3/12/2013

What the future might look like: "California Seizes Guns as Owners Lose Right to Keep Arms"

This story is as sympathetic as possible to the government going into a person's home and taking their guns.  Nine officers going in to the home seems like more than a little bit of overkill.  As far as I can tell from the story, there is no discussion that indicates that this gun owner represented a threat to himself or others. From Bloomberg:
Wearing bulletproof vests and carrying 40-caliber Glock pistols, nine California Justice Department agents assembled outside a ranch-style house in a suburb east of Los Angeles. They were looking for a gun owner who’d recently spent two days in a mental hospital.  
 They knocked on the door and asked to come in. About 45 minutes later, they came away peacefully with three firearms.  
California is the only state that tracks and disarms people with legally registered guns who have lost the right to own them, according to Attorney General Kamala Harris. Almost 20,000 gun owners in the state are prohibited from possessing firearms, including convicted felons, those under a domestic violence restraining order or deemed mentally unstable. . . . .

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5 Comments:

Blogger Theron said...

What counts as "registration" in California? There's no permit required to purchase or possess a firearm. Are they storing the safety certificate or background check applications?

3/12/2013 8:23 PM  
Blogger Ryan said...

I've been researching these laws for a paper in my law class. I don't see how seizing guns based on a restraining order passes scrutiny under the Fourth Amendment, given the requirement for probable cause to conduct a seizure. Restraining orders are subjective and can be issued based on mere suspicion.

Also, given the propensity for psychiatrists nowadays to label every little issue a disorder and prescribe medications accordingly, as well as probability that anyone could be diagnosed with SOMETHING listed in the latest DSM, it seems like a slippery slope.

3/13/2013 12:50 AM  
Blogger Ryan said...

By the way, I tried looking up some of your published articles using my university's Summon database finder, and most of the links did not work.

I'm not saying there is a conspiracy or anything, but I am glad I already own More Guns, Less Crime and follow you here.

3/13/2013 12:58 AM  
Blogger Martin G. Schalz said...

Due process, the 4th amendment, privacy, and the 2nd amendment are no longer in effect in Californication?

3/13/2013 10:39 AM  
Blogger Ryan said...

That law would have to be challenged in court. I don't know if it has yet.

3/13/2013 10:45 AM  

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