Recently (just yesterday) I was "SWATted" in California. For those who don't know what being "SWATted" is, here's a wikipedia link which provides a basic overview. Basically, it's when someone decides to (whether because of their own personal vendetta, their own ideology, or for any number of twisted reasons) call up law enforcement on false pretenses, claiming that something terrible is happening in your home that actually is not happening, with the intent to direct law enforcement resources at your home. They may also pretend to be someone that they are not, such as someone who actually lives in your home.
This actually happened to me, and what makes it worse is that the person who did this to me was, as it turns out, a member of my own family who lives far away from my home. What made this more disturbing was that this was one of my parents who was the reporting party (who lives entirely in a different part of the state).
I was fortunate. There was no arrest - not of me nor of anyone in my family. I did not have my child taken away, I was not handcuffed nor even detained, nor was there any property seized for any purpose (civil forfeiture, "ongoing investigation," or any of the possible outcomes one might imagine). The visiting LEO confined his approach of the situation to a very brief welfare check, rather than something more severe. Even so, under the recent bill SB 505 which has been signed into law, that welfare check, if it were conducted by a less thoughtful LEO, could have resulted in a 72 hour hold and confiscation of property including firearms, merely due to a false report of anyone who would want to cause misdirection of law enforcement resources. Furthermore, due to AB 2310, if you are unfortunate enough to live in any one of the counties of Alameda, Los Angeles, or Sacramento (three counties in California), such a visit from an LEO could result in you being evicted from your home under AB 2310, which is now law (no-one has yet challenged it in the courts, although I have filed a civil rights complaint with the USDOJ against those involved in the making of AB 2310).
As it turns out, the visiting LEO in charge of the situation was very understanding and he gathered the impression that there was no basis for him to have been directed to my home. After some further review it turned out that my parent who had made the report may need some medical attention from a doctor and / or psychologist, so it is not clear to me how I should handle this going forward but I certainly must try to do what I can to help my parent, being that it is now evident that my parent acted with impaired judgment in this matter. So it is a complex situation but I will do the best I can to handle the whole situation compassionately. At the same time I am going to work with my legal counsel about a door notice and how to direct any future LEO visitor to my lawyer in the event that someone (whether they are acting with poor judgment, maliciously, or in some other similar manner) engages in misdirection or "SWATting" that I may be affected by again in the future (hopefully not, but one never knows).
The reason I bring this up at this forum is that given the increasing number of unfortunate laws in California that need to be overturned in the courts which I've commented on at length in a different post, is that I believe that it may be timely to take a look at the door advisories that are recommended by CALGUNS and update them to reflect new laws (such as SB 505, the "arrest and register-your-guns upon welfare check" law).
Currently, the door notice from Calguns (as shown and hosted at a Calguns site) reads as follows:
LINK TO DOOR NOTICE FROM CALGUNS SITE
Note that the door notice is intended to keep LEOs out of your home unless they have a warrant, assuming the door notice is in fact posted on the outside of your front door.
The Stickers for safe notices (which is actually at the Michel & Associates site) have the following text:
Link Removed
(Basically you just modify the lawyer section at the bottom as needed.)
The above notices were originally released if I am not mistaken, in 2013 as a response to APPS seizures. Obviously the situation we have now goes beyond APPS and is even worse.
So, now we are well into 2014 and new bills have been signed into law... (which we will eventually strike down in the courts, but this is a process that takes time).
I'm wondering if anyone thinks that these CALGUN door and safe notices should be revised in light of SB 505 (a bill which is designed to remove rights of gun owners at the time a welfare check is conducted), AB 1014 (a bill which removes due process protections in certain situations) and AB 2310 (a bill intended to evict gun owners in three counties in California ~ the Counties of Alameda, Los Angeles, and Sacramento [fortunately, I do not live in one of those three counties, but I am concerned that AB 2310 may soon be expanded to cover all of California]). All those bills have been signed into law and all of them are not only arguably, but clearly unconstitutional. If you agree the CALGUNS (door and safe) notices shown above should be revised, how should they be revised to address the presence of these new, and arguably much worse laws, that we now are challenging here in California?
Note: you need not be a lawyer to respond to this one, I'm just looking for general thoughts here, but lawyer types are welcome to respond too. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
(Edit [added Oct 12 2014 to post]: I'll be adding my own suggested revisions to the CALGUN door notice, as a reply to this post (in light of recently passed laws in California) after consultation with my legal counsel. These will just be posted as my own personal reflections. You should consult your own lawyer (or your legal counsel from your USCCA or other legal insurance) for advice, as nothing I post can be considered "legal advice." This post is merely intended to bounce ideas around about what improvements might be necessary for door notices and safe notices that have previously been recommended by CALGUN, so that any improvements suggested might help to better safeguard people's rights in California. Further, if you ever end up getting SWATted, you should of course immediately contact your lawyer or legal counsel from your legal insurance whoever that may be, in no small part because whoever SWATted you has depending on the laws of where you live, likely either committed a misdeLink Removed, a felony 'swatting crime', or in some cases Link Removed, and you should seek a lawyer's help to defend yourself and your family against people who are SWATting you. In short: No-one should ever call the police on you because they are upset at you or they don't agree with your beliefs (nor should you or anyone ever call the police on anyone using false or questionable information as the basis for your request for police or emergency services), as anyone who does so could very well end up before a judge or maybe in jail.)
This actually happened to me, and what makes it worse is that the person who did this to me was, as it turns out, a member of my own family who lives far away from my home. What made this more disturbing was that this was one of my parents who was the reporting party (who lives entirely in a different part of the state).
I was fortunate. There was no arrest - not of me nor of anyone in my family. I did not have my child taken away, I was not handcuffed nor even detained, nor was there any property seized for any purpose (civil forfeiture, "ongoing investigation," or any of the possible outcomes one might imagine). The visiting LEO confined his approach of the situation to a very brief welfare check, rather than something more severe. Even so, under the recent bill SB 505 which has been signed into law, that welfare check, if it were conducted by a less thoughtful LEO, could have resulted in a 72 hour hold and confiscation of property including firearms, merely due to a false report of anyone who would want to cause misdirection of law enforcement resources. Furthermore, due to AB 2310, if you are unfortunate enough to live in any one of the counties of Alameda, Los Angeles, or Sacramento (three counties in California), such a visit from an LEO could result in you being evicted from your home under AB 2310, which is now law (no-one has yet challenged it in the courts, although I have filed a civil rights complaint with the USDOJ against those involved in the making of AB 2310).
As it turns out, the visiting LEO in charge of the situation was very understanding and he gathered the impression that there was no basis for him to have been directed to my home. After some further review it turned out that my parent who had made the report may need some medical attention from a doctor and / or psychologist, so it is not clear to me how I should handle this going forward but I certainly must try to do what I can to help my parent, being that it is now evident that my parent acted with impaired judgment in this matter. So it is a complex situation but I will do the best I can to handle the whole situation compassionately. At the same time I am going to work with my legal counsel about a door notice and how to direct any future LEO visitor to my lawyer in the event that someone (whether they are acting with poor judgment, maliciously, or in some other similar manner) engages in misdirection or "SWATting" that I may be affected by again in the future (hopefully not, but one never knows).
The reason I bring this up at this forum is that given the increasing number of unfortunate laws in California that need to be overturned in the courts which I've commented on at length in a different post, is that I believe that it may be timely to take a look at the door advisories that are recommended by CALGUNS and update them to reflect new laws (such as SB 505, the "arrest and register-your-guns upon welfare check" law).
Currently, the door notice from Calguns (as shown and hosted at a Calguns site) reads as follows:
LINK TO DOOR NOTICE FROM CALGUNS SITE
Note that the door notice is intended to keep LEOs out of your home unless they have a warrant, assuming the door notice is in fact posted on the outside of your front door.
The Stickers for safe notices (which is actually at the Michel & Associates site) have the following text:
Link Removed
(Basically you just modify the lawyer section at the bottom as needed.)
The above notices were originally released if I am not mistaken, in 2013 as a response to APPS seizures. Obviously the situation we have now goes beyond APPS and is even worse.
So, now we are well into 2014 and new bills have been signed into law... (which we will eventually strike down in the courts, but this is a process that takes time).
I'm wondering if anyone thinks that these CALGUN door and safe notices should be revised in light of SB 505 (a bill which is designed to remove rights of gun owners at the time a welfare check is conducted), AB 1014 (a bill which removes due process protections in certain situations) and AB 2310 (a bill intended to evict gun owners in three counties in California ~ the Counties of Alameda, Los Angeles, and Sacramento [fortunately, I do not live in one of those three counties, but I am concerned that AB 2310 may soon be expanded to cover all of California]). All those bills have been signed into law and all of them are not only arguably, but clearly unconstitutional. If you agree the CALGUNS (door and safe) notices shown above should be revised, how should they be revised to address the presence of these new, and arguably much worse laws, that we now are challenging here in California?
Note: you need not be a lawyer to respond to this one, I'm just looking for general thoughts here, but lawyer types are welcome to respond too. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
(Edit [added Oct 12 2014 to post]: I'll be adding my own suggested revisions to the CALGUN door notice, as a reply to this post (in light of recently passed laws in California) after consultation with my legal counsel. These will just be posted as my own personal reflections. You should consult your own lawyer (or your legal counsel from your USCCA or other legal insurance) for advice, as nothing I post can be considered "legal advice." This post is merely intended to bounce ideas around about what improvements might be necessary for door notices and safe notices that have previously been recommended by CALGUN, so that any improvements suggested might help to better safeguard people's rights in California. Further, if you ever end up getting SWATted, you should of course immediately contact your lawyer or legal counsel from your legal insurance whoever that may be, in no small part because whoever SWATted you has depending on the laws of where you live, likely either committed a misdeLink Removed, a felony 'swatting crime', or in some cases Link Removed, and you should seek a lawyer's help to defend yourself and your family against people who are SWATting you. In short: No-one should ever call the police on you because they are upset at you or they don't agree with your beliefs (nor should you or anyone ever call the police on anyone using false or questionable information as the basis for your request for police or emergency services), as anyone who does so could very well end up before a judge or maybe in jail.)
