The goons do this, b/c it’s fun! They get off on the rush. War games in the “war.”

Why do I hate crooked police action you may ask? I had a goon raid occur in my residence based upon a just-committed search by an informant sent back into my house. Oh, neat twist: he is wearing a wire, gonna converse about pot buying I guess, of course overriding the primary SEARCH purpose. Can’t claim sales; informant is my oldest son, a DARE grad, having contacted a DARE officer, my son escorted by his mommie, my ex.

No criminal history by me and no actions committed by me at all. Yet, I am seen all night long thru open glass, and there is nothing in the record about me having 2 pistols in a locked safe, never ever brandishing.

Still, I get a door knock, answert the door, and am pulled out at gunpoint and whisked to jail after my home is bum-rushed.

There is no warrant, just a backdated one much later. Think I had a malpracticing colluding son-of-a-bitch defense attorney?

Charges dismissed, though somehow in my civil suit (dismissed by, you guessed it, qualified immunity) the reporting appellate court says there is a valid search warrant. How does that fit congruently?!

God help us. The drone thing and some new violations of the Fourth? Nothing new; happens all the time.

Three SORT squads ? … to respond to two folks with “conceal/carry” ? … for one questionable “kiddy porn” picture ?

By the reaction, before the fact, of the LEOs, you’d think that these two folks were bank robbers, drug runners or terrorists with an arsenal of weapons .. or do they have mortars and RPGs for those cases ?

It’s important to clarify what was granted qualified immunity and what was not. The police (well, Sheriff’s dept) asserted qualified immunity for: (a) exercising a no-knock warrant without probable cause, and (b) accusations of excessive force. The Sheriff’s dept asserted (badly and without merit in my view, which is inline with the majority opinion’s view) that they had probable cause to suspect that Bellotte would be armed & dangerous, and possibly might have kidnapped a child. Therefore, they believed their tactics were justified.

The 4th circuit actually *did* grant them qualified immunity on charges of excessive force related to their entry of the home with weapons drawn. This immunity does not extend to accusations made by the adolescent boy that they stomped on his back and held a gun to his head. Qualified immunity only extends to conduct that is legal. This allegation, if proven to be true, is illegal. The circuit court ruled that the Bellotte’s are entitled to have their day in court on that matter.

The 4th circuit however *did not* grant qualified immunity to accusations of civil rights violations stemming from the no-knock raid. The Sheriff’s department was not able to articulate a reasonable risk. They essentially argued that they needed to storm the house because sex-offenders are “monsters” but had no compelling evidence that this potential sex-offender was a monster.

So… on one front, this opinion reinforces or supports excessive force, use of SWAT, etc in so far as such tactics are used to decisively take control over a situation. On the other hand, it holds the police accountable for specious or fantastical scenarios for justifying using those tactics. It’s not a complete win for those of us who are concerned by the escalating militarization of our police forces.

If you lose your 4th Amendment rights because a cop found a record that you legally use your 2nd Amendment rights, it’s also a 2nd Amendment issue.

Disarm the police. ALL police; right now.

Miguel (#23): “The NRA is now a bit busy with Pro Gun Legislation in [list of states]“

So bloody what? The NRA has a history of compromising with the people who falsely presume that they have the authority to violate the rights of individuals to self defense. So, excuse me if I am wholly unimpressed that they are “busy with pro-gun legislation” anywhere. They have no standing to negotiate on my behalf with people who seek to deny me my rights and I’d just as soon they go jump in a lake before presuming to speak for me.

“…have you thought about joining the Second Amendment Foundation?“

I’m in agreement with Billy Beck that the repeal of the 2nd amendment would do more than just about anything to clarify the matter.

When people stop looking to pieces of paper for protections of their rights, right and wrong come into stark contrast.

Your right to self defense has nothing to do with the constitution, laws, judges, or police. The fact that your life is your own is enough to morally entitle you to use the best tools available to stop those who would try to take it away.

I assume this will expand, until almost every arrest involves terrorism somehow, and so the authorities can not warn a suspect that he doesn’t have to talk to them. Testimony gotten before the miranda warning apparently can’t be used as evidence, but I’ll bet the average suspect will not be at all clear about which parts of his questioning sessions are and are not evidence. And pretty clearly, this is what is being claimed in broad daylight–in reality, I expect all kinds of misbehavior to be done, with this as cover.

I voted for Obama last time. That’s one mistake I won’t be repeating.

Lemme see. The NRA is now a bit busy with Pro Gun Legislation and passage in Florida, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Nevada, Idaho, Texas, Oregon, Illinois, The UN and even the US Congress. Bills go form Right to Open Carry to Carry to Constitutional Carry to Campus Carry, Privacy of Gun Owners vs Doctors.

The NRA is not the entitlement program for lazy gun owners. You don’t like something, get your ass off the chair and do something about it other than bitching in the interwebs.

GOA has been doing….pretty much nothing other than sending email alerts and requesting funds as usual. No Compromise… yeah right. Batting ZERO in either legislation or judicial results.

You don’t like the NRA? Fine, have you thought about joining the Second Amendment Foundation? They do court cases… Supreme Court cases. You might have heard of DC v Heller or McDonald v Chicago I presume.

Why would a person target his family by registering a self-defence capability to the Asset Forfetuire & Puppicide Brigade? Even if the cops make a mistake (IMPOSSIBLE!) & visit you, best not too let ‘em know about your secret friend, unless it is needed.

I mean, what the fuck. How does one not know the diff between an adult and prepubescent child? Such a lack of competency would get someone fired in the private sector.

Might I direct Marty’s attention to the AR-7 Survival Rifle. The stock is the gun case, the gun is disassembled and stowed within it. Reassembly under stress takes about the same amount of time as dealing with most trigger locks under the same conditions. Further, as a rifle, many jurisdictions don’t require a permit for it, even if they do require a permit for a pistol. And when stowed in the case, it will fit inside a standard day pack sized backpack.

Marty (#13): “my main hesitancy in getting ccw is being in another govt database as a gun owner. I cannot see how this benefits me or my family and this story points out another reason why I should be hesitant.“

I see absolutely no benefit to peaceable gun owners for the government to have any information on whether they own or know how to use weapons.

None. Nada. Zip.

Any self-respecting gun rights organization should 100% oppose registration, licensing, etc. on the principle that it does nothing whatsoever to enhance a decent person’s ability to engage in self defense.

“Qualified immunity is meant to protect against liability for ‘bad guesses in gray areas.’ [...] This was not a bad guess. Not a single one of the officers’ proffered rationales provides a reasonable, particularized basis to justify their conduct.”

In the context of police, it’s meant to protect honest mistakes. “bad guesses” aren’t covered – they need to not be made.