CSGV links this article again showing that they REALLY don’t like that icky due-process thing.
During this traffic stop, police find a handgun and some powder cocaine inside the car. Almaguer says the gangs have learned how to structure their crews so that at least one of them can be legally armed.
One member of a crew will have a concealed weapons permit, allowing them to be armed.
In Florida, anyone can get a gun permit as long as they have not been convicted of a crime. In some cases, Almaguer claimed, individuals may have multiple of arrests, but they get to keep their gun permit until they have an actual conviction.
So you end up with a situation where one guy holds the gun, another guy holds the dope, and a third guy drives.
“And there is nothing you can do about it because [the guy with the gun] has no convictions,” Almaguer said. “They’ve figured out the system and still have a firearm on them.”
The traffic stop ends with the guy holding the cocaine going to jail while the man with the concealed weapons permit was given back his gun and let go.
Now the whole article is slanted in a really peculiar way. There are lots of stories of “Gang Members”, but how do they know? They got a guy carrying Cocaine (probably not much given that the driver wasn’t charged), and one guy carrying a gun legally.
Sorry Johnny Five-Oh, but we have laws and due process for a reason. If you can’t charge them with a crime for shit this minor, we don’t need to make more shit illegal, you need to work harder to catch REAL crime. Of course we all know that cops prefer simple traffic stops, and pinching college students at parties to cruising the inner city streets. I’m sure they’d also like to get rid of the 4th and 5th Amendments too, because it would make things easier for them too!
Also, let’s just take a cynical look at this alleged “Gang Member”. They have no felony convictions, they aren’t committing any actual crimes, they really don’t sound like much of a big fish to be letting go. Also if this is indeed some “gang system”, the man with the gun has it for commission of a crime. There’s an easy solution, Just watch the bastard for when he commits a crime, so say the guy with the drugs sells them and pays the driver and the gunner for their services!
Now let’s take a cynical look. I just got back from a class. The average day involved the lab van picking us up at the Hotel and taking us to class. I’d never met any of my fellow classmates before. I don’t know if any of them had prior convictions, criminal associations, or were carrying any contraband. None of them knew I was carrying a gun. That’s fine that way, its none of their business and none of mine. Say our van had a busted tail light and we got stopped, should I lose my rights?
Well in the case of anti-rights people, yeah, whatever it takes. In the case of “task force” cops, the more arrests they make, the more they can justify their budget.
We have laws for a reason, and we have due process for a reason. If you don’t like it, well screw you! There are plenty of violent Police States in the world that would LOVE to have you!
