Greenfield attorney John Judkins was recently featured on the conservative news channel Newsmax TV for a column he recently wrote for The Times-Gazette.

Judkins said the specific show he was featured on is “Sovereign Nation” hosted by Michelle Malkin. He said the news channel is a further-right version of Fox News and that the interview aired on Saturday, May 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 16 at 4 p.m., and is currently available on the station’s website.

Judkins, 37, said that the article he was interviewed about focused on the idea of “No Fly, No Buy” and his opinion that someone can’t purchase a firearm because they are on the no-fly list is unconstitutional. He also said part of the interview included him discussing the flaws of the “No Fly” list.

Judkins said his article is “apparently” the second search result on Google when “No Fly, No Buy” is searched, which he said was how Malkin found his article.

“It was quite an honor, really,” Judkins said. “I mean, a national television show, with billions of viewers wanting you to go on the air and talk about something. In addition, it’s nice to write something and get recognized for it. To have someone say that they enjoy the article enough that they want to spread that message even further — that really is an honor.”

He said he writes the articles as a “diversion,” stressing he is an attorney and spends most of his time working at his regular job.

Judkins said the interview was a “whirlwind” because of how quickly it went. He said the show he was featured on is only a half-hour and his interview was only a small section of it.

He said he believes that “No Fly, No Buy” is an “understandable idea insofar as the concept being terrorists shouldn’t own guns … and so let’s use the no-fly list as also essentially a no-buy list.” He said the problem with the “No Fly” list is it’s a flawed system.

He said some reasons for that include people not knowing if they’re on the list — they have to try to fly and be told they’re on the list. He said it’s possible people have the same name as someone else suspected of terrorist activity, putting them on the ‘No Fly” list for having the same name as the suspected person. He also said people are put on the list for “political retribution.”

“Right now, there’s several people who are just conservative talking head people or people that have been at political rallies with Trump and arguing that the election was stolen,” Judkins said. “The reality is we shouldn’t feel like we’re in a communist nation where being a political dissident means you lose rights, but because of how the ‘No Fly’ list is set up, it’s essentially what has happened for a couple decades at this point — that just purely for political motives, people can have their liberty to travel restricted.”

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.