Voluntary Search and Seizure

It’s the democratic way! At least, it’s the totalitarian-authoritarian-I’m-pretending-to-be-democratic way. Welcome to the People’s Fascist Republic of Washington, D.C. 

The above article is for real: Washington D.C. wants citizens to voluntarily let their homes be searched for weapons and contraband in exchange for amnesty. Do you think your teenage son might be dealing in demon powder? Come have the cops search your house. Forget the whole “parenting” thing…that’s overrated. Does you daughter have an unhealthy fascination with assault rifles? Are you afraid she might have an AR-15 without a permit? Let the D.C. police come in and confiscate it. God forbid you actually do your job as a home owner and a parent and take responsibility for your children and your household.

It’s not a fourth amendment violation if you let them do it, right? That’s the truly sad thing about this: People in D.C. are reportedly giving up their fourth amendment rights willingly. Oh, wait! You don’t know what the fourth amendment is? Let me put on my basic civic education hat and try to refrain from belittling you for not knowing the content of the document that protects the “rights” you are so fond of:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I suppose that the first time your government waves “amnesty” in front of a population that might be doing something illegal means that we should wrap up our constitutional rights in a foil box, tie it with a red ribbon, and present it to our benevolent overlords as a token of our allegiance. Give me a break.

In my opinion, the citizens of Washington, D.C. who agree to this are:

• Eroding the foundation of our democratic way of life by providing a precedent for municipalities (and states, maybe?) to threaten arrest and/or litigation unless we willingly waive the rights guaranteed by our social contract.
• Refusing to take responsibility for the items and people in their homes.
• Completely oblivious to the framework of laws which should protect them from illegal search and seizure.
• Stupid.

I can already see the emails coming to my overstuffed inbox: “Oh, Pete! You brute! These people just want to be safe in their own homes!” Safe from whom? The thugs in uniform who are willing participants in our transition to socialism? Or from the the young adults they failed to discipline as children? In either case, I’ll take my soon-to-be-legal-again-in-D.C. handgun and endeavor to protect myself, because any government which seeks to swindle me out of something that was written by our Founding Fathers to protect liberty isn’t one that you can trust completely.

I find it interesting that this is being offered now, shortly before the ruling being made by the Supreme Court (due by July 1) on the handgun ban in (you guessed it) Washington, D.C. The majority of the judges view gun ownership as a right. To what extent the court may decide limits on that ownership may be legislated is open for debate. Why, then, the sudden push for voluntary search and seizure? My guess is that the D.C. Police Department sees the writing on the wall and is trying to grab as many firearms as they can before the no-handgun law is repealed.