I live in the area, so I’ve been hearing these guys’ radio ads for years. They’re personal injury lawyers; I have no idea if they have any criminal law experience (as lawyers) at all. They certainly don’t seem to have any firearms experience.

Jacksonville law firm running ads targeting assault weapon sales
A well-known Jacksonville law firm has sponsored a series of controversial television ads calling for a ban on the sale of assault weapons.

Attorneys with Barnes & Cohen told News4Jax that they don’t care if the trio of ads cost them business, because the message the commercials convey is too important.

[…]

Gun rights attorney Eric Friday said he believes the premise of the Barnes & Cohen ads is wrong, saying the AR-15 is not a weapon used by the military.

He argued the ads are politically motivated.

“Personal injury lawyers, as a general rule, vote Democrat,” Friday said. “I see this as nothing more than a campaign ad for the Democratic party to oppose a particular Republican senator.”

I strongly suspect their real motivation is monetary, that this is an appeal to Parkland students “traumatized” by being somewhere on campus during the shooting.

But you know me. I had to send them an email.

“Enough is enough. Assault weapons are weapons of war. A hunter needs a rifle, a shotgun, not an AR- 15,” Barnes says in the ad.

I would like to note a few points.

1. There is no such thing as an “assault weapon” in the state of Florida. You’ll need to define it before you can ban it.

2. There is a no nation in the world which generally issues semiautomatic rifles to its regular troops, because they are NOT considered suitable for general combat operations. Most nations phased them out in the 1950s and ’60s. A couple of impoverished third world nations finally scraped up the money to shift to assault rifles (not “assault weapons”) in the 1990s.

3.

“The AR-15 is designed for one purpose — to deliver maximum killing power to our military in harm’s way,” Cohen says in the ad. “I don’t need one, and neither do you.”

Then why do the police carry them? Is it their job to kill the maximum number of citizens?

I think you need to learn alittle more about the subject. I reccommend this “Gun Culture Primer” as a starting point:
http://zelmanpartisans.com/?page_id=2710

I would be happy to answer questions.

And I got an answer from Glenn Cohen.

Hi carl

Read your email with interest and respect

the AR 15 is the same as a M16

it was named that way for obvious reasons

my nephew is a swat team member and carries one

he refers to it as a weapon of war

however I will read up on the subject

tks

do you own one??

Glenn

Judges must find his legal briefs a joy to read, with that lack of capitalization and punctuation.

But that beg another response.

On 03/28/2018 06:58 PM, G COHEN wrote:
> Hi carl
>
> Read your email with interest and respect
>
> the AR 15 is the same as a M16

As a military veteran who carried an M-16 for several years, former peace officer, private security officer, and informed citizen, I can assure you that the AR-15 IS NOT the same.

> it was named that way for obvious reasons

“Armalite Rifle”? That’s what “AR” stands for, you know. After the original company’s name.

> my nephew is a swat team member and carries one

Carries one what? Is it a semiautomatic AR-15, or a select-fire M-16?

> he refers to it as a weapon of war

Sounds like he has the select-fire military rifle. Not an AR-15.

> do you own one??

Do you own any valuables you’d like to tell me about?

Why would I tell a stranger what valuables I might have?

And as I typed this, another email from Cohen.

how right you are!! should not have inquired

We can disagree with respect

thanks for your respect

I was polite; not the same thing as respect. I find it difficult to gin up much respect for a personal injury lawyer who calls for the mass violation of human/civil rights, based on admitted ignorance. Note that he didn’t answer any of my questions, nor did I expect him to do so.

Yes, we disagree. But my position that AR-15s are not the same as M-16s is based on objective physical reality. As best I can tell, his is based on rainbow unicorn farts. Politics aside, this is not a lawyer I’d want representing me in court.

I felt the need to send one more email, but not to Cohen. That inquiry about whether I own an AR — “do you own one??” — bothered me. Was he hoping to pretend I told him I have a gun in a threatening manner so he could sic the cops on me, or sue? So I forwarded Cohen’s email to the Florida Bar Center for Professionalism with a simple question of my own.

To: jhaston@floridabar.org
Subject: Why is a Florida attorney asking me this?

Why is Glenn Cohen of Barnes & Cohen, with whom I have no legal relationship of any kind, asking what expensive property I might own?

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Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could use the money, what with truck repairs and bills.

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