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Gun News Daily 4th Amendment is Now Dead in California By William Lolli CalNRA Contributing Editor October 7, 1999 Governor Gray Davis has vetoed Bill AB 662 (Herb Wesson, D-Los Angeles), which was designed to reinstate 4th Amendment protections to citizens by cities which have enacted policies whereby police have empowered themselves to seize the automobiles of people suspected (but not charged) of being drug buyers or prostitution customers. Think this has anything to do with drugs or prostitution? Think again. "Taking people's property without them being charged with or convicted of a crime goes against the basic concept of a democracy", Senate President Pro Tem John Burton D-San Francisco, a supporter of the Wesson Bill said on Tuesday [October 6, 1999]. Wrong on two counts, Senator Burton. First, it is very democratic for citizens to have their property "legally" stolen (seized) by the state. Democracy is majority rule. Majority rule is where the wolves and the sheep get to vote on what to eat for dinner; if the sheep are in the minority, they become the dinner. Secondly, Senator Burton (and California gun owners I might add) this veto continues the aggressive tempo set by the California Governor and legislature to rapidly expand the powers of government while ignoring Constitutional rights. Oakland Deputy City Attorney Marcia Meyers said vehicle seizures are an appropriate response to "these drive-by drug markets and the citizens of Oakland who have to suffer this blight." Good for you Attorney Meyers! Out protecting the citizens, are you? I think you are on to something here: What other "blights" do the citizens of Oakland have to put up with? How about the "blight" of gun ownership. We have heard time-and-again that there are simply "far too many guns in our society" [a quote from ultra-conservative Ron Unz, who has just announced his desire to run against Senator Feinstein in the next election]. My point is quite simply: No private property is safe from seizure by a government that ignores the due process of law and the limits imposed upon it by the Constitution. If this procedure of seizure without due process is allowed to continue, ALL of your civil rights are forfeit. The property of gun owners is next. In California, your 4th amendment protections against unlawful search and seizure are probably a thing of the past. If you are a gun owner, you might as well be any ordinary criminal, since your very possession of a gun-- in the minds of some politicians and police-- make you a "blight" on the safety of the "good people" in society. You probably deserve to have your home and bank account seized. Arrest? Prosecution? Conviction? Who needs those when you can exercise the power of the police and seize property on suspicion alone. Thank you, Governor. I can't wait to see what else you have in store for us slaves.
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