UP IN ARMS: SEARCH WARRANT FOLLY

In the past year agents of the Humboldt County Firearms Task Force
obtained numerous search warrants for several homes looking for
illegal hunting rifles, ammo and handguns. The firearms task force
agents had no idea whether any of the firearms were unlawful; they
had merely received reports that the people living in the houses had weapons.

The weapons and ammo discovered in the homes were lawful. The
legality of the firearms was not discovered until after the agents
conducted early morning raids with guns blazing, front doors knocked
down, children screaming, half-naked adults corralled in the living
room, and a search and upheaval of every nook and cranny of the
homes. The lead task force agent said in each case "sorry about that"
and left the families and their homes devastated.

The agents did not act alone. The task force supervisors applied for
search warrants that were first approved by the District Attorney's
Office and then signed by a Superior Court judge.

We, as Humboldt County citizens living in the United States of
America where we revere our guaranteed constitutional right to
privacy, should be outraged and fighting mad that this kind of
government conduct is allowed to happen and has been happening almost
every day for the past 15 years here and all over California!

Hold on a minute. Did I say unlawful firearms? I meant unlawful
marijuana. And did I say the firearms taskforce? I meant the Drug
Task Force. But every other fact mentioned here happens just as I
said: Time and again DTF agents and other law enforcement agents
received reports of marijuana inside homes. They didn't know whether
the marijuana was part of a lawful medical grow or an unlawful
commercial grow. Based on scant information, the agents applied for
warrants approved by the district attorney and a judge. With warrant
in hand, they rammed down doors and pulled high-powered weapons on
residents of our county. And they have been doing this for 15 years
and counting, ever since the Marijuana Compassionate Use Act
(Proposition 215) passed in 1996.

Sometimes the marijuana was unlawful, sometimes it was legal and
sometimes the legality was unclear. But few of us would stand for
this conduct if the police were looking for guns. Neither the
district attorney nor the judges would approve a search warrant if
presented with a statement that the task force agent wanted to search
a home just to see if something in the house was lawful or unlawful.
Any judge or DA, whether liberal or conservative, would laugh the
task force agent out of his or her chambers and then report the agent
to his or her superior.

But that's not the case when it comes to marijuana, which is lawful
for medical purposes. The law enforcement community believes it can
invade your privacy to determine whether your actions are legal even
though there is no federal constitutional authority to do so. The
United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that once state
statutes give you a right, you are entitled to the procedural
protections of the constitution. That includes the right to privacy.

The constitutional problem would be cured if prosecutors and judges
asked law enforcement agents one simple question before issuing a
warrant: "Do you have any reason to believe the marijuana is not for
medical purposes?"

Prosecutors and judges are on shaky constitutional ground if they
sign these warrants without asking that question. Law enforcement
agents are in worse shape because they are subject to civil rights
violations and monetary penalties if they execute on these warrants.
But then again, they know that the likelihood of getting sued for
invading the privacy of medical marijuana patients is low.

Maybe some people just write off this reality to the politics of
marijuana. It remains to be seen if it is OK with the higher courts
and juries in civil rights actions against law enforcement officers.

But if you own a handgun or rifle, just imagine this: A judge issued
a warrant to search your house because someone you know saw you with
it and they don't know whether or not you have a license to own it.