Free Republic

U.S. Gun-Show Customers’ License Plates Come Under Scrutiny Federal agents enlisted local police to scan cars’ plates at shows’ parking lots By Devlin Barrett Oct. 2, 2016 7:35 p.m. ET Federal agents have persuaded police officers to scan license plates to gather information about gun-show customers, government emails show, raising questions about how officials monitor constitutionally protected activity. Emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency crafted a plan in 2010 to use license-plate readers—devices that record the plate numbers of all passing cars—at gun shows in Southern California, including one in...

After a long battle in the courts, pro-lifers in North Carolina will finally be allowed to display their support for unborn babies on their license plates. On Thursday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the “Choose Life” license plates that state lawmakers approved in 2011 are constitutional, according to WRAL. The battle over the North Carolina pro-life plates went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court last year, LifeNews reported. In June 2015, the high court ordered the 4th Circuit Court, which previously struck down the law, to reconsider the case in light of the Supreme...

A woman from Sardinia, NY, was arrested after police noticed her license plate was less an official marking and more of a bad art project. Deputies spotted the poorly plagiarized plate on Amanda Schweickert's car as she drove through Springville, NY, WIVB reported. As far as fakes go, this one was hardly convincing. It appears that Schweickert took a stack of Crayola markers to a license plate-ish size slab of cardboard and thought 'good enough.' She at least stopped at hot gluing macaroni to it. How she thought this would fool authorities is anyone's guess. Naturally, the cops arrested Schweickert...

New York woman arrested for driving with a handmade license plate. On Friday, CBS News reported that Amanda Schweickert, 28, of Sardinia is in trouble for using a fake license plate. She is not supposed to be driving because she has a suspended registration and no car insurance. However, it did not stop her from using a little creativity. She decided to create her own license plate. Authorities say she used a piece of cardboard and painted blue text on it. Although the plate didn’t look too dreadful, it fooled no one. On Wednesday, a police officer pulled Schweickert over...

Officials in Minnesota are revoking a resident's vanity license plate seen as offensive toward Muslims. The plate in question reads "FMUSLMS." Soon after media reports appeared on the plates, a Department of Public Safety spokesman said they would be removed immediately. [...] The plates were approved in June 2015. ...

=San Jose's Garbage Trucks May Do Police Surveillance With License Plate Readers The government of San Jose, Calif. has come forward with a proposal to mount license plate readers to the city’s garbage trucks in an effort to expand police surveillance beyond department cruisers. Have no fear, innocent citizen, for the trash companies may be stepping up to help our friends in blue. San Jose, California happens to be America’s tenth largest city - that makes it pretty difficult for the police force to keep up with everybody. In a story by the local San Jose Mercury News, the new...

HOUSTON - The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles is revoking the personalized license plate issued to a Houston man, because it has now been deemed offensive. “I had it for more than three years without any problem,” Safer Hassan said. Hassan recently received an official letter from the state that said his Texas plate, “370H55V,” would be canceled within 30 days. “People have no idea what that plate means. My closest friends don’t even know,” Hassan said. It is when the license plate is turned upside down that a curse word becomes more evident. The Texas DMV letter alludes to...

There are plenty of smartphone apps that make it easier to flirt and set up dates with strangers, but GM has an ace up its sleeve that may trump all of them. No, the car manufacturer isn’t muscling its way into the dating game – at least not directly. But its China R&D team has developed an Android app that lets a driver scan a license plate in order to start texting the owner of that car. The romantic implications of DiDi Plate, a prototype app debuted earlier this month at the Telematics Detroit 2014 conference, are obvious enough, even...

It might be time to reconsider that license plate frame boasting your allegiance to your favorite baseball team, charitable cause or alma mater, especially if you’re driving in The Hawkeye State. The Iowa Supreme Court just ruled that drivers whose cars display the frames can be stopped if they obscure the small print below the plate numbers. The decision ended a five-year court battle stemming from the 2009 traffic stop of a man suspected of dealing drugs based on information from a confidential informant. The court ruled 5-2 last week that a 1984 law requiring drivers to “permit full view...

Boise, Idaho (CBS SEATTLE) – An Idaho state trooper arrested and fully searched a 70-year-old Washington man’s vehicle solely because he had a Colorado license plate – a state where marijuana is legal – a federal “license plate profiling” lawsuit alleges. Darien Roseen was driving along I-84 between his second home in Colorado and Washington state on Jan. 25 when Idaho State Trooper Justin Klitch “immediately” pulled out from the Interstate median and began “rapidly accelerating” to catch up to Roseen, according to the complaint in a Courthouse News Service report. Exiting at a designated rest area, Roseen says he...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chances are, your local or state police departments have photographs of your car in their files, noting where you were driving on a particular day, even if you never did anything wrong. Using automated scanners, law enforcement agencies across the country have amassed millions of digital records on the location and movement of every vehicle with a license plate, according to a study published Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union. Affixed to police cars, bridges or buildings, the scanners capture images of passing or parked vehicles and note their location, uploading that information into police databases....

CHARLOTTE, December 10, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – North Carolina women are free to choose abortion, but not pro-life license plates. A federal judge has ruled the state can only sell a “Choose Life” vanity plate if it also offers a pro-abortion alternative. U.S. District Judge James C. Fox stated that offering only one side of the argument “constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.” The state legislature passed a bill authorizing the pro-life message with dozens of other specialty plate options in September 2011. The ACLU of North Carolina won an injunction against the plates that December. “We would...

Giving a buddy a ride to work today. You see, back in early July he had actually managed to save up enough $ to buy a new car - his first new car ever. Traded in an 11 year old sedan that was on its last legs... I'm giving him a ride to work today not because there is anything wrong with the car. This is not a rant against any particular manufacturer, union, dealership, etc. I'm giving him a ride because he can no-longer legally drive it, the temporary tags have expired and his new tags haven't come yet.

The first license plate in the country to feature the logo of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender organization goes on sale next month in Indiana. The plates feature the logo of the Indiana Youth Group, an organization that advocates tolerance and provides training for schools and service agencies. Low-number plates are will be given as thank you gifts for those who donate to the Indiana Youth Group.

NO BLAGO plate up for sale on eBay the day of Blagojevich sentencing! (Vanity) Hey FReepers, Since I’ve been on this forum for over a decade I hope you’ll excuse this one little indulgence. I believe the FR community will find this news pretty cool. This is a vanity thread about a vanity license plate I’m selling on eBay this week. I am the proud owner (soon to be former owner) of the only NO BLAGO license plate in Illinois. I’m surprised someone in the lamestream media never noticed that and asked me about the item. (Ironically, if you...

A new bill pre-filed in the Georgia General Assembly this month would not only allowdrivers to obtain license plates reading “In God We Trust,” but would in fact require them on all vehicles – unless drivers pay to cover it up. Georgia SB 293 would amend current law to mandate that, starting next summer, all plates would be imprinted with the religious declaration. If someone does not wish to exhibit this statement of faith, they would be required to purchase a sticker from the state displaying the name of their county that could be used to cover “In God We...

"After all, I think Forrest as the most remarkable man our 'Civil War' produced on either side.”

It looks like Californians’ tax dollars aren’t going to plug any holes in the State’s budget, so now lawmakers are considering making all registered vehicles mobile advertising billboards without the permission of motorists. The digital license plate scheme was hatched by [ http://dist26.casen.govoffice.com/ ]State Sen. Curren Price (D) with the expectation of generating advertising revenue that could reduce California’s $19 billion budget deficit. According to Curren, “We’re just trying to find creative ways of generating additional revenues.” According to the [ http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15338527?nclick_check=1 ]San Jose Mercury, “The legislative analysis of SB1453 does not include estimates of how much revenue could be saved or gained...

A proposed license plate that would allow drivers to express pride in Florida's Hispanic heritage could become available soon to many of the 3.8 million Latinos who call the state home. The "Hispanic Achievers" plate made it to the short list of several tags attached to bills passed by the Legislature. It is heading to the desk of Gov. Charlie Crist, who could veto the bill, sign it into law or allow it to pass by default if he does not act within 15 days. A Crist spokesman said Tuesday that the governor has not yet received the bill.The proposal,...

MARBLEHEAD — Biff Michaud lifted the door to his garage, looked at the license plate on his black Cadillac Escalade, and began to weep. This, Michaud insisted, is not just any old tag. In a state where drivers covet low-number plates, clamoring by the thousands for the few made available every year, Michaud’s is among the crème de la crème: He is the proud owner of the lowest possible bus license plate — “1’’ — which was passed down from his late father and which he believes is a rightful part of his family legacy...