The police in the state of Maryland seem to be pulling over people with out-of-state gun permits, looking for any excuse to bust them.
A year ago this New Year's Eve, John Filippidis of Florida was driving south with his family on Interstate 95 when the Maryland Transportation Authority Police pulled over his black Ford Expedition and proceeded to raid it while his twins, wife and daughter looked on — separated in the back seats of different police cruisers.
The officers were searching for Mr. Filippidis' Florida-licensed, palm-size Kel-Tec .38 semi-automatic handgun, which he left at home locked in his safe. (Maryland does not recognize handgun permits issued by other states.)
Mr. Filippidis' case earned the support of Second Amendment advocates and subsequent apologies from the MDTA. But an internal police review concluded his stop and search were lawful and did not violate police protocols.
Those findings, however, have not satisfied other out-of-state gun owners, who worry that they, too, have been targeted for minor traffic stops in Maryland because they have concealed weapons permits. Their stories are accumulating.
John Tonnesen IV of Lake Worth, Florida, was pulled over and arrested after a search of his work truck — by the same officer who stopped Mr. Filippidis — turned up his .45-caliber Ruger, licensed in the state of Florida. He doesn't believe the stop was coincidental.
"It was unloaded and stuffed into a bag far from me," Mr. Tonnesen told The Times. "There's scanners in Maryland that scan every tag, and Florida is one of their target vehicles. They'll find whatever reason they can to pull you over."
MDTA denies it targets out-of-state gun owners and noted the review of Mr. Fillipides earlier traffic stop concluded the officers did nothing wrong.
Its like this. There's a license plate scanner on every cop car, bridge, toll booth etc. in Maryland on the interstate highways. These scanners note the passing of every car. The system notes things like route, state of origin, and what time the car was read. Given that info the system can establish things like average speed, if the guy is a lane hopper, if he's passing through or local, all kinds of things.
Lets assume the system is set up to red flag certain behaviors. Like speeding, or being out-of-state. So a guy is averaging 60mph instead of 55mph, he gets a red flag. If its an out-of-state plate, he gets two red flags. Now if I'm a gun control freak, I can ask "does 2 Red Flag car owner have a gun permit or warrants/charges against him?" Automated query goes out to the state of origin, in this case Florida. Maybe Florida's system has yes/no data on gun permits. So now the system has that data.
The system also knows where all the cop cars are. It can preferentially assign cop cars to go intercept any car it wants to. The more red flags on a car, the more likely the system will assign a cop car to go get that guy. Or the cop can ask the system to identify likely candidates for a traffic stop at his location, because he's trolling for tickets to make his quota. Either way, if he writes a gun charge he gets more brownie points than a plain vanilla speeding ticket.
Important tip, Mr. Policeman does not care about you. As far as he is concerned, you are a source of Brownie Points. That makes you food and he's a wolf. Its a predation model, not a service model. Got it?
All you "I've got nothing to fear, I've done nothing wrong" people out there, you should start being very goddamn afraid. Because maybe you've never done anything wrong in Ontario, or New York, or Florida, or East Moose Antler Alaska. But the mere possession of seemingly innocuous objects in one place is a felony in another. Oh, you have a gun permit in Florida? I'm going to search your shit right down to the paint because I can bust your redneck ass here in Maryland and get 16 Brownie Points. If I get 20,000 Brownie Points they make me a sergeant!
I hasten to add, this phenomenon is not restricted to guns. Did you change the emission controls on your car? Is it legal in whatever place you are in? They can TAKE YOUR CAR if it isn't, you know. Just take it. Bang. And if you registered that modification legally back home in East Moose Antler, there is a California license plate reader looking for you right now. And a New York one, and a Connecticut one, and a Nebraska one.... you get the picture.
Did you buy medical marijuana in Colorado? Did you buy cheese in North Dakota? Did you get married in Las Vegas? Do you own a particular kind of dog? Oh yeah, if you own a properly licensed "pit bull" and you're driving through Colorado, you could easily have the cops pull you over looking for that dog. If they find it they will TAKE THE DOG. Right now. Take it, impound it and put it down the same day.
The purpose of licenses and permits is not to protect the public, not to reduce crime, not even to create revenue. In the new predation policing model, the purpose of licenses and permits is to identify targets. Ubiquitous surveillance systems find you, vector enforcement onto your location and then the State takes your stuff and maybe your freedom. Not because you've ever done anything in your life to deserve it, but because they can. Pure and simple.
The Phantom
And we aren't going to vote our way out of this.
ReplyDeleteYou better hope there's a way to do it by voting, because the alternative can be seen on display in Syria right now. These Lords of Creation decide they want to go, they'll use -everything- on you.
ReplyDeleteWhich will -suck-.
I agree with you about how the licencing and permitting systems have been perverted by kleptocrats into predatory revenue and political repression vehicles, but what is really at issue is the fact so many formerly government-free areas of private property, public holdings and personal business have been “licenced” and “permitted” .
ReplyDeleteOnce again, your best friend in shining light on the trail of deceit and entrapment of statute contract legislating ( permitting/licencing regimes) lies in a basic understanding of common law and the legal definitions in Black’s Law Dictionary. It is important to understand the basic nature of a “licence” – it is essentially a get-out-of-jail-free card sold by authorities to do something they have outlawed – eg: Driver’s licence, the state has removed the basic and lawful right to free use of personal property and the public highways by rendering the activity of personal motorized transport illegal – except with a licence they sell you with immense and onerous conditions attached which allow them to prey unmercifully on minor infractions of this activity. Same for a “gun possession licence” – private ownership of firearms was outlawed in 1993 and only a licence allows freedom from prosecution/liability. Permits are very similar in nature but are more specific in jurisdiction and they often require renewals or inspections (inexhaustible revenue stream) to stay current. Licencing and permitting were used to restrict unwanted activity/property deemed harmful to the realm – they are now obviously property/activity-specific taxes and used to repress through abusive regulating or fees/fines/seizures.
What these two statute regulatory vehicles have in common is that they both represent a very underhanded and rapacious way for the state to CONVERT property use/ownership and restrict/profit from private personal activity – most of which was previously free of 3rd party (the state) claim or liability and the jurisdiction of common law right. Licences and permit systems suck you into a contract with the issuing authority in which NO RIGHTS exist except those clearly defined in the contract (statute/regs). There is no need for the state to prove malice of intent upon breach as regulations (the rules of the licencing/permitting contract) are deemed to be so reasonable that failure to comply indicates willful guilt or malicious irresponsibility, yeah right, like inability to pay a massive fine or fee means you are reprehensively culpable – where’s the “reasonableness” in that? Particularly when full disclosure of the licencing contract you are in is undisclosed by one party) Regulatory law (which governs permitting/licencing contract with authority) has no provision for defense – no excuse of due diligence or lack of intent – you either comply or you don’t – guilty or licenced – sweet little revenue engine if you attach large fines and seizure of valuable property to non compliance and infraction – run much like a mob racket.
So this permitting/licencing scam has been run by rapacious kleptocrats since intrusive statute eclipsed common law in our private affairs and property at the turn of the 20th century onward – each successive regime (regardless of the color of their partisan branding) squeeze the regulatory con a little tighter – hey it’s the big Gov mimicking mob extortion rackets, good for cash flow in a pinch and great to harass politically incorrect segments of society. Of course most civilized types who defer to government edict do so thinking that all this permitting and licencing is making a safer, more secure orderly state – but the does it? Studies I have read say at least 60% of modern statute regulating is redundant with no purpose save revenue streams – another tax IOW. My thinking is this aggressive hidden taxation will become the final straw that will finally break the taxpaying camel’s back and cause a mass act of public disobedience to abusive authority. Tax revolt anyone?
Occam