Leon R. Koziol, J.D.

Founder and president

Citizen Commission Against Corruption, Inc.

Mass shootings, a growing flood of crime and complete breakdown in our moral fiber as a nation have been recognized among the leading causes of harm to American society. Despite an obvious genesis behind the recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York, politicians, experts, news commentators and law enforcement continue to blame gun laws and each other for the horrific outcomes.

Yet like the glass slippers in the Wizard of Oz, the explanation and solution can be found in the continued phasing out of good fathers from family life. Indeed, no mention of fathers has been made in the exhaustive reports regarding these horrific events, our renewed discourse over abortion remains an exclusive province of mothers, father advocates agitating for overdue reforms continue to be suppressed, and dads throughout America this Fathers’ Day will once again be denied access to their children due to custody proceedings that treat them as objects of monetary exploitation.

A once prominent lawyer, I was made subject to severe retaliation as a judicial whistleblower. It has yielded no positive reforms aside from lip service during my three decades as a trial attorney and twenty years as a loving parent. If anything, this erasure epidemic has only gotten far worse with no recognition on any government radar. Although I have never been accused of child abuse or found to be an unfit father to my precious daughters, I will continue to be deprived all contact with them on June 26, 2022 as I have been for the past seven years.

The court record in this regard remains distorted and complex but the salient facts remain unchanged since their birth. Life term prisoners receive better legal access despite their negative example. The vicious targeting practiced against me over so long a period resulted in life-threatening hospitalization last year.

That is the price to be paid today by a conscientious lawyer who took a courageous stand against his profession.  And so, while the band plays on, all eyes remain fixated on a wizard. It begs common sense emphasis to declare with a lone voice: It’s not the gun laws stupid, it’s our custody laws that require attention and public resources.

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Background note: Leon Koziol continues to advocate for custody reforms in crucial venues. In 2019, he sponsored a three-day event in our nation’s capital which attracted expert speakers, aggrieved parents and group leaders from across the country. It featured strategy sessions, a lobby day in Congress, a march down Pennsylvania Avenue under police escort and candlelight vigil at the Capitol, all without incident.

Not a single response was given to our reports distributed to members of Congress, thereby lending support for George Floyd protesters who declared one year later that peaceful assembly is a gesture in futility. In that regard, a powerful book was published by this author in 2020 entitled, Whistleblower in Paris, available at any Barnes and Noble store or major bookseller on-line. Get a vital summary at: www.whistleblowerinparis.com.