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When is it OK For the Cops to Take Guns?
Vanity | April 13, 2018 | Jim Noble

Posted on 04/13/2018 10:35:41 AM PDT by Jim Noble

We’ve been discussing this topic a lot here, so I wanted to post a story and get opinions.

True story.

Wednesday night a kid, HS junior, sends a Snapchat to his “friends” a picture of himself holding an AR-pattern rifle with a caption “don’t come to school tomorrow”.

Cops go to the house. He says it was a joke. He’s suspended and banned from campus. He’s not (so far) arrested.

Question is, do you (the cops) leave the rifle or take it?


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: guncontrol; schoolshootings
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To: PGR88

Considering that the kid made a terroristic threat on social media, that search/arrest warrant would be signed by a judge in the time that it would take him to reach for a pen. Life is hard. Life is a lot harder when you’re stupid.


41 posted on 04/13/2018 10:42:49 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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To: MeganC

A terroristic threat made on social media is all the probable cause they would ever need. Don’t want the mod-squad at your house? Don’t be threatening to shoot people. And this moron was stupid enough to put it in writing. What is wrong with you people?


42 posted on 04/13/2018 10:46:31 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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To: Chewbarkah

In most states this is open-and-shut Making a Terroristic Threat. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. Don’t know if it’s a felony but I’ll bet it is.


43 posted on 04/13/2018 10:49:22 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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To: Politically Correct

Yep! I’m as pro-gun as anybody but there’s a lot of morons on this thread that think making terroristic threats is OK. The kid is a moron but this is ultimately a major parenting fail.


44 posted on 04/14/2018 3:28:43 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

Sorry but not all ‘terrorist threats’ are terrorist threats.

And once we remove due process from the mix and allow people’s lives to be upended by arbitrary government action then sooner or later some SOB in government will find a way to pervert your well-intentioned idea into something where they spy on everyone, search everyone, and imprison everyone any time they want...in the name of ‘security’.

As the wise old saying goes: “Those who would trade liberty for security often end up with neither.”


45 posted on 04/16/2018 8:24:11 AM PDT by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism.)
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To: Jim Noble

The replies here are all over the map, exposing a much larger problem than the question itself.

The correct Conservative response is “due process” depending, of course, on the local/state/federal laws pertaining to making a threat. The scenario was posed as though it was a threat, so I defer to local laws and LEO in that respect. I make that statement with a droll of sarcasm given what we know of Sheriff Israel.

Because we are a Republic it is likely that the correct action will vary by jurisdiction.

Thus, my initial “due process” should be the correct answer from all - with varied response by jurisdiction - but sadly ignorance rears its ugly head here once again.

.02


46 posted on 04/16/2018 10:34:03 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: MeganC

It is utterly appalling that you would defend death-threats. The next time there’s a mass-shooting, I better not see you on that thread complaining that the cops weren’t doing their job. Apparently that’s how you like it.


47 posted on 04/16/2018 9:46:50 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

If you pull your head out of your benighted bunghole for a moment you’d see that I was not defending ‘death threats’.

I wasn’t even defending terrorist threats...which is what YOUR post was about.

What I take exception to is granting the police and politicians a loophole to due process that allows them to classify any speech at all as a ‘terrorist threat’ and then use that exception to attack whoever they want.

Example: Pro-life protesters planning on a peaceful protest in front of an abortion clinic are already being accused of making ‘terrorist threats’ by those who wish to silence them.

The anti-gun rights crowd never misses a chance to label almost every lawful activity by gun owners as a terrorist threat.

Why should we hand these people a tool to steal our rights and oppress us?

There’s a reason why due process is considered an inalienable right and we should not give it up so easily just because the media has scared people into surrendering their rights.

Speaking of threats let’s take a look at what you posted to me:

“... I better not see you on that thread complaining...”

That, my friend, is probably enough to pass muster as one of those ‘terrorist threats’ you’re so worried about.

Should I call the police and have them lock you up, take your guns, and deprive you of your rights all because someone can choose to interpret your post as a terrorist threat?

I ask: DO YOU WANT THIS TO HAPPEN TO YOU????

Of course not.

Then kindly don’t give me any crap when I say I don’t want it to happen to ANYONE.

The Constitution doesn’t have any loopholes.

Please don’t make any.


48 posted on 04/17/2018 8:17:16 AM PDT by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism.)
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To: MeganC

Wow, where to start?

First off, threatening to kill people is not a “right”. The First Amendment does not give you the “right” to go into a crowded theaters and yell “fire”. Threatening to kill people is a crime, a fact that you’re clearly not aware of or think is wrong. When you do that, you’ve committed the crime of assault at the very least. Many states have aggravating circumstances in the law. A very common one, in the state law of many states, is called “Making Terroristic Threats”, which is what this kid did when he threatened the lives of everybody that attends his school.

The charge “Making Terroristic Threats” does not mean that the federal government has identified you as a terrorist and is sending over the mod squad to grab you in the middle of the night and haul you to Guantanamo, Cuba. What it does mean is that you’re being officially accused of threatening to kill a lot of people. A lot of people, except you, find this very serious. In fact, it’s serious enough to have the person charged and their guns taken away because it doesn’t make much sense to wait until after they’ve bombed the school and shot the place up.

See, here the thing about rights. With rights comes responsibility. Having rights doesn’t mean that you get to walk around in an impenetrable bubble where you get to do anything you want any time anywhere without accountability. Threatening to kill everybody at your school (in essence, committing X counts of assault, where X=the number of people at your school) is not a 1st or 2nd Amendment right. Don’t want this problem? Then don’t threaten to kill EVERYBODY you work with or go to school with.

I’m as pro-gun as anybody. I think it’s stupid that 100% of all felons can’t legally own a gun. Come on, stealing a felony amount of something (which is like a couple of hundred bucks) means you can’t own a gun ever again? Or drug possession where you weren’t even carrying a gun or threatening anybody with one? Yeah, that’s messed up. But posting a threat on social media that you’re going to take out hundreds of people? Hmmm, not so much. You don’t get to use the “just kidding, just a silly joke” defense when caught, either. If that was a valid defense, nobody would ever be guilty of anything ever again. Getting caught walking out of Costco with $500 in merchandise and saying to the cops, “I wasn’t REALLY taking this stuff, I was testing their security.” Not gonna fly, and it shouldn’t.

Same thing with this juvenile delinquent that needs a few months in jail to get his head straight. Don’t want your gun taken away? Then don’t be threatening hundreds of people with it.

As for your question, “DO YOU WANT THIS TO HAPPEN TO YOU????” No, I don’t, that’s why I don’t go around threatening to blow people’s brains out like the little whacko that started this whole thing.


49 posted on 04/19/2018 7:55:39 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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