For guns in the hands of a prepper:‘We feel that Gibson was inappropriately targeted [in] a matter that could have been addressed with a simple contact by a caring human being representing the government.’ Instead, the government used violent and hostile means with the full force of the U.S. government and several armed law enforcement agencies costing the taxpayer millions of dollars.
“But what's worst about this case is how an unlikely coalition of environmental groups, U.S. wood manufacturers (whose wood consumption dwarfs that of the music industry) and the Department of Justice can transform the use of raw coercion on flimsy legal grounds into some kind of a victory. For anyone who thinks our assessment is overly harsh, we suggest they go to Gibson’s website where they can read the Department of Justice settlement for themselves.
“There is no argument against proper stewardship of finite wood resources. However, there is something wrong about abandoning basic concepts of due process, proportionality, and creating scapegoats in the name of even a worthy cause.”
http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/N ... -2012.aspx
Well he did have a 20 year old coke conviction so there is that.A person wishing to remain anonymous contacted state police in early November, telling them that Porter “has been getting crazier and crazier over the past several years,” the charging document said. The person told police that Porter had 10 to 15 “machine gun-style firearms,” six handguns and up to 10,000 rounds of ammunition, the document said.
The person told police that Porter was a doomsday prepper who had a bunker under his driveway, as well as surveillance cameras around his property, the charging document said.
Two searches of Porter’s property — one Thursday by warrant and a consent search Friday — turned up four shotguns, a .30-30-caliber rifle and two .22-caliber rifles, the charging document said.
A state police corporal went to Porter’s home Nov. 16, posing as a customer for the business Porter runs from his home, the charging document said. Porter got “very irritated” during a discussion of the recent presidential election and “openly admitted to being a prepper,” the document said.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/maryland-state- ... -few-guns/
Here is the first of a list. Follow the link for more:
Now it is general policy:On May 5, 2010, at 9:30 a.m. in Tucson, a multi-agency SWAT team served a search warrant at the home of Jose Guerena (a Guerena case archive may be found here). Guerena, a former Marine combat veteran, was sound asleep, having returned home from the midnight shift at a local copper mine only a short time earlier.
Guerena’s wife Vanessa saw armed men in the front yard and woke Jose, who had time only to hide her and their son in a closet as far from the front door as possible and to take up a rifle to meet the unknown threat. Jose would not take his rifle off safe or fire a shot. Smashing in the door, five members of the SWAT team fired 71 rounds into the home, shredding it from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. They hit Jose 22 times and denied him medical care for more than 74 minutes, ensuring his death. They even managed to shoot the front door, doorframe, and the walls around the door multiple times. Miraculously, Vanessa and her son were not harmed.
The search warrant affidavit upon which the police relied contained no probable cause to search Jose’s home, but a judge — believed to be Charles V. Harrington — authorized it anyway, and shortly after the botched raid, Judge Harrington ordered it sealed. No evidence of the drugs — or anything else illegal — the police supposedly sought was found. The officers did try, weakly and briefly, to identify themselves before smashing in the door. They did not have a no-knock warrant. Several officers initially claimed Jose fired at them or pointed his rifle at them, but it quickly became clear they had no idea what Jose did, nor could they explain which officer fired the first shot or why.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/swat-and-the-second-amendment/
The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments are gone. The Constitution is gone (no Dope Prohibition Amendment). All to get at dopers.“[Police are] going to be in SWAT gear and have AR-15s around their neck,” Stovall said. “If you’re out walking, we’re going to stop you, ask why you’re out walking, check for your ID.”Stovall said while some people may be offended by the actions of his department, they should not be.
“We’re going to do it to everybody,” he said. “Criminals don’t like being talked to.”
Gaskill backed Stovall’s proposed actions during Thursday’s town hall.
“They may not be doing anything but walking their dog,” he said. “But they’re going to have to prove it.” . . .
“This fear is what’s given us the reason to do this. Once I have stats and people saying they’re scared, we can do this,” he said. “It allows us to do what we’re fixing to do.” . . .
http://deadlinelive.info/2012/12/20/swa ... nding-ids/
They have made SWATing a regular practice against a reviled minority (dopers) and now they are widening the practice to the general population once the precedent was sufficiently set.
Eventually the Drug War will be long gone but SWAT will remain.
And for informational purposes:
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charte ... cript.html
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - B. Franklin
I might add that they will get neither. Just the opposite.
All that is required is that some secret informer or secret agent claim "drugs" and it is open season on you and yours. Especially your dogs:
http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/colum ... 191753803/
That would be on the order of .035 ounces of weed. So there is that. America will be MUCH safer with that weed off the market.
Well my prohibitionist friends you wanted the government to do what ever it had to do to rid the nation of the drug menace. You got a police state in return. And the drugs are still here (they have to be - how else do you justify a police state). The fight against contraband never ends.
Drugs show no sign of being vanquished but government has much more power. Which may have been the desired result all along.