from revolutionary countries‚ and I have a trunk full of liter bottles of beer. I wear the kind of torn and aged clothes that are worth a ton of money but give you a super-cool sloppy look. I listen to the Stones non-stop‚ which doesn’t have much to do with hippies‚ but I like it. And I’ve burned all the neat ’80s pop vinyls‚ the ones I used to put on during my morning shower‚ because they upset my fellow bobmarleys. There is no one more violent than a pacifist first thing in the morning before his first toke of marijuana. I smoke with a mouthpiece like Hunter S. Thompson because I aspire to be a hippie but an intellectual one‚ that is‚ instead of dying passed out in a wasteland‚ I will die with my head resting on a typewriter. My love of freedom prevents me from wearing leggings. And that is something else I have to admit. The oppression that leggings produce in the differential fact that distinguishes the male hippie from the female hippie goes radically against my concept of free will. It’s an old debate I have with my fellow hippies‚ who don’t see how they are to fight the oppressive enemy when the oppressive enemy is in their testicles. I’m a baggy-legged‚ airy-shirted hippie. I abhor all that tightness that exposes capitalist fatiness‚ to put it eloquently. I live in communion with nature‚ and my girlfriend is the ecosystem. That’s the sum of my thoughts on hygiene. When you believe sparrows are clean because they rub their wings in a puddle of mud every morning‚ and if you’re sure your kitty is neat because she scrubs her little paws with her tongue‚ then there’s really no need for a drugstore close to home. I don’t shower. I only bathe in the sea. Yes‚ every day. And then I take showers on the sly‚ of course. But don’t tell anyone‚ or my colleagues will force me to clean the trunk of the damn van. I’m a practitioner of natural medicine (huge quantities of beer)‚ I read the strangest books in French (and without knowing French‚ which is doubly meritorious)‚ and I display a kind of expansive love that especially encompasses all those hippies in their 20s who buy frayed denim shorts and white shell necklaces in the luxury boutiques around New York. In other words‚ I’m a hippie‚ but I’m a posh hippie‚ which is the trendy thing to do. Kind of like being a progressive in the Republican Party. The norm. I am‚ first and foremost‚ an intellectual. My lecture The Counterculture Speaks for Itself is receiving excellent reviews. The duration is two hours and the fee close to $5‚000. It is a conceptual talk. During the two hours I just walk silently around the auditorium staring at each of the attendees. When the time is up‚ I leave. And the audience bursts into a resounding ovation. I have already been called from several countries to give this master class on counterculture. And in the summer I will go on tour. The truth is that it is quite easy to translate it into any language. And I’m sure that in Brussels I’ll find a lot of idiots willing to subsidize my tour with EU funds.  I think the whole universe is good. At least‚ the universe of my campervan. I’m not interested in politics‚ like Maduro. I watch parliament sessions as if they were silent movies. In an artistic sense‚ I travel from psychedelia to counter-power and anti-war protest. Maybe that’s why my hobby is to raid abandoned military facilities to celebrate raves with my hipster buddies‚ who are not hippies but only by two or three letters. After the sixth rum and coke‚ nobody notices the difference. Least of all the hippies‚ who are too busy dodging colorful elephants on the dance floor. But I have a problem. I confess‚ with no shame‚ that I like the system. Yes‚ without the system I wouldn’t be able to spend my summers at hippie island resorts with my Silicon Valley buddies. And that’s just out of the question. I don’t intend to spend the whole year putting up with the stale aroma of that campervan to not be able to dance reggae with the hippie daughters of bankers and businessmen in summer. Bob Marley would understand perfectly. I have already said that I am a hippie‚ very hippie‚ a total hippie. But a classy hippie. Translated by Joel Dalmau. Buy Itxu Díaz’s new book‚ I Will Not Eat Crickets: An Angry Satirist Declares War on the Globalist Elite‚ here today! The post The Best Kind of Hippie: A Classy One appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.