Early America adopted English common law and a long history of cherished rights, including the right to trial by jury – which dates back to 1215. In that year, Pope Innocent III issued an order validating a person’s right to a trial by peers. That same year, at Runnymede in England, King John was forced on a battlefield to sign Magna Carta – the ancient pact he made with English Barons, including a stipulation to man’s right to “the lawful judgment of his peers”. These are the events that first set rule of law above kings.
A kid gunned down a health insurance CEO as he walked a busy Manhattan sidewalk into a shareholder’s conference. In America, there’s a certain passion surrounding guns and the Second Amendment. The Surgeon General issued an advisory about an epidemic of gun violence and deaths resulting therefrom. U.S. Surgeon General Issues Advisory on the Public Health Crisis of Firearm Violence in the United States
Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and adolescents. HHS Report on Firearm Violence in America
At the same time, Americans have lost respect for our justice system in record numbers according to Gallup. Trust in court system at record low: Gallup
There are many reasons for both of these trends. They aren’t all related. But here is what I propose. We need a movement similar to the #2A movement to promote jury trials, a right guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment to our Constitution. And we need to invest time and money into improving our court systems and their rules so they can demonstrate their importance to our system of governance.
Self-defense and a well-regulated militia should be a last resort. There wouldn’t be a need for violence if we took our jury trial rights as seriously as our gun rights. Project 7A is designed to start that process.