Hollis Wayne Fincher
January 1st, 2007 by Syd
Wayne Fincher has chosen a battle. He has taken on the federal government and the BATFE in a most rational and deliberate way. You see, he believes in the Second Amendment and the idea of the citizen militia, and he believes that a lawfully constituted volunteer militia has the authority to possess machine guns. He believes that the National Firearms Act of 1934 is unconstitutional. To this end, he built a couple of Model 1919’s and some Sten subguns from de-milled parts and formally notified the governor of Arkansas of what he was doing. You can read Wayne’s thoughts on this matter directly in his article, The Silver Bullet. The document has 173 pages so it’s more like a book than a article.
Building machine guns and publicizing it is like dangling raw meat in front of a pit bull to the BATFE. The answer to his careful and reasoned argument came in this way:
“On Wednesday, November 8, 2006, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF ) and the FBI assisted by Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Fayetteville Police Department, Springdale Police Department, Arkansas State Police, Arkansas State Bomb Squad and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, raided the home of and arrested 60-year-old Hollis Wayne Fincher, who resides near Fayetteville, Arkansas, in Washington County for allegedly possessing illegal firearms. According to the ATF press release, Fincher was arrested as part of the federal gun violence prevention program, Project Safe Neighborhoods, which locals claim has ignored the growing gangs in the area,” reported Loretta Weston of the American Family Voice, an independent newspaper from Russellville, Arkansas…
….BATF agent Wade Vittitow claims Fincher’s arrest was the result of an 8-month investigation brought about by an article about Fincher and the Arkansas Constitutional Militia published in The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas March 18, 2006…
….According to police, two of the .308-caliber machine guns, homemade versions of the Browning model 1919, allegedly had Fincher’s name inscribed on them and said “Amendment 2 invoked,” a reference to the Constitutional right of citizens to bear arms. The other was a 9 mm Sten design.
Since 1934, it’s been illegal for civilians to own machine guns without special permission from the U.S. Treasury Department.
While we may regard Fincher’s crusade to be quixotic in the contemporary climate of government by bureaucracy, that doesn’t necessarily make him wrong. I have always agreed that the NFA of 1934 was in fact unconstitutional. While the rest of us sit and gripe, Wayne Fincher decided to take action, and you have to admire the personal integrity required to put one’s freedom on the line for one’s beliefs. This is a brave man and he deserves our support.
You may send your checks made out to:
The Wayne Fincher Defense Fund
c/o Mr. Don Bright
2225 No. Mockingbird Ln,
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Mr. Bright is the coordinator for Wayne’s defense and radio talk show host.
News, Resources, and Support Contact Info for Wayne Fincher:
Archive of David Codrea’s news updates on the Fincher Case
United States vs. Fincher
A central repository for information regarding the case against Lt. Commander Wayne Fincher of the Arkansas Militia of Washington County and liberty’s case against the United States government. Arrested November 8, 2006 for no crime other than possession of arms the government doesn’t like.
Government Wants to Limit Arguments in Machine Gun Case
Militia leader charged with possessing illegal machine guns shouldn’t be able to make constitutional arguments at trial, according to a motion filed Friday by federal prosecutors.
Trial will debate 2nd Amendment rights
A lawyer whose client is on trial for having “militia” weaponry says he’ll ask questions and raise arguments about the 2nd Amendment, and then let the judge rule whether or not the Bill of Rights can be discussed in a federal courtroom these days.
Judge OKs Fincher Arguments
A man charged with possessing illegal machine guns will be able to argue at trial federal gun laws are unconstitutional, a judge ruled Tuesday. But, the judge is not going to allow the trial to digress into a freewheeling, uncontrolled debate of the Second Amendment in front of the jury.
Jury Seated in Fincher Trial–Judge “Flip Flops”
“The Judge came in this morning and virtually reversed his ruling from yesterday. In addition to that, I distinctly heard him say (and the court record proves it) that the Second Amendment was an individual right in that he spoke about the Bill of Rights and stated that they were individual rights that were protected by the first 10 Amendments. This morning he totally reversed himself and stated that the 2nd Amendment conferred a collective right.”
Judge refuses to allow militia leader’s testimony. Fincher Convicted
Also includes my reflections on the nature of the militia and the questions raised by the Fincher case.
Fincher challenges indictment, jurisdiction
Case about the limits of federal power, lawyer contends
Militia Leader Put Government On Notice Years Ago
The Washington County Militia leader and strict constitutionalist first put the government on “notice” almost four years ago that the group had or intended to collect whatever weapons it needed, including automatic weapons, to protect the residents of the sovereign state of Arkansas from what they saw as illegal aggression by federal authorities, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms…
…In 2002, Fincher and Paul Smith, identified as the commander of the Washington County Militia at the time, sent documents, including a “Notice to the Governor of Arkansas,” declaring they had the right, pursuant to Article 11 of the Arkansas Constitution, to arm themselves and form companies of infantry, calvary and artillery to protect the people of the state from federal aggression. The documents, which were also filed in a miscellaneous file at the Washington County Clerk’s Office, said the militia wouldn’t tolerate the violation of state jurisdiction by federal agents or allow federal agencies to tell them what weapons they could have. Copies were sent to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Arkansas State Police, state attorney general and the state’s Congressional delegation. Copies also went to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and local newspapers.
I pray for the day that they repeal that damned act. I hope that he gets off or at best the minimum time served.
Hollis Wayne Fincher is well within his rights to possess any kind of firearm he chooses or any other arms as well. The U.S Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution guarantee all of us this right. The U.S Constitution states in Amendment 2: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. What part of “right to keep and bear arms” do they (ATF & FBI) not understand? The Arkansas Constitution makes it even clearer. It states in Article 2, sec. 5. The citizens of this state shall have the right to keep and bear arms for their common defense. If the ATF, FBI, State Police and other jack boot thugs do not understand “citizens of this state shall have the right to keep and bear arms” they are very feeble minded.
Any rights that the Constitution guarantees us, cannot be taxed or taken away like a privilege. Right is just what it implies. Rights cannot be made subject to the will of the sheriff or any other agency. We also have the right to exercise our rights.
Now the ATF say it is illegal to own certain guns, but yet they say you can buy a permit for $200 and then you can own the gun that is illegal. Something is bad wrong with that logic. If it is illegal to have a certain gun, then how can buying a permit make it legal. Rights are not for sale. And something illegal cannot be made legal by paying a government agency to allow you to do it. There is no difference in buying a permit to allow you to own an illegal gun than buying a permit to allow you to rob a bank. If it’s illegal it is illegal. What they are trying to do is make a privilege out of owning a gun. A privilege can be taken away at anytime, but rights cannot.
In the “REPORT of THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION of THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE NINETY-SEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION, February 1982″ they state: “But it should not be forgotten, that it is not only a part of the right that is secured by the constitution; it is the right entire and complete, as it existed at the adoption of the constitution; and if any portion of that right be impaired, immaterial how small the part may be, and immaterial the order of time at which it be done, it is equally forbidden by the constitution.”
Assistant US Attorney Wendy Johnson filed a motion with the court requesting the judge not allow any defense arguments based on the US Constitution or jury nullification!
In Article 7, sec. 22 of the Arkansas Constitution, it states: Judges shall not charge juries with matters of fact, but shall declare the law… How in the world is the judge going to declare the law to the jury if the constitution is not allowed in the court room? The Constitution is the law. The U. S Constitution is the supreme law of the land according to Article 6, paragraph 2. If the law is not allowed in this court, the jury cannot make a decision, because they will not have anything to base their decision on.
Now if Judge Beverly Stites-Jones does forbid using the law (constitution) in this trial. Then the judge will be in violation of her oath of office, which will make her a criminal. All judges take an oath to defend and protect the Constitution. In the U.S Constitution article 6, paragraph 2, it says: This Constitution,… shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby,…
To willfully violate the oath of office by refusing to allow the law (constitution) in the court room is an act of waging war against the Government, which is in fact an act of Treason.
So if Judge Beverly Stites-Jones disallows the use of the law (constitution) in the court, what we will have is an innocent man on trial by a judge that is a criminal. And criminals should be in jail.
Now letâ??s talk about the initial arrest of Hollis Wayne Fincher. The ATF and FBI are real quick about calling people cowards. It appears to me that in this case the ATF, FBI, Washington County Sheriffs Department, Fayetteville Police Department, Springdale Police Department, Arkansas State Police, Arkansas State Bomb Squad, and the Madison County Sheriffâ??s Department are all a bunch of complete cowards. Just to arrest one 60 year old, very respectable, peaceable and so gentle of a man, it took eight cowardly police departments. If there were only two cowards from each police department that would be 16 cowards that it took to arrest 1 man. That is what we have on our police departments, a bunch of cowards. That is why the citizens of this state should all be armed, because they cannot expect any protection from the cowardly police departments. Citizens need to be armed to protect themselves from the police in most cases.
I could go on and on, but I think this is enough that the average intelligent person will understand that the government is our enemy, not our friend.
I hope this gets published. You have my permission, if you use my name.
Harold Hagar
He is risking His life, his fortune and his sacred honor.
Thanks
As I stated in other posts the Federal Government or the States have no jurisdiction over the Second Amendment.
The Militia in Amendment 2 is not the Militia established under article 1, section 8 of the Constitution which can be called upon by the President and regulated by Congress, created for the purpose of suppressing insurrections and invasions.(the modern military)
The Militia of the Second Amendment is a People’s Militia exclusively under the authority of the citizens of the different States and was not created to suppress insurrection and invasions. This Militia was created for the security of the People within a State. There are no rules for its regulation. Every person within a State a is member of it.
Nothing in this Amendment 2 implies any oversight by Congress or the States or Congress and the States.
The Amendment doesn’t say:” Congress and or Congress and the States or the States shall have power to enforce this provision by appropriate legislation”.
The facts are clear but the defence of this right has always been made on faulty incomplete arguments. No lawyer or legal scholar has ever invoked the lack of delegated authority by the Constitution to the States and Congress.
This is very important to establish that right to possess Firrearms within a State.
In addition Amendment 10 takes away any so-called Interstate Commerce Clause’s power from Congress which by itself was an exaggeration of the initial intent granted to Congress by the Constitution.
Somebody has to advise Mr. Fincher of this line of defense for his appeals.
If you’re trying to argue that the Second Amendment creates a class of people who are above and outside of the law, and that there is no accountability to anyone once you put on your militia hat, I don’t think you’re going to get very far. You’re definitely not going to get Wayne out of jail with that argument. Why wasn’t the Militia Act of 1792 immediately ruled unconstitutional? The founders were not operating in a vacuum. They had a very clear and specific idea of the militia based in their own experience and hundreds of years of English militia tradition.
Nothing made by the hand of man is truly absolute, although we may dearly desire it to be. Somewhere there are qualifications. We have to rationally decide where the lines are. Sometimes we get it right; sometimes we don’t. While I believe that the NFA of 1934 is unconstitutional, I am perfectly comfortable with laws that prohibit private citizens from owning nuclear weapons even though that may violate the most absolute reading of the Second Amendment.
Unless the NFA of 1934 is rescinded or ruled unconstitutional, Wayne has a real legal problem. Being a member of the militia does not put you above the law.
Is a man I grew up knowing since I was a kid and the parts I remember of him was he was always smiling.
His wife Linda is real sweet at times, he kept a paddle or a belt next to the chair when she didnt move fast enough to get something for him he spanked her with it and they laughed. I know it sounds weird but thats how it was with them.
Wayne hope to see a good turn out for you in the future.
This is a note to the people that convicted him. He is harmless and i feel he was wrongly accused and he didn’t get a fair trial and what he did is totally reputable and the case basis was very unconstitutional.
I love you Wayne you are going to be OK.