TO MAKE IT CLEAR .. the courts made this a consitutional issue, not me or anyone here.
The title of the thread says it all ...
Md. judge rules Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional
THIS is why the "Stolen Valor" act was passed. Constitutional problem? Not in my book. Right to lie? Nope. These people are doing great harm to a great number of people. People who DID serve with honor. Every penny that a "fake" takes out of the system the less there is available for those who EARNED it and may need it to survive.
I want to know where the fake takes a penny of money from those who are deserving?
I don't see this as an issue with the VA system even though I don't think a few deserve any care but regardless it isn't about pensions, about benefits but of third party things handed to those who served in uniform and I hope in combat.
There is no right to lie, it is the same reason you can't yell fire in a movie theatre. Glock certainly failed by not looking into that guys story but it still doesn't give him the right to lie.
Well you got it all twisted, lying isn't impacting anyone unless someone acts on the lie. In this case Glock didn't do what they should have done and are to blame, and yes there is a right to lie as much as there is a right to cuss and a right to have an opinion. Yelling fire in a crowded room is not the same thing by any stretch of the imagination.
Well Greg, I'm going to guess you haven't served. If you did, you'd have a better appreciation for what's at stake when acts like this are committed.
Nope did not serve in our military but I do NOT appreciate any act that ties one thing to the freedoms we have to qualify anyone that freedom by any means, period. This does include other things and I am simply standing on the position that any thing that restricts our rights damages all of us more than it helps any one group.
What makes this particular story all the more galling is the fact that this punk did serve and therefore knew the seriousness of his actions.
So?
I mean it isn't like he has inflicted damage to any one person or prevented any negitive thing from happening to any one person.
Quite frankly, no court ordered sanction would do anywhere near the amount justice I'd like to serve up to this pond scum.
Actually I lump this guy in with any other con-artist, no more worse than the person who screws some old lady out of their savings to talk to their dead husband.
So, and please correct me if I am wrong, you believe that under the guise of "free speech", that people have a RIGHT to defraud others? That they somehow have a RIGHT to claim to be something that they are NOT and as a result may harm others? Did you read that article?
Not trying to argue, just trying to understand.
Well here is how it works, the first amendment says that government can't abridge freedom of speech, which means they can't judge what someone says or how they say is unless it damages other people's rights. Yelling fire in a crowded room has an effect that can cause death and injury, so that is a direct result to the yelling fire. In this case, the person said "I am a vet, I have ten purple hearts" and the Glock people took at face value, which is not the fault of the person but that of glock. SO the courts affirmed that the government does not have the right to restrict speech in this way because they can't define the scope of the law to exclude things that can restrict the speech to everyone. In other words it is the government that can use the law to do other things which is the foundation of the amendment in the first place to restrict the government.
If you want a good example, the case of the Westboro Baptist Church is one of the best. I think the ACLU vs. Skokie is another one.
I am just SO confused.
How is criminal behavior protected under the Constitution?
Maybe it is generational, I just have a totally different way of looking at everything.
Nope not a generational thing unless you were born before 1840.
The act of lying is not a criminal act, the act of continuing to lie to trick people with a specific group of thing is the problem and when he accepted the money and other things under the guise of being something he is not, he committed fraud, but even then it raises a question of what the rules to participate were and how did they vet the people who entered the contest. Again going back to the fault is glock, not the person.
The judge is obviously left handed, left wing well just plain left. Those people just don't think right. They do everything they can to discredit our military.
Well hate to break the news to you but if this reaches the supreme court, it may be a case where the right leaning judges are going to up hold the lower courts decision based on the constitutionality of the case, whether or not the government has the right to pursue criminal charges based on speech.
No matter how you look at it, the best thing to do is forget about BS laws like this and start having companies like Glock enforce better rules.