Posted on 11/12/2013 9:36:39 AM PST by moonshinner_09
A Massachusetts politician has put forth a proposal to allow local police to enter homes without a warrant in order to inspect whether gun owners are properly storing their firearms.The idea was floated by Swampsott Selectman Barry Greenfield, who expressed frustration about the Newtown school massacre in the neighboring state of Connecticut and in other cases where people have obtained their parents’ guns to carry out shootings.
“We need the ability to enforce the state law,” Greenfield said, according to the Swampscott Patch.
The town of Swampscott reportedly has about 600 gun owners. Under Massachusetts law, it is “unlawful to store or keep any firearm … in any place unless such weapon is secured in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device, properly engaged so as to render such weapon inoperable by any person other than the owner or other lawfully authorized user.”
Greenfield said he spoke with Swampscott Police Chief Ron Madigan about inspecting homes for proper gun storage.
But Selectman Glenn Kessler said there are questions about the constitutionality of the proposal and wants input from law enforcement, legal counsel and town residents. There will likely be a meeting to solicit town input, the Patch reported.
Washington state considered a similar law earlier this year, according to Boston Herald columnist Michael Graham.
“Then some lawyer heard a rumor about some ‘Second Amendment thingy’ and it went away,” Graham wrote.
“This isn’t a Second Amendment issue. It’s a Fourth Amendment one — unreasonable search and seizure,” Graham continued. “If Swampscott residents who don’t own guns sit back and allow this to happen, they’ll be playing their role in the famous parable of Martin Niemoller: “First they came for the gun owners, but I didn’t own a gun …”
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(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
Lord help the nice policemen who try to invade private residences on this new gun control duty!
(when will these damned politicians stop trying to destroy this country!?)
> Here’s the little butt wipe trying to backpedal, crying about his family getting threatened and other such garbage.
Surely he is doing NOTHING...nothing at all to his people to make him come under attack. We all know how the liberals like to create fiction on the fly for the MSM to push agendas. I doubt even one word of it is true.
silly nonsense. Clearly would not meet Constitutional scrutiny. Just another dumb ass politician shooting his mouth off..
The birth of our revolution, Lexington and Concord, “Let it begin here!” I wonder what happened. Government started getting too big, socialist immigrants became an influential voting bloc, cities got too crowded, and all who could (producers) moved west?
This bafoon is scary! How could anyone propose that the police enter homes without a warrant for any reason? This tootsi-roll is completely out of it!
The pistol is stored right by the bed, in easy reach, loaded and with the safety off.
Shoot for the kneecaps, then the next one is a head shot.
The only reason for a pistol is so one could fight the way to the semi-automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine.
2nd and 4th Amendment violations!
Stay away from my house!
What makes you think I have anything that needs inspecting?
You have no right to any such records!
Form 4473. And I may be wrong but I believe that a copy of the registration form that is filled out at sale is forwarded to the MA Dept. of Public Safety. It's been a long time since I've purchased.
It's also a 3rd amendment issue regarding agents of the state.
-PJ
Questions? Anyone with a high school diploma should know there are no questions about the constitutionality of searches of the home without due process. Heck, the average TV viewer knows this from watching cop shows. How did this guy get elected to office?
The Founding Fathers said NO. What part of the Bill of Rights do these people not understand? Why do they get to choose the rules?
"What good fortune for the state that people do not think!"
Adolph Hitler 1933
“When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side,’ I calmly say, ‘Your child belongs to us already... What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community’."
Adolph Hitler Speech November 1933
Think Germany, 1932! We're getting close, people! Very, very close!!
The law in MA:
MA General Law: "Section 131L. (a) It shall be unlawful to store or keep any firearm, rifle or shotgun including, but not limited to, large capacity weapons, or machine gun in any place unless such weapon is secured in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device, properly engaged so as to render such weapon inoperable by any person other than the owner or other lawfully authorized user. For purposes of this section, such weapon shall not be deemed stored or kept if carried by or under the control of the owner or other lawfully authorized user."
Now..."under the control of the owner"...As I read this I conclude that the storage Statute is essentially null when firearms are being carried or under the control of the owner (it says it right there in the language). So my question is; At the point of which the Police execute the scheduled (but still illegal) search the firearms would, even if laying about, in fact be "under the control of the owner". Therefore there would be no violation for the Police to act on.
UNLESS...there is no one home when they execute a search. Which brings about a different set of problems altogether.
The Lieberals (Canada) tried this with their original long gun registry proposal. Guns had to be locked (unloaded) in a gun safe and ammunition locked in a separate container, each with different keys.
In the original proposal which was quickly quashed, if someone claimed that you had an unregistered gun on your property, the police could then enter and search your property without an order from a judge. If you refused the search, you would be arrested and charged and the search conducted.
The good news is, the gun registry has been taken off the books in Canada. The bad news is, the Lieberals will likely form the next government, when we have a general election within the next 2 1/2 years.
As I posted earlier, MA Gen. Laws Section 131L(a) that require firearms to be locked up also states:
For purposes of this section, such weapon shall not be deemed stored or kept if carried by or under the control of the owner or other lawfully authorized user.
So...this inspection would need to be done while no one is home. Will they do this? No. The local PD in Swampscott has come out against this idea and Greenfield is back pedalling so fast he is leaving skid marks.
Actually, having lived in the California Bay Area (Silicon Valley) since forever, it sounds like a credible article out of the SF Chronicle or the San Jose Mercury (communist elite liberal barsterds) News. Indeed, I would not be surprised if Moonbeam brown and whoever the current mayor of Frisco is decides that this would be a "Good Thing".
You know, like declaring Frisco (and Berkely, I think) to be a "sanctuary city" and denying "permits" for almost everyone and any firearm. Except for the esteemed leaders and their pet LBGAT friends and cops (oftentimes the same ones, yes) or their security employees.
My heart breaks when I see what liberal democrats are doing to us -all for our own good, of course.
“secured in a locked container “
How about:
My door is locked. I am living in a locked container.
One could argue that anyone willing to invade private residences are part of the problem and deserve whatever happens to them.
Simple solution for the pols is to get a warrant based on the fact that said household has at least one holder of a firearms license, and there is no other way to see if any firearms in the house are stored according to [state] or [local] laws.
That solves the Fourth Amendment issues. For the children.
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