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Indiana Sheriff: I Will Uphold The Constitution, Not Obama’s Executive Actions

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“I will not allow gun confiscation in my county.”

Elkhart County, Indiana Sheriff Brad Rogers made a covenant declaration to his citizens that he will “disregard” any executive orders sent by President Obama that infringes on their Second Amendment rights.

“If President Obama today said, ‘I’m creating an executive order that all sheriffs and police chiefs around this nation need to start registering firearms,’ I will disregard it,” the sheriff said on Sunday’s broadcast of WNIT’s Politically Speaking.

Rogers was a guest, along with several other members of the community, invited to talk about the government’s call for more gun control and to speak on gun rights in the wake of the recent university shootings.

“We’ve always had this conversation that we need more reasonable gun control put in place,” Rogers said. “But we already have what is reasonable, in my opinion, and in fact it’s probably overdone.”

Rogers was questioned on how he can hold these unruly views and be reconciled with the oath he took for office. So, he repeated his oath, saying it is to defend the United States Constitution and the Indiana constitution to the best of his ability. However, he said that doesn’t mean he enforces every law every time:

If you want the police to enforce every law on the books, that means all the discretion is taken out. That means you get a ticket every time instead of a warning. That means we can’t take a juvenile home instead of throwing him into the juvenile justice system and starting their career in crime.

The sheriff said his role in the government of the people doesn’t mean he “checks his mind at the door” and blindly follow orders. If something is asked of him that checks out as unlawful with the Constitution, even a law itself, his conscience wouldn’t permit him to enforce it.

The American Mirror posted a video of Sheriff Rogers from 2013 speaking on the same subject just as defiantly. In this clip he said:

I want to affirm my commitment and my oath of office to uphold the Indiana and United States constitutions, the Second Amendment and all of the Bill of Rights. I will not allow gun confiscation in my county.

I will not enforce any additional anti-gun laws and I stand with you for liberty as a law enforcement officer, as a sheriff and hopefully to light the flame across this nation for other sheriffs to also stand for liberty and not tolerate the constitutional usurpations that are occurring at the federal level.

 

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Brown Signs Bill Requiring Cops To Get Warrant For Data

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Californians can rest assured that law enforcement must obtain a warrant to access digital records. Today, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed S.B. 178, the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (CalECPA).

After months of pressure from public interest groups, media organizations, privacy advocates, tech companies, and thousands of members of the public, California’s elected leaders have updated the state’s privacy laws so that they are in line with how people actually use technology today.

CalECPA protects Californians by requiring a warrant for digital records, including emails and texts, as well as a user’s geographical location. These protections apply not only to your devices, but to online services that store your data. Only two other states have so far offered these protections: Maine and Utah.

Here’s what the bill’s authors had to say about the victory:

Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco)

For too long, California’s digital privacy laws have been stuck in the Dark Ages, leaving our personal emails, text messages, photos and smartphones increasingly vulnerable to warrantless searches. That ends today with the Governor’s signature of CalECPA, a carefully crafted law that protects personal information of all Californians. The bill also ensures that law enforcement officials have the tools they need to continue to fight crime in the digital age.

Sen. Joel Anderson (R-Alpine)

Senator Leno and I helped bridge the gap between progressives and conservatives to make the privacy of Californians a top priority this year. This bipartisan bill protects Californians’ basic civil liberties as the Fourth Amendment and the California Constitution intended.

EFF, along with the ACLU and the California Newspaper Publishers Association, sponsored the bill from the very beginning, recognizing how the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure is inherently tied to freedom of speech. Tech corporations also recognized that, following two years of government spying scandals, consumers have lost trust in the companies’ ability to protect their digital information. In response, Silicon Valley’s major players, including Adobe, Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, Dropbox, Google, and Twitter, all threw their support behind the bill. After months of negotiation, the state’s major law enforcement organizations also withdrew their opposition, stating that the bill struck an appropriate balance between public safety and privacy. The San Diego Police Officers Association further lent its endorsement to S.B. 178, arguing that clear processes for obtaining data would improve their ability to do their jobs, while also protecting privacy. 

CalECPA’s passage marks a significant milestone in the campaign to update computer privacy laws, which have been stuck in the 1980s.

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Shooter Targets Christians In Gun Free Zone

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Umpqua sheriff

In another Gun Free Zone shooting a gunman killed as many as 10 people at the Umpqua Community College in Oregon on Thursday, he has been identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, police told CBS News. The shooter was killed in a firefight with Douglas County sheriff’s deputies, according to Sheriff John Hanlin.

 

 

Mercer reportedly demanded to know victims’ religions before killing them, according to witnesses and authorities.

First there was this account from student Kortney Moore printed by The News-Review:

Kortney Moore, 18, from Rogue River, was in her Writing 115 class in Snyder Hall when one shot came through a window. She saw her teacher get shot in the head. The shooter was inside at that point, and he told people to get on the ground. The shooter was asking people to stand up and state their religion and then started firing away, Moore said. Moore was lying there with people who had been shot.

The New York Post followed up with a report of its own on an account someone tweeted out:

“The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christian,” she wrote. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no, or didn’t answer, they were shot in the legs. My grandma just got to my house, and she was in the room. She wasn’t shot, but she is very upset.”

Some media outlets are reporting that the campus was not a gun free zone and Oregon is an open carry state. Unfortunately for the college students attending the school the student hand book states otherwise.

UCC student handbook

 

In addition to the written policy of the community college, the university’s president, Rita Cavin, stated in a press conference that the university is a gun-free campus and there are “no plans” to change security policy.

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5th Amendment Protects Your Phone’s Passcode

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Having a pass-code on your phone might be your best defense in a case where a device’s data could be used against you.

In January, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused two analysts for Capital One Financial Corp. of insider trading. The SEC claimed the two turned a $150,000 investment into $2.8 million with the information they gleaned.

Even though the two men had company-owned smartphones while the insider trading was allegedly happening, Capital One did not know the pass-code for either device.

So, after firing the two men and collecting their phones, Capital One turned the handsets over to the SEC. But the devices were still locked, so the commission tried to compel the men to give up their pass-codes.

What did they do? They pleaded the Fifth. That’s the amendment that says people can’t be forced to incriminate themselves.

That defense ended up working in favor of the two former Capital One analysts. The judge decided the codes were personal information — not corporate records, since the company never knew the codes to begin with — and could be considered self-incriminating if given up.

The SEC tried to argue that the codes didn’t qualify for this protection because the government already knew the information existed and knew where it was located — an argument that’s worked in similar cases — but the judge didn’t agree. (Video via YouTube / EverythingApplePro)

The judge basically said the SEC didn’t have proof of any incriminating documents on the pass-code-protected phones, or that any such information existed at all.

So a pass-code could save you in a trial, if you plan on pleading the Fifth, but fingerprints still can’t. Other judges have ruled that biometric data doesn’t reveal anything a defendant knows and therefore doesn’t qualify as self-incriminating information. (Video via Apple)

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Obama: Gay ‘Marriage’ Trumps Freedom of Religion

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President Barack Obama made clear where he stands on religious conscience rights: he believes the “right” to gay “marriage” is more important. He told a Democratic National Committee LGBT fundraiser in New York City on Sunday that when there is a contest between these two competing “rights,” he believed an individual’s had to give way.

“We affirm that we cherish our religious freedom and are profoundly respectful of religious traditions,” Obama said. “But we also have to say clearly that our religious freedom doesn’t grant us the freedom to deny our fellow Americans their constitutional rights. And that even as we are respectful and accommodating genuine concerns and interests of religious institutions, we need to reject politicians who are supporting new forms of discrimination as a way to scare up votes.”

“That’s not how we move America forward,” he said.

His opponents, like Gov. Mike Huckabee, don’t rightly respect the Constitution, he said.

Proponents of religious liberty say the Constitution contains no right to gay “marriage,” but the First Amendment clearly protects the “freedom of religion.”

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The last gun shop in San Francisco is closing

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Next month will mark the end of an era in San Francisco as the city’s sole remaining gun shop closes its doors. High Bridge Arms has been in business at the same location since the 1950s, but with the next round of city regulations and restrictions on gun dealers (which means just High Bridge) the city fathers have found the straw required to break the camel’s back. It’s a glorious day for liberals. (Fox News)

Business for the last gun shop in the city of 840,000 has been good, according to Alcairo, especially since the store, which caters to law enforcement and outdoors enthusiasts, announced it would close next month.

Situated in the prominent city heart of Mission Street, High Bridge Arms was founded in the mid-1950s by Bob Chow, who competed in the 1948 Olympics 25-yard pistol shooting event. By some accounts a Bay Area institution, it has long been a tourist destination – specially for members of the law enforcement community who visit the city.

“I found the staff to be friendly, decent, law-abiding people who have been harassed by the San Francisco anti-gun crowd for quite some time,” Jim Wilson, a retired sheriff from Alpine, Texas, told FoxNews.com as he recalled stopping by the shop during a visit to San Francisco a few years back.

The new city laws were so far over the top that it’s difficult to imagine them surviving a court challenge, but the owners apparently don’t feel like converting their entire operation into little more than a legal defense fund to keep fighting the liberal legislature. They were going to force them to record videos of every customer in the store and keep those videos available permanently. The personal information of every customer would have to be turned over to the police department each and every week even if there wasn’t a hint of an allegation that any crime had taken place. In short, the rules were designed to force the shop to harass their own customers mercilessly to the point where no reasonable person would want to shop there anyway.

As the general manager viewed it, the writing was on the wall.

“This time, it’s the idea of filming our customers taking delivery of items after they already completed waiting periods,” Alcairo said. “We feel this is a tactic designed to discourage customers from coming to us.

“This year, it’s this and next year will probably be something else,” Alcairo added. “We don’t want to wait for it.”

The reason this is such a huge victory for the Left is that they’ve finally found an escape hatch to go around the courts and the Second Amendment. They were unable to flatly make guns illegal or to order the closure of a legally operated business, but with one strike after another they were able to finally harass them into closing. The real world effect is negligible, of course, since law abiding gun owners can still go somewhere else to purchase their guns, but it’s still a “moral” victory in terms of driving the evil gun shop out of their peace loving neighborhood.

And hey… it’s not like San Francisco is full of crime to the point where citizens would need to arm themselves, right?

 

Steinle

 

By Jazz Shaw September 27, 2015 (Hotair)

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Rasmussen: Only 34 Percent Support Federal Gun Control Laws

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Rasmussen released a poll On September 23, which shows only 34 percent of likely voters believe the federal government should be involved in gun control.

Thirty-six percent of likely voters believe gun control ought to be left up to state governments while 18 percent believe it ought to be up counties and municipalities.

According to Rasmussen, the percent of likely voters who oppose the idea of banning guns for everyone but government entities continues to grow. For example, “69 percent think it would be bad for the country if only the government had guns, [which is] up seven points from 62% in December.” Moreover, 68 percent of likely voters—nearly 7 out of 10—”would feel safer living in a neighborhood where they can own a gun” rather than in one where a gun ownership ban is in place.

When Rasmussen delved into basic questions about support for gun control versus opposition to gun control, they found only 43 percent of likely voters support more gun control, while 48 percent oppose it. They also found that likely voters continue to view the heinous August 26 shooting of WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward as a mental health issue instead of a matter to be addressed with gun control.

 

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Gallup Poll: Trust in Government at Historic Low

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Americans’ trust in the three branches of U.S. government is at historic lows, specifically in the judicial branch, according to a Gallup poll released on Friday.

Only 53 percent of respondents have a “great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in the judicial branch. This is a 23 percent drop from the 76 percent of Americans that showed trust in the judicial branch at the beginning of the Obama administration in 2009.

However, the judicial branch has the highest rated level of trust compared to the executive branch at 45 percent and the legislative branch at 32 percent.

According to Gallup, this is because the Supreme Court tends to be under less scrutiny from the public since the court’s “work is not as constant a presence in the news media as is the work of the president and Congress.”

The results of this poll have further contributed to a downward trend in “widespread dissatisfaction with government.”

Gallup reports, “The decline in trust in the judicial branch likely stems from the Supreme Court’s controversial decisions this year to legalize same-sex marriage and uphold a key provision of the Affordable Care Act allowing Americans to purchase subsidized health insurance through federally run marketplaces.”

The recent decisions from the Supreme Court were predominantly left-based, resulting in a 17 percent decline of Republicans’ trust in the judicial branch over the past year and 37 percent of Americans declaring the court “too liberal.”

Gallup surveyed 1,025 adults, ages 18 and older, from Sept. 9-13.

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For The Third Time D.C. Gun Laws Are Struck Down

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In a 2-1 ruling, a federal appeals court struck down parts of a gun control law in Washington, D.C. as unconstitutional.

The three-member U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the city cannot stop gun owners from registering more than one pistol per month, nor can it require gun owners to re-register a gun every three years. The court also squashed requirements that gun owners make a gun available for inspection and pass a test about firearms laws.

Overall, the court upheld six gun laws, including one that requires gun owners to register long guns, and struck down four others.

The ruling was brought in a lawsuit by Dick Heller, the same man who challenged the District’s 32-year-old handgun ban in 2008 and won, allowing handgun possession for self-defense in the home.

Judge Douglas Ginsburg (an appointee of President Reagan) wrote for the appeals court majority, and was joined in his opinion by President Obama appointee Patricia Millet.

Judge Karen LeGraft Henderson, named to the court by President George H. W. Bush, dissented in part.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she was not surprised by the decision because, “Our gun laws have been under attack for many years. We obviously disagree,” with the court’s decision.

The District of Columbia is known for having some of the most oppressive people control laws in the country.

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Trump: “The Second Amendment to our Constitution is clear, The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon. Period.”

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Republican presidential candidate and front-runner Donald Trump released on Friday his policy paper detailing his views on gun rights, saying he supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms and that “our personal protection is ultimately up to us.”

“That’s why I’m a gun owner, Mr. Trump wrote “That’s why I have a concealed carry permit, and that’s why tens of millions of Americans have concealed carry permits as well. It’s just common sense.”

Mr. Trump continued “The Second Amendment to our Constitution is clear, The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon. Period.”

Mr. Trump argued for tougher enforcement of current gun laws and criticized the Obama administration for failing to rein in violent crime in cities like Baltimore and Chicago.

“Drug dealers and gang members are given a slap on the wrist and turned loose on the street. This needs to stop,” Mr. Trump wrote.

He also called for an overhaul of the nation’s broken mental health system, arguing “law-abiding gun owners get blamed by anti-gun politicians, gun control groups and the media for the acts of deranged madmen.”

Donald Trump addressed the issue of assault weapons stating, “What they’re really talking about are popular semi-automatic rifles and standard magazines that are owned by tens of millions of Americans,” he said, calling gun and magazine bans a “total failure.”

Mr. Trump also advocated for a national right-to-carry bills saying permits should be valid in all 50 states.

“A driver’s license works in every state, so its common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state,” he said.

Regarding the military Mr. Trump also called for allowing service men to carry firearms on bases and at recruiting centers, saying such bans were “ridiculous.”

“We train our military how to safely and responsibly use firearms, but our current policies leave them defenseless. To make America great again, we need a strong military. To have a strong military, we need to allow them to defend themselves.”

Furthermore, he said the nation’s mental health system has allowed people who should not have guns to obtain them.

“We need to expand treatment programs, because most people with mental health problems aren’t violent, they just need help… But for those who are violent, a danger to themselves or others, we need to get them off the street before they can terrorize our communities. This is just common sense.”

“And why does this matter to law-abiding gun owners? Once again, because they get blamed by anti-gun politicians, gun control groups and the media for the acts of deranged madmen,” he said.