Our Gestapo in action
A Delaware small businessman was recently arrested on some minor charge and was found to have several grams of powdered cocaine on him. He was not a person with a rap sheet and it appears he and a lady friend were out for a good time. He was not a career criminal but a person doing something stupid.
However, he was charged with ‘intent to distribute’. The local drug porkers seem to really pile on the charges when it comes to a user. Perhaps it is seen as good PR and divert attention from the failure to do a better job of shutting down potentially deadly crystal meth labs.
Now comes the nasty part. The man was a gun dealer so the bully-boys of the ATF came and took away all of the guns in his store. They did not seem to discriminate among his stock and items owned by others that were on consignment and not his property. The jack-booted thugs were down to their usual low standards when they used a front end loader to remove the inventory. This caused thousands of dollars of damage. Was this merely an act of sadism on the part of the goon squad? Do they regret not getting in on the cookout at Waco?
Dana Pico:
I have to disagree with Mr Downs. If the man was a registered firearms dealer, he had to know what getting caught with a little cocaine would do: he’s lost his inventory, he’ll lose his legal right to possess firearms, and that means he’ll lose his business. And I’d guess that he’s even liable to be sued by the people whose guns he had on consignment which wound up being destroyed.
Must suck to be him! But if he had a few grams of cocaine on him, then he was patronizing real drug dealers, keeping those real criminals in business. I have exactly zero sympathy for the man.
30 November 2007, 9:57 amBitter Scribe:
Hmmm, this is interesting. For someone who advocates hanging, Art seems pretty anti-authoritarian in this post.
If anyone cares, I agree with Dana here, if only because someone dumb enough to carry several grams of cocaine on his person probably shouldn’t be allowed to possess firearms.
30 November 2007, 11:34 am“Gestapo in action” or Stupid drug user? « Constitution Club:
[...] “Gestapo in action” or Stupid drug user? Filed under: Guns, Law — E the Wise @ 12:45 pm Art Downs over at Common Sense tells of a current event in Delaware that involved a man arrested for possessing 10.5 grams of cocaine. To paraphrase Art, the man 1) had 10.5 grams of powdered cocaine, 2) was charged with intent to distribute, 3) also owns a gun shop, and 4) had his entire store “jackbooted” by the Feds. [...]
30 November 2007, 2:46 pmEtheWise:
I know we have the debate going on at Conclub, but for the record Art, you are correct and Dana and Bitter are for stealing property of low level drug users. Power to the People!!
30 November 2007, 5:26 pmpgwarner:
Art would be all for hanging the guy, just not taking his guns.
30 November 2007, 5:31 pmEtheWise:
Sounds like western justice. Art is anomaly out there in the east.
30 November 2007, 8:05 pmArt Downs:
I am for hanging of the worst of the worse, the people who intentionally and sadistically murder innocent persons. The same goes for forcible rape.
“Drug Crimes” are a matter where judgement comes in. At one end we have the hysteria whipped up by ‘Reefer Madness’, an IQ test that a majority of contemporary members of Congress failed. At teh other end, we have the importers and distributors of opiates and those who manufacture crystal meth.
Cocaine is another matter. The powder is a ‘high end’ drug often favored by the glitterati. While not physiologically addictive, it can be rather destructive in its social effects. It is best avoided. Crack is another matter.
In the case I cited, the man had not been convicted when the vandalism by the ATF thugs took place. What was the reason for the wanton destruction of property? Was it not akin to lynching?
His conviction on a drug posession charge may have caused him to lose his FFL and that would have been proper. But why the intentional damagng of property?
If he had been the proprietor of a liquor store, would the bottles have been broken in a similar confiscation?
Prohibitionists would drool in delight at the latter scenario.
Why the sadistic vandalism by ATF bully-boys?
1 December 2007, 8:09 amArt Downs:
Rodney King was an irresponsible thug who got a ‘wood shampoo’ for exploits that put a lot of people at risk. It was determined to be an abuse of police authority and the Feds played fast and loose with double jeopardy to punish the cops.
King got a lot of money but trouble still follows him.
In the incident that I mentioned, the extra-judicial ‘punishment’ came before any trial and conviction and showed a rather arbitrary bit of sadistic overeaction by Federal bully-boys.
It would have been understandable in the case of a crystal meth lab but what did the inventory of the store have to do with the alleged crime? Was time of the essence?
ATF agents have a rather bad reputation for loutish behavior.
2 December 2007, 1:17 pm