Reading up on the doors Ashcroft opened after he left government, went from a top 50 lobbyist firm to the head of Ethics at Blackwater (Xe, Academi) and a member of the board of directors. In the middle of all this info where manipulated the legal system to take rights away there is this and there is the next 3 paragraphs. I think having a gun makes it easier for them because they can say "he had a gun" to justify lethal force but in any case it would be a "state secrets privilege".
I don't understand the military aspect of it though I do know who is an investment firm with holdings in the "Freedom Group" which among them manufactures the AR-15 and a boatload of contractors, notably DynCorp
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Firearms — Acquired Bushmaster Firearms, Inc., from Windham, Maine native Dick Dyke for an undisclosed sum in April 2006, and purchased Remington Arms in April 2007. Under Cerberus direction, Bushmaster Firearms acquired Cobb Manufacturing, a manufacturer of large-caliber tactical rifles in August 2007. Cerberus also acquired DPMS Panther Arms December 14, 2007.[62][63] Remington Arms acquired Marlin Firearms in January 2008.[64][65] In October 2009, Remington Military products acquired silencer manufacturer Advanced Armament Corporation.[66] These companies were combined into the Freedom Group. Cerberus made plans to sell its share in the Freedom Group on December 18, 2012, after the Bushmaster AR-15 was used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.[12] This decision was made due to a threat by the board of the California state teachers' pension plan, which owns a stake in the company, to dispose of stakes it holds in any firearms manufacturer that makes weapons banned by California state law. In March 2014, Cerberus rejected a $1 billion buyout offer for Freedom Group.[67] As of April 2015, Cerberus continued to have ownership in Freedom Group, and CalSTRS remained invested with Cerberus.[68]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus_Capital_Management
Ashcroft political positions
Groups supporting individual gun ownership, praised Ashcroft's support through DOJ for the Second Amendment. He said specifically, "the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms," expressing the position that the second amendment expresses a right.[38] NRA president Sandra Froman said, "When these Bush Administration officials affirmed that the Second Amendment protects an individual right, the enemies of freedom were outraged because they fear the Second Amendment for what it really is– a shield against oppression."[citation needed]
In 2009 in Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco found that Ashcroft could be sued and held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of Abdullah al-Kidd. The American citizen was arrested at Dulles Airport in March 2003 on his way to Saudi Arabia for study. He was held for 15 days in maximum security in three states, and 13 months in supervised release, to be used as a material witness in the trial of Sami Omar Al-Hussayen. (The latter was acquitted of all charges of supporting terrorism). Al-Kidd was never charged and was not called as a witness in the Al-Hussayen case.)[39]
The panels court described the government's assertions under the USA Patriot Act (2001) as "repugnant of the Constitution". In a detailed and at times passionate opinion, Judge Milan Smith likened allegations against al-Kidd as similar to the repressive practices of the British Crown that sparked the American Revolution. He wrote that the government asserts it can detain American citizens "not because there is evidence that they have committed a crime, but merely because the government wishes to investigate them for possible wrongdoing".[40] He called it "a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history".[41]
Abdullah Al-Kidd was held in a maximum security prison for 16 days, and in supervised release for 13 months. Al-Kidd was born Lavoni T. Kidd in 1973 in Wichita, Kansas.[39] When he converted to Islam as a student at the University of Idaho, where he was a prominent football player, he changed his name. He asserts that Ashcroft violated his civil liberties as an American citizen, as he was treated like a terrorist and not allowed to consult an attorney. Al-Kidd's lawyers say Ashcroft, as US Attorney General, encouraged authorities after 9/11 to arrest potential suspects as material witnesses when they lacked probable cause to believe the suspects had committed a crime.[42]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ashcroft#Consultant_and_lobbyist
A sneaky trick though even to go as far as to say a recruiting station is more dangerous in Baghdad (I was there one time, one night, a large city that was a ghost town due to curfew laws I imagine they enforced country-wide. Sure was eery though not to see anybody over a bridge and through 3 traffic circles and a right turn (Route Irish)
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