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BEWARE: No-Knock SWAT Attacks
Townhall.com ^ | March 24, 2014 | Katie Kieffer

Posted on 03/24/2014 7:43:21 AM PDT by Kaslin

Gun owners beware. Squirt gun owners, that includes you. If a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team SUSPECTS you of crime, you may receive a late-night visit from an armed SWAT team.

That’s right, an armed and militant SWAT team could trot right through your front door as you slumber this summer. No-knock warrants are increasingly used by military-style police units, like SWAT teams for drug raids. Unfortunately, SWAT teams can obtain these warrants too easily from judges and consequently do not always perform sufficient due diligence. As a result, tens of thousands of decent, law-abiding American citizens are surprised every year by a no-knock visit when the SWAT team gets it wrong.

While we do not know the exact number of wrongful No-Knock SWAT invasions, a 2006 article by Cato Institute policy analyst put the number at 40,000 a year! We must rally together and use our freedom of speech to protest such an atrocity.

Think about it: When a SWAT team invades the wrong home in the middle of the night, as happened in the case of Tracy Ingle in 2008, the results can be bloody. SWAT team members barreled through Ingle’s main door and bedroom window under the cover of darkness. Understandably, Ingle thought he was being robbed and attempted to exercise his natural right to self-defense by reaching for what The New American describes as “a non-working gun.”

Completely disregarding Ingle’s natural and constitutional rights to self-defense (2nd Amendment); private property (4th Amendment) and right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty (4th, 5th and 6th Amendments)—the SWAT team fired at Ingle over nine times—pummeling his chest, calf, arm and hip and shattering his leg bone.

It wasn’t until afterward that the SWAT team thought to verify Ingle’s identity by asking him if he was the criminal they were looking for named “Michael.” When they realized Ingle was not “Michael” but “Terry,” they rushed him to the hospital.

We certainly have many good and conscientious law enforcement officers in the United States. However, it is completely unjust and unethical for a team of law enforcement officers to storm into our homes and blast bullet holes through any moving shadow. Using this irresponsible method of “law enforcement,” a SWAT team could also accidently kill many innocent bystanders such as children, spouses or even pets who happen to live at the same house as the suspected criminal.

58 percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana, according to an October 2013 Gallup report. The number of Americans who favor legalization has risen steadily as more Americans witness the failure of the “War on Drugs.” The combination of violent Mexican drug lords and unethical American drug cops (think Eric Holder) has been a recipe for disaster. Besides performing better due diligence, there’s another solution to preventing wrongful No-Knock SWAT invasions. If we were to legalize drugs, we would see a decrease in the narcotic crime rate. Legitimate business owners would eventually put the drug cartels out of business by reducing their profit margins.

How many more “Fasts and Furious” scandals are we willing to endure where we lose the lives of U.S. Border Patrol agents like Nicolas Ivie and Brian Terry? How many more chronically ill patients must be deprived of natural and effective treatment for their cancer or multiple sclerosis? How many more Terry Ingles need to wake up in the middle of the night to a spray of SWAT bullets? How many more Americans need to endure needless pain and bloodshed before we recognize the constitutional right of states to legalize drugs? One more American is one too many.

Speak up and tell your elected representatives to defend your 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Amendment rights. Say no to No-Knock SWAT Team invasions.

Gun owners beware. Squirt gun owners, that includes you. If a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team SUSPECTS you of crime, you may receive a late-night visit from an armed SWAT team.

That’s right, an armed and militant SWAT team could trot right through your front door as you slumber this summer. No-knock warrants are increasingly used by military-style police units, like SWAT teams for drug raids. Unfortunately, SWAT teams can obtain these warrants too easily from judges and consequently do not always perform sufficient due diligence. As a result, tens of thousands of decent, law-abiding American citizens are surprised every year by a no-knock visit when the SWAT team gets it wrong.

While we do not know the exact number of wrongful No-Knock SWAT invasions, a 2006 article by Cato Institute policy analyst put the number at 40,000 a year! We must rally together and use our freedom of speech to protest such an atrocity.

Think about it: When a SWAT team invades the wrong home in the middle of the night, as happened in the case of Tracy Ingle in 2008, the results can be bloody. SWAT team members barreled through Ingle’s main door and bedroom window under the cover of darkness. Understandably, Ingle thought he was being robbed and attempted to exercise his natural right to self-defense by reaching for what The New American describes as “a non-working gun.”

Completely disregarding Ingle’s natural and constitutional rights to self-defense (2nd Amendment); private property (4th Amendment) and right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty (4th, 5th and 6th Amendments)—the SWAT team fired at Ingle over nine times—pummeling his chest, calf, arm and hip and shattering his leg bone.

It wasn’t until afterward that the SWAT team thought to verify Ingle’s identity by asking him if he was the criminal they were looking for named “Michael.” When they realized Ingle was not “Michael” but “Terry,” they rushed him to the hospital.

We certainly have many good and conscientious law enforcement officers in the United States. However, it is completely unjust and unethical for a team of law enforcement officers to storm into our homes and blast bullet holes through any moving shadow. Using this irresponsible method of “law enforcement,” a SWAT team could also accidently kill many innocent bystanders such as children, spouses or even pets who happen to live at the same house as the suspected criminal.

58 percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana, according to an October 2013 Gallup report. The number of Americans who favor legalization has risen steadily as more Americans witness the failure of the “War on Drugs.” The combination of violent Mexican drug lords and unethical American drug cops (think Eric Holder) has been a recipe for disaster. Besides performing better due diligence, there’s another solution to preventing wrongful No-Knock SWAT invasions. If we were to legalize drugs, we would see a decrease in the narcotic crime rate. Legitimate business owners would eventually put the drug cartels out of business by reducing their profit margins.

How many more “Fasts and Furious” scandals are we willing to endure where we lose the lives of U.S. Border Patrol agents like Nicolas Ivie and Brian Terry? How many more chronically ill patients must be deprived of natural and effective treatment for their cancer or multiple sclerosis? How many more Terry Ingles need to wake up in the middle of the night to a spray of SWAT bullets? How many more Americans need to endure needless pain and bloodshed before we recognize the constitutional right of states to legalize drugs? One more American is one too many.

Speak up and tell your elected representatives to defend your 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Amendment rights. Say no to No-Knock SWAT Team invasions.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: banglist; barf; donutwatch; druggierant; guns; leosoutofcontrol; paultards; pothead; secondamendment; swat; swatteam
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To: Durus
No. This was in November...vegetable plants (all were outside) had already been pulled. We have the affidavits where the informant(s) are named. None of the items you cited are applicable...one of the informants is a 'pillar of the community' and has friends on the police force.

I use three workbench lights from Home Depot to grow my seedlings (which are planted in Spring)...that is why I have been warning people about 'grow lights' on the garden thread...apparently they are now considered 'probable cause'.

Too late for us...only by the grace of Jehovah that we weren't gunned down in our own home. Everyone else? Keep an eye out.

81 posted on 03/24/2014 11:36:36 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: Kaslin
While we do not know the exact number of wrongful No-Knock SWAT invasions, a 2006 article by Cato Institute policy analyst put the number at 40,000 a year!

What a USELESS sentence!

We either know or we don't.


NO one will convince ME that over 100 a DAY occur in this country!

82 posted on 03/24/2014 12:00:07 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: who knows what evil?

Do you STILL live there?


83 posted on 03/24/2014 12:02:46 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

But the Swatters usually only cause flesh wounds...


84 posted on 03/24/2014 12:04:23 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: gettinolder

Us older dudes can do some math in our heads; can’t we!!!


85 posted on 03/24/2014 12:05:13 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: BuffaloJack
Way less than CHOICE has...
86 posted on 03/24/2014 12:07:44 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: who knows what evil?
They had every intention of conducting a 'no knock warrant' right here in Red Hampshire...

Sounds like some ELECTED 'officials' need to be on the RECEIVING end of these 'neighbor' caused visits...

87 posted on 03/24/2014 12:10:31 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie
NO one will convince ME that over 100 a DAY occur in this country!

But; then again; not enough people know or CARE that CHOICE consumes 3,300 human lives every day in this country.

88 posted on 03/24/2014 12:14:31 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie
Do you STILL live there?

Yes, although I am vacating the neighborhood this weekend. We hope to go back to Tennessee this coming October, come 'heck' or high water.

89 posted on 03/24/2014 12:26:06 PM PDT by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: who knows what evil?

I think it might be time to formulate an exit strategy for my state. :-(


90 posted on 03/24/2014 12:36:25 PM PDT by Durus (You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. Ayn Rand)
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To: Elsie
We either know or we don't.

Not really...how would CATO know that my wife and I were victims of a 'no knock'? It didn't make the papers because no blood was spilled and pit bulls weren't involved. Ergo, no interest from statisticians...

91 posted on 03/24/2014 12:37:04 PM PDT by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: Durus

My wife was BORN here, and she can’t wait to leave. Her friends are ALL in Tennessee...


92 posted on 03/24/2014 12:38:21 PM PDT by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: gettinolder; Elsie
That'd be over 100 mistaken identity raids every 24 hour period, right?

The KEY word here is 'wrongful', NOT 'mistaken identity'. Our name was on the warrant, but they discovered that we were only guilty of growing tomatoes and peppers. Like the paperwork says: 'Nothing was seized'.

Give them time...they'll outlaw gardens soon enough.

93 posted on 03/24/2014 12:42:35 PM PDT by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

The first pic looks like al queda prancing around.


94 posted on 03/24/2014 1:13:27 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: Kaslin

Had Enough Yet ?


95 posted on 03/24/2014 1:53:39 PM PDT by S.O.S121.500 (Had Enough Yet ? ........................ Enforce the Bill of Rights ......... It's the LAW !!!)
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To: Elsie
NO one will convince ME that over 100 a DAY occur in this country!

I suggest you read Radly Balko's book, Rise of the Warrior Cop. In New York City alone in 2002, there were 450 such raids per month, 10% of which were visited upon the wrong address, this according to Police Chief Raymond Kelly.

96 posted on 03/24/2014 5:02:17 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie

That’s 15 a day


97 posted on 03/24/2014 5:45:51 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Kaslin
[Art.] How many more Americans need to endure needless pain and bloodshed before we recognize the constitutional right of states to legalize drugs?

There it is. Another junkie-wannabe, whining for her OJ's.

Bah.

98 posted on 03/24/2014 6:46:21 PM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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To: logi_cal869
Ummm...what’s a good-for-nothing ‘representative’ going to do about this when it’s carved in stone in the US Constitution?

The USSC has a proven history of hatred of the fourth amendment — and the first, and the second, and the sixth, and the ninth, and the tenth.

99 posted on 03/24/2014 6:47:00 PM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
It is liberal, not conservative, philosophy that brought us Prohibition and all its cousins.

The problem changes when we realize that, as with Indian drunkenness (shared with other populations, hence "Irish disease", which I've had in my own family as such because it's true), there are people for whom some substances are too powerful and too powerfully addictive, who lose their humanity because they indulge.

Don't tell me a junkie's going to turn down a smoking heroin joint. Give him a whiff of that, and then impress me by showing me how he waves it off and says "no".

Addiction is a game-changer. It's no longer a matter of free consumption.

100 posted on 03/24/2014 6:51:22 PM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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