by Bob Walsh
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Rodriguez case. It is common for the police in San Jose to seize firearms and then absolutely refuse to return them to the owner even if no charges are filed and the person involved is in fact the legal owner of the weapon. According to the Ninth Circuit there is no constitutional issue with this as long as the police action does not prevent the owner from purchasing a replacement firearm.
Several CA gun rights groups have signed on to this one, and SCOTUS has agreed to hear it.
EDITOR'S NOTE; This is absolutely outrageous! The government has no right to seize private property if it not related to a crime.
I'll bet that many of the guns seized by the San Jose PD end up in the hands of cops instead of being destroyed, especially those guns that were not used in a crime..
3 comments:
Actually, at least in CA, it was and apparently still is fairly common. Once upon a time open carry was legal in CA. However, in large cities, like LA and SF a person doing so would be arrested for disturbing the peace and their weapon seized. Even if they were not charged, or charged but not convicted, the owner would have to file a civil suit to get their weapon back. They would then often find it was "lost", badly damaged or had been stored in a bucket of salt water in the property room.
I worked with a guy 30 years ago that seized a nice gun from a criminal. He processed drug evidence and kept the gun for himself. Several days later the Sergeant came in the bull pen and asked him if he had the gun. He denied taking it. It was found in the trunk of his state ride. He was fired on the spot. He deserved to be fired. He was no better than the criminal that he arrested. He later tried to use me as a reference for another police job. I would not give him one. He got the job and I heard he was fired before he made probation.
Last I heard he was working as a bouncer in a topless club. I'll bet he was fired.
Wow, you guys have said cops should be more trust worthy than the average joe and you're joking about how cops abuse the system.
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