Posted on 03/12/2008 11:12:03 PM PDT by Nick Thimmesch
"D.C. police are so eager to get guns out of the city that they're offering amnesty to people who allow officers to come into their homes and get the weapons.
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced yesterday the Safe Homes Initiative, aimed at parents and guardians who know or suspect that their children or other relatives have guns. Under the deal, police target areas hit by violence and seek adults who let them search their homes for guns, with no risk of arrest. The offer also applies to drugs that turn up during the searches, police said.
The program is scheduled to start March 24 in the Washington Highlands area of Southeast Washington. Officers will go door-to-door seeking permission to search homes for weapons. Police later plan to visit other areas, including sections of Columbia Heights in Northwest and Eckington in Northeast."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I don't own a gun or weapon of anykind (except my baseball bat in the closet): never have, never will. I totally support the right to own, conceal, transport, trade and properly use guns of just about any type for any rational reason, including hunting. However, I'd be dammed before I would "consent" to a warrantless, no-cause "search" of my HOME for guns ("Why," I'd ask them, "are you missing yours?")
If the cops wanna find guns & stuff: get off their fat asses and hit the streets.
Oh, yes: one more point.
As a life-long Washingtonian, I can tell you that the “neighborhoods” they are targeting are, well, you know: “black”.
It would be a sight to see the DC cops going door-to-door in say, the Cleveland Park section, the Chevy Chase section, the American University Park area, or along Foxhall Road, offering to search people’s homes & children.
Indeed, if the cops are going to pull this crap they ought to do it “randomly” in ever section of the city, including the aforementioned, well, ah, “white” sections.
Ping
"Fenty (D) and Lanier announced the plan as part of a new strategy to deal with the prevalence of firearms in a city that has one of the strictest gun control laws in the nation."
I can't help but notice, the Washington Post is the one who made that point.
Number two? ...good luck fellas.
Why do they have to search the house?
If the folks are giving their permission and are willing to surrender their arms, then shouldn’t the people just hand them the weapons at the front door?
In some cases, the bullets may be turned over first, but a search really shouldn’t be necessary especially if amnesty for possession of the guns or drugs is attached.
One other thing, what a great way to get rid of the evidence of a crime you’ve committed. Just turn it into police without jeopardy attached. That’ll help the crime rate.
What a bunch of marroons!
If the idiocy wasn't so commonplace I would say it is surreal! I am sure no reporter will ask the mayor or anyone else just exactly which criminals will turn in their guns.
Goose step’s the new step ... today....
You just know there’s a catch.
Say “Joe” kills his wife, calls the cops and says “I think there’s a gun here.”
Cops come find gun and dead wife. Are the cops gonna say “Ya outfoxed us, Joe!”
No, at most he goes for murder and not for illegal gun possession (assuming it was an illegal gun anyway.)
If they want to bust somebody they will. If not for the gun, then for “endangerment” or something.
Same for drugs, not possession but contributing or dealing or something.
Even innocent grandparents would be fools to risk this. It’s an invitation to play with cops. Unarmed.
Exactly. They’d need a brain in order to figure that out.
I was not referring to a situation where the murder just took place, but I guess that I wasn’t clear on that.
The ones that will be busted are those that are not really criminals. I wouldn’t trust the cops any further than I could throw them. No way am I letting them in without a warrant.
"DC Police. Whattagot in the house?"
"What's goin' on?"
"We're goin' house to house searchin' for guns and drugs. Whatta got?"
"Uh, nuthin."
Oh, come on! If you don't have anything, let us search. Do you have something to hide?"
"I don't feel confort-"
"Any warrants? Just let us in and you won't have any trouble."
"Come on in, I guess."
I have heard acquaintances say ... "The police can come in my house anytime. I've got nothing to hide."
When asked if they know we have fought wars over that very premise, they act like it's nothing at all.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
S'ok, I understood. I was just using an extreme to illustrate that I'm sure the offer has lots of loopholes.
No way am I letting them in without a warrant.
Definitely. Only the naive would play this game.
I live in DC, Shaw to be exact, and having had dealings with DC’s finest, the answer will be:
“GET A WARRANT”
They didn’t say that they wouldn’t prosecute anyone. They said that they wouldn’t prosecute the person who let them conduct the search...”unless the gun was used in a crime”!!
“Officers will go door-to-door seeking permission to search homes for weapons.”
“DC Police. Whattagot in the house?”
“What’s goin’ on?”
“We’re goin’ house to house searchin’ for guns and drugs. Whatta got?”
“Uh, nuthin.”
Oh, come on! If you don’t have anything, let us search. Do you have something to hide?”
“I don’t feel confort-”
“Any warrants? Just let us in and you won’t have any trouble.”
“Come on in, I guess.”
BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!
When those DC anti-gun laws are overturned, suddenly a great many guns in DC will be, for most practical purposes, legal. Simple possession & carry will no longer be a crime outright, and will not be presumptive evidence that a crime has occurred (ex.: just having it probably means you stole it, or deliberately failed to register it).
So...
DC apparently plans to confiscate as many guns as possible before they suddenly become legal in a few months.
Voluntary now, coerced later. Don’t trust them.
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