SCRIBE
WAIT JUST A MINUTE OFFICER, I KNOW MY RIGHTS…
Mon Sep 1 12:12:46 2003
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http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=36235
WAIT JUST A MINUTE OFFICER, I KNOW MY RIGHTS…

Posted By: SCRIBE
Date: Monday, 1 September 2003, 10:27 a.m.


WAIT JUST A MINUTE OFFICER, I KNOW MY RIGHTS…

By: SCRIBE
09-01-2003

Now wait just a minute Officer, I know my rights. How many times has this phrase been uttered to the Police? And should you even say it? Is it better to go along, and allow your Civil Rights to be violated, or should you stand up for your Rights?


An Alarming Trend

It seems that there is an alarming trend taking place in America; the inadequate training in the area of “Law and Rights” that our Police seem to be getting these days. Or, if they are being properly trained, they are choosing to ignore it. This is NOT a criticism of ALL Police Officers! MANY are out there doing a Fine Job! And a TOUGH Job, at that! They have Respect for the Public, and are there to truly help their fellow citizens. I give them great credit for doing a dangerous job, and am glad that they are out there, helping to rid our communities of the worst that society has to offer! Yet incidents such as these below are happening with much more frequency.


Examples

The examples below were taken from “Who can define your Rights for you?” - by: Evelyn Logan – in the Latest Issue (Summer 2003) of “Firearms and Freedoms” the Publication of Gun Owners of NH

A Police Officer at a neighborhood watch meeting is holding (for unknown reasons) a standard issue shotgun. When a young girl in the group states to the Officer “My Mommy has a shotgun just like that”, the Officer informs her “No Honey, this shotgun holds Five Bullets (Scribe: Bullets – Doesn’t he mean Shells?). It’s ILLEGAL for your Mommy to own a shotgun that holds more than TWO Bullets”. The Mommy (a member of several Pro-active Gun Groups) hears this and informs the Officer he is Incorrect. But the Officer became adamant, and insisted the more that she was not allowed to own a shotgun that holds more than TWO Bullets. (Scribes Comment: Clearly this Officer is confusing the Hunting RULE of no more than TWO Shells in a magazine when hunting certain Game, as some kind of Shotgun Magazine capacity law. Shotguns such as Winchester’s “Model 1300 Defender” are Legally Sold with an 8 Shell Capacity!)

A Young Man who works nights and jogs when he gets home is accosted by not one, but two Police cars, lights flashing and spotlights shining. The Officers get out and confront him, demanding to know his name, to see his identification, and to know if he had any weapons. Since all he was wearing was a T-shirt, shorts and sneakers, where would he hide any weapons? When he stated that he did not have his ID with him, and that since he did nothing wrong he did not have to give his name, he was quickly arrested. (Even if you have committed no offence, you must produce your papers or suffer arrest? This was not a case of this man matching the description of some recent crime suspect.)

The Officer giving the Legal portion of an NRA Personal Protection Class (in NH) states that if you carry openly (Constitutionally Legal in NH) anywhere and anyone objects and calls the Police, you will be ordered to, and MUST, leave the Area. Not that you have done anything wrong, and not that the owner of the establishment you are in complained. If any one objects to you Exercising your Civil and Constitutionally Protected Right to Carry that Firearm Openly, You are out of there! When some one in the Class asks, “But is it not a Constitutionally Protected Right in this State to Carry a Firearm Openly?’ the Officer replies with “Oh yeah, every now and then you get some Guy who ‘Knows His Rights’, and if he refuses to leave, he is Under Arrest!” (In Other words, if someone objects to you exercising your Civil Right, which is Constitutionally Protected in the State of NH, to Carry a Firearm Openly, you can be ordered to leave the premises and be arrested if you do not comply. In fact, some people have been arrested – though never booked – simply for carrying openly; not causing any trouble mind you. Not brandishing the firearm, not threatening anyone; just walking down the road, or getting coffee at the Jiffy Mart. How is this any different than someone being arrested for going to Sunday Services, or Reading their favorite book?)

A car carrying 4 Young Adults (2 Couples on a Date) is pulled over on a city street. When the driver, a young Woman who is a Student at UNH, asks what is wrong, the Officer simply demands ID from everyone in the car. The Other Woman in the car refuses, and is told if she does not comply, she WILL be arrested. The Driver (The Other Woman) Hands the Officer her Valid NH Drivers License and Her Valid NH Pistol License. The Officer immediately demands to know if she has “any guns on her or in the car”. When she tells the Officer that she is wearing the Firearm, the Officer draws his weapon, aims at her, and orders her out of the Car. He then disarms her, and confiscates the Firearm. He tells the Young Woman that she is lucky she was not under arrest, and that he KNEW the firearm was NOT hers, but must belong to “One of those Guys in the Car”. (Scribe’s Comment and Note: This Woman had committed NO Offense. Yet she was pulled over, had a Firearm pointed at her, was threatened with arrest, and had her legally Owned and Lawfully Carried Firearm confiscated. Is this the US, or the Soviet Union?) (Special Note: Handing Her Valid NH Pistol License to the Officer along with her Drivers License was a big mistake – NH Law does NOT require that you inform an Officer you are carrying when you are pulled over. Only if you are specifically asked by the Officer, or are asked to exit the vehicle should you inform the Police you are actively carrying your Firearm).


Another Incident

I remember reading an article a while back, about a Woman, in Virginia I believe, who came upon a road block set up by police. When the Officer approached her car, and demanded her ID, she refused, asking what she had done to warrant being asked for her papers. She told the Officer she knew her Rights, and did NOT have to “Just Show Her Papers”. The Officer called over several other Officers, pulled the Woman from the car, and placed her with her hands on the trunk. They searched the car, and found Copies of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence; along with books about Rights and Freedoms. She was Immediately placed under arrest. As one Officer put it “We’ve got one of those NUTS who think they know their rights”. (Scribes Comment: Why would someone sworn to uphold “Our Rights”, think someone “Nuts” for knowing those Rights, and for insisting that those Rights be recognized?)


Fundamental Rights

How could incidents such as these happen in America? According to the Founding Fathers, The Bill of Rights, and the Constitutions of Numerous States, we Americans are supposed to enjoy certain Fundamental, Absolute, Indisputable, Undeniable, Rights. These Rights are Natural Rights; Unalienable Rights; Given freely by the Creator. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain Unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." And from the New Hampshire State Constitution written in 1784: "Article 2. (Natural Rights) All persons have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights - among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting, property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness". Albert Gallatin of the New York Historical Society said on October 7, 1798; "The whole of the Bill of Rights is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals. It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of."

The Founding Fathers did not believe our rights were granted by some document, or that our rights came from or where at the pleasure of government, able to be granted or taken away at a moments notice. They called them Natural Rights. Where these rights were not allowed, they believed they still existed, but were denied. It’s a question as to whether the rights of a citizen are at the pleasure of the government, or if they have them, but they are being denied. Take it a step further. If the government passed a law tomorrow that said we didn’t have the right to free speech, or the right to free worship, or freedom of the press, would those rights no longer exist, or would they be simply denied? If the Constitution is amended depriving us of our rights, do those rights cease to exist? The answer, according to the Founding Fathers, is NO; we would still have those rights. We’re just being denied them. And this is the way we must look at the Constitution and Bill of Rights. In reality, rights are only an ideal held in one's mind. But the Founding Fathers believed they existed and that’s how this country was set up. Rights are something that comes with being human. The Founders never believed our rights were gifts of the government.


What can you do?

Contact your State Representatives, and inform them when incidents such as these happen. Insist that our Police get the Proper training that they need to do their Job effectively; yet without violating the Rights of the Ordinary Citizen. The Preservation of Our Rights is the Foundation upon which this Nation was built! Let us ensure that it stays that way for Generations to come!

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