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Old April 15, 2001, 07:20 AM   #1
WAGCEVP
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Between A Rock And A Hard Place
by Tony Monanarella
CRPA Board Member, Law Enforcement Committee

Thanks to the California Legislature and Governor Davis, thousands of law
abiding Californians became criminals on January 1st. These people did not
rob banks or steal cars, or shoplift. They owned a piece of property they may
have owned for years and did not misuse or forfeit their right to continue to
own this piece of property.

They are otherwise decent citizens with families and lives reflective of
mainstream America. They go to church or synagogue and pay taxes like all
responsible citizens. They are about to become criminals because they own
semiautomatic rifles, shotguns or handguns that because of purely cosmetic
features, must be registered with the Department of Justice or they are
illegal. These guns have been branded as "assault weapons," primarily by the
media and anti-gun politicians.

Make no mistake; any gun is dangerous in the wrong hands. So, why not just
register the guns? I agree, register the guns like the law says and you can
keep your gun. The problem is that the current law is so confusing and
ambiguous that people may be in violation without even knowing it. That's
what happens when you have self-serving, anti-gun politicians who don’t have
a clue about firearms except that they don't like them.

The politicians tout this law as being an anti-crime measure, yet it has no
effect on criminals who rarely use such weapons and aren't going to register
them anyway. If you think about it, it's a pro-crime measure, since it will
add thousands of new criminals to the criminal justice system.

The law has nothing to do with machine guns or silencers or anything else
that directly contributes to the lethality of the guns. A gun must be
registered because it has pistol grip, folding stock, flash suppresser or
some other cosmetic feature that has nothing to do with lethality. In fact,
if these features are removed, the gun need not be registered. Again I am not
advocating that people not register their guns. Unfortunately, it's the law
and if you want to remain a law-abiding citizen you should comply. Mine is a
personal choice….

I have been a Police Officer in Orange County for eleven years. I love my job
and take what I do very seriously. I derive genuine enjoyment from putting
criminals in jail, where they belong. I believe in Honor, Duty, Truth and
Loyalty. I believe in what I said when I took The Oath of Office. I am
honored that I have been entrusted with such responsibility and power.

The California Penal Code gives me the power to use my own discretion and
judgment when it comes to enforcing certain types of laws. I have made a
personal decision not to enforce the "Assault Weapon" registration law
against otherwise law-abiding citizens. How can I do that? I just won't ask.
If I come across a normal citizen with a gun that should be registered and
he/she is doing nothing wrong, I just won't ask if it's registered. You
better believe I will enforce it against criminals. That's the way it should
be. I am convinced that the whole purpose of the law is to take guns away
from people, to disarm them. I don't want any part of that. I will enforce
laws against career criminals who should not be in our communities, let alone
have guns.

So why are people so opposed to registering their guns with the state?
Besides the fact that the law is confusing and fundamentally unfair, most gun
owners are inherently suspicious of the government ordering them to register
the guns they own. Any guns. The state would achieve much more compliance if
it had done two things when it wrote the law. Made it simple and easy to
understand and have stated in the text of the law, that none of the
registration information could be used to confiscate or outlaw the possession
of legally owned guns. This would have gone a long way to put the fears of
owners to rest. The state did neither and now it's up to cops like me to
clean up the mess.

Recent statements about the law by its author, State Senator Don Perata, also
concern me. He stated that he really did not expect people to comply with the
law and if they wanted to keep their guns without registering them, they
should move to another state. Well, Senator, this is America and last time I
checked, California is still part of the union and law abiding Californians
can live wherever they want, they don't need your permission.

I love the irony of the whole thing. When the law finally passed last year,
Governor Davis signed it with much pomp and ceremony. He touted it as a blow
to criminals. The Department of Justice has been working for months to
fine-tune the law and make it workable, to no avail. But it all comes down to
cops like me. Despite all the efforts of state government, I have the final
say on what to do. I have decided what I am going to do. I am going to stay
true to the Constitution, my oath, myself and the decent, hardworking gun
owners of this state. I call on every Law Enforcement Officer in this state
to do the same. We are on the front lines. We know what to do.
______________________________________________________

Between A Rock And A Hard Place
[ http://www.crpa.org/apr01rock.html ]
Between A Rock....


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Old April 15, 2001, 09:43 PM   #2
Bulldog44
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This is an interesting thing to hear out of PRK's Supreme Soviet and Comrade Secretary.
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Old April 15, 2001, 11:30 PM   #3
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Old April 15, 2001, 11:38 PM   #4
John/az2
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Absolutely incredible.... I'm.... speechless.... I love it!
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Old April 16, 2001, 01:31 AM   #5
44rugerfan
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"...and the truth shall set you free!"
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Old April 16, 2001, 09:23 AM   #6
labgrade
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Good deal & bravo! Dovetails rather nicely with a long-standing conversation I've had with a gent/pal/bud (quite a brilliant chap, BTW) who suggests that any LEO worth his salt should quit The Force due to the probable enforcement of unconstitutional laws. I've always countered that I would much rather have those who would "look the other way" as they are the initial point of contact by where one would find themselves entering the judicial system - if ya catch my drift.

A nit on Tony's post however is the "direct contribution of lethality" re silencers. Are we to assume that he feels that these are "bad" & would perform a felony arrest for such?

Laudible as he seems to be, I hope he will take his "libertarian" thoughts a step or two further - to the logical conclusion.



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Old April 16, 2001, 04:35 PM   #7
Wallew
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Labgrade,
You must be talking to a kindred spirit of mine. I too believe that PROGUN LEO's should resign, as they will one day be forced to enforce the unenforceable. And those that do, will be just as much of a target as those that do not enforce the law. After all, how is an honest firearms owner going to know that John Q. Policeman coming up his private driveway ISN'T THERE to confiscate his UNREGISTERED FIREARM??

Don't flame me with, "he's not an honest citizen if he DIDN'T register his firearms". It is every honest firearms owner DUTY to peacefully resist unconstitutional laws. After all, the constitution DOESN'T give us the right to keep and bear arms. All the constitution does is reiterate ALL of our GOD GIVEN RIGHTS, including those that guarantee the saftey of our lives and property and the right to protect that which a criminal is about to attempt to take from us with force. Not a hell of a lot of difference between a criminal breaking into my house and stealing my firearms collection VERSUS a police officer entering my home and confiscating the same collection of firearms BECAUSE I didn't register them, which is basically an unconsititutional law (congress shall make no laws...).

So, while this guy's intentions are good, he's exposing himself unneccessarily. AND by signing his name to the article, he has guaranteed that his superiors will give him grief for only enforcing laws he thinks are right. It will, in the long run, cost him his LE career in Kalifornia. As an LEO who is enforcing ALL THE LAWS, even the ones he disagrees with, would you want to be this guys partner?? I doubt it. So, he has to deal with his co-workers who disagree with his viewpoint not trusting him, and his superiors have been put on notice that he won't accept their authority or the authority of the state congress. Yeah, poor ol' Tony is getting ready to be a very unpopular guy. With all levels of LEO's and state politicians as well. I don't envy the guy or his approach. Kind of a middle of the road type of thing. In this day and age, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution. This guy is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
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Old April 16, 2001, 05:30 PM   #8
WAGCEVP
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and if all the good leos quit?

what do you have left?
No they DO NOT need to resign! They need to stay on and try to influence other cops....... It's the bad cops that need to resign!

They WILL NOT be FORCED to do anything they don't want to do, all the ones I know has said that if ordered anyone to
do unconstitutional stugff they then would throw down their badge and walk out. I know that has all ready told the BATF to go to hell, that he would NOT violate anyone law abiding citizen's right to KBA......
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Old April 17, 2001, 02:24 AM   #9
chink
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Wallew,
a minor point, its the Bill of Rights, that gives us the right to keep and bear arms. but thats minor.

WAGCEVP

I agree with you completely. I am one of the many who registered at the end of the year. Next time I'm in Orange County I owe you a drink.
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Old April 17, 2001, 09:30 AM   #10
Dennis
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A major point.

The Bill of Rights gives us nothing.

The Bill of Rights notes and confirms Natural Rights which, by the way, is the term most of our Founding Fathers used in reference to the individual use of force.

It is a natural human Right to Keep and Bear Arms. The Second Amendment acknowledges that Right. I will adhere to Natural Laws but man-made laws which contradict Natural Laws are invalid on their face. This puts me in consonance with Natural Laws, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
-----

Yep, the longer I'm on TFL, the more hard-line I become.

Those who oppose Liberty are the enemy.
Those who compromise are slower-acting enemy.
Those who are uncommitted are my target group.
Those who support Natural Laws, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are my comrades, my brothers and sisters.

Contrary to those who try to confuse the issue to justify their kneeling to tyranny are wrong. It IS black and white.
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Old April 17, 2001, 09:36 AM   #11
Battler
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Not totally keen on this - he criticizes the law as cryptic rather than unfair (it'd be a whole lot less cryptic if it banned possession of ALL semis, with no registration just confiscation).

He'll remember his oath to the constitution; but WILL enforce this law on "criminals"?
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Old April 17, 2001, 09:52 AM   #12
Dennis
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Battler,
I agree. On-the-street jury duty is not the job of Law Enforcement. However, our voters foolishly insist on supporting our socialist oligarchy; therefore, I begrudgingly must support the LEOs who use discretion in enforcing our unconstitutional laws.

Ideally, we would elect Americans-in-spirit to lead us. But that is not "viable" or "realistic".

Ideally, if our laws were just, then LEOs could enforce all laws without question or qualms.

Unfortunately, sadly, neither ideal concept is fact.
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Old April 17, 2001, 11:35 AM   #13
Wallew
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Sure, a miniscule FEW will drop their badges and walk out. HOWEVER WE have way to many examples of those who sidle up to those with power and do ANYTHING they ask. Even when they KNOW it's wrong.

Remember Waco, Ruby Ridge, Philadelphia, South Central LA, the list goes on and on and on and on. Yes, there are a few of the LEO's that not only believe in RKBA, but will actually support it by their actions. Unfortunately, MOST LEO's don't even know what RKBA stands for, much less believe we have that right or support that right.

So, while your idea is that every LEO is like you or this guy who wrote the article, the truth is, the majority of LEO's lean more towards Lon Horiuchi. Not to say they are bad guys, they are just doing their jobs by enforcing the laws pass by the state or federal legislature. And we all know how politicians feel about our rights. As long as we keep supporting them, the politicians will continue to take away our rights. And this is not exclusive to RKBA.
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Old April 17, 2001, 12:51 PM   #14
Dennis
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Wallew,
I agree that only a few would resign. But be careful of applying your experience to other (geographical) areas.

I truly believe the Deputies in my area simply would refuse to "see" violations of most HCI-style laws. I've watched them do it.

What we need to watch for is when Internal Affairs types try to catch LEOs in the street who refuse to enforce such laws. Then more of the good cops would resign - and we would be left with uniformed terrorists for the state.

We must stop this anti-gun movement in its tracks. To do that, we must unite, all of us, LEO and non-LEO alike, and vote out any legislator or other functionary who votes against the Constitution. We must replace the socialist oligarchy now in place with an American government.
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Old April 17, 2001, 05:01 PM   #15
EricM
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Quote:
He'll remember his oath to the constitution; but WILL enforce this law on "criminals"?
I wondered the same thing. Criminals have 5th amendment rights, too.
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Old April 17, 2001, 05:20 PM   #16
Brett Bellmore
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Sure, many cops would refuse to enforce such laws. But there's another side of this: Only selective enforcement allows laws like these to exist. The best way to destroy a stupid law is to relentlessly enforce it, creating a massive backlash.

In effect the good cops are the pressure relief valve on top of the pressure cooker, that allows it to function instead of exploding.
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Old April 17, 2001, 05:51 PM   #17
Wallew
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Brett B,
You mean like Waco, right??

Yeah, we've seen such a MASSIVE BACKLASH against LEO's for those tragedies. The only persons who did anything against LEO's over the Waco tragedy have been prosecuted and one of them is about to be injected to death. So, you were saying that enforcing bad laws does what again??

Don't get me wrong, the Congress, the Senate and several Texas state prosecutors have been putting on a show of doing something. BUT, when push comes to shove, NO LEO (at any level) involved in Waco got any kind of punishment, unless you consider a promotion punishment.

We conservatives (of which gun owners are a sub species) could BARELY get enough people out to vote this last presidential election to get our guy in office. We will never win the fight of our RKBA, as our numbers dwindle daily with the deaths of WWII and Korean vets. Viet Nam vets will be next, and I am of that generation. I hope to stay on this swirling orb another fifty plus years (I would be 98 by then). The problem is we are not renewing our numbers as fast as we are losing them.

Read here:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...threadid=63069
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Old April 17, 2001, 07:42 PM   #18
MadScientist
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just curious, how much weight does this letter carry? i.e., who is this Tony (I live in VA)?
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Old April 18, 2001, 08:05 PM   #19
FlyboyAZ
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As a Kalifornian recently moved to Arizona I applaud Tony and his statement. Yes, if every Police Officer in the state threw down their badge it might make an impact but that will never happen. There are enough stories of corrupt officers out there that I am sure more than a few good socailists would fill the void with boot licking scum. An officer's duties are naturally up to the officer to enforce. While I haven't had much luck geting off of speeding tickets I know enough people that have to know that much of law enforcement is up to the officer. They take into account all of the conditions and determine the violation. If Tony selects to pass on questioning an AR-15 owner about his firearm is that any different than and officer electing not to stop a traffic offender. Hardly.

I have read several previous responces that are rather harsh on Tony's stand. Give the guy a break. Don't give me any of that "problem or solution" crap. He is in a tough position and should be supported.

If as gun owners we want to change the gun laws I suggest we start by showing more people the enjoyment of owning a gun. Before I graduate and head of to the Air Force I intend to start a strong school gun club that will hopefully promote the pro-gun side of life. This forum is hardly a place to change gun laws so why don't we get out and do something that will.

Best wishes to everyone. Arizona sportsman
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