So what’s the crime here?
In Illinois, neighbors report a burglary. Police show up to investigate, get in the house and see ammo. Obviously, ammo must mean crime so they search the house and find 300 guns. Which they then take as evidence of some sort of unspecified crime. Nowhere in the article does it mention any sort of crime or what law was broken. Just that the police and the neighbors think 300 guns is too many to own. Exercising your rights just a little too much, I guess.
August 13th, 2010 at 8:57 am
Yes; This is an ever failing attempt to criminalize lawfull behavior by putting a bad spin on it in the media. If the owners(victims of the state) in these cases would sue in federal district not only would they get thier property back and likly some money, but they would put a stop to the practice and possably save other people from the same kind of problem in the future.
August 13th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Hopefully, he can buy another 300 from the settlement that’s in his future.
August 13th, 2010 at 10:28 am
God I am jealous. 300 firearms. No wonder the police decided to confiscate them. They need some new weapons for their gunsafes.
August 13th, 2010 at 10:39 am
“So what’s the crime here?”
That would be a House of Squalor, which I thought was only confined to Chicago.
The place was a shithole and it was condemned. If you have property, you have a duty to keep it squared away.
You cannot let your property turn into a shithole and not expect the government to do something about it.
Sell some guns and keep your place up.
August 13th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Was the rest of the neighborhood a shithole too? If it was then standing out is just a bad idea. Anyhow I prefer rural life. Keeps the cops at bay plus you can have a rundown shithole look on the outside and opulent splendor on the inside. Yes I consider 300 firearms opulent splendor.
August 13th, 2010 at 10:46 am
“Shortly after police arrived, the home was condemned and the guns were only part of it.
Deputy Chief Lindmark says, ‘When the police got to this residence they found a tremendous amount of garbage and different items stacked from the floor to the ceiling.'”
There’s your crime right there.
Lesson learned: don’t live like a pig at least in the North.
August 13th, 2010 at 11:15 am
“This place is a shit hole, let’s still all his shit!”
August 13th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Interesting that gun ownership is now apparently grounds for having property condemned.
August 13th, 2010 at 11:59 am
This would have made an excellent episode of the series “Hoarders” had not the police moved in first.
August 13th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
“Interesting that gun ownership is now apparently grounds for having property condemned.”
Gun, no, it wasn’t the guns. Y’all are barking up the wrong tree.
It was the fact that the place was a House of Squalor.
The cops get the guns for safe keeping. Depending on the state statute, you get them back or have to petition the court for an order.
You can beat on the chest of your Wookie suit about “it’s my property”, but you cannot use your property to hurt others without consequences.
Major flaw of Libertarianism: the 8th graders do not account for the assholes of the world that would sit and let their property putrify to everyone’s loss. You have to control the Asshole Factor of mankind and Libertarianism has no answer other than L. Neil Smith novels or Star Trek episodes.
August 13th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Apparently there was nothing wrong with this place that justified a police visit until the burglary. In other words, police and the media are making shit up to justify confiscating 300 firearms.
It’s dismaying that even one regular commenter thinks this is OK.
August 13th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
August 13th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Folks, don’t get too bent out of shape here. The article was poorly written and biased. They took the guns because he was out of town.
I have a friend with a collection you would not believe. He had a small fire while he was out of town. The firemen forced entry and found the collection. Since the home was no longer secure the police took the guns back to the station for safekeeping. When he got back in town he went to the cop shop and picked them right up. No problems, and this was in Illinois.
August 13th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
The crime is the harassment by the cops.
TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 242
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
August 13th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
I just listened to the news report. They stated the home was condemned shortly AFTER the police arrived. You see they did not have the place condemned until after the they got inside. The idea is that it gives the police the ability to confiscate the weapons without a warrant since the building is suddenly condemned therefore no longer a safe place to store weapons. This is why you build a weapons bunker for a stash like this. I am trying to figure out how garbage got on the front lawn with live grass under it. One day in the sun and the stuff under the trashbags dies. My guess is the cops drug it out in order to make the act of condemning the place legal. I also cannot figure out why nobody cared that the house had garbage in front of it. Things do not add up in this case.
August 13th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Ahh, but by whose definition? Who says what it trash and what is not?
I’ve seen kids pulled from a “dirty” home that looked like it was nothing more than between the weekly cleaning.
The story says “a tremendous amount of garbage and different items stacked from the floor to the ceiling”
Heck, that’s how my girl would describe the inside of a Home Depot.
August 13th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
300 guns arguably worth a grand apiece. And some collectors treasure trove is reduced to trash due to piling said treasure in a U-Haul without proper protection.
Pay the man, Rockford. Pay the man right, with punitive damages as well.
Stranger
August 13th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Looks like I need a proper ammo locker. All this seizure mania is also making off site storage attractive.
Never leave anything out where a cop can see it.
August 14th, 2010 at 12:00 am
The consequences – and the proper method for fixing the situation – is a civil suit by the injured party.
Note two key passages from the article:
and
So, a) evidence of what, and b) what crime would they charge the homeowner with?
August 15th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Sounds like shootin buddy is a collectivist @$$hole.
August 15th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Well it could have been worse. He could have had a collection of more than 300 books or 300 sets of rosary beads.