This Is a Huge Win for Gun Owners | MMM Ep. 21

The Supreme Court JUST struck down warrantless gun confiscation 9-0. Thanks in part to Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the opinion for this unanimous decision, the Supreme Court said that there is no "community caretaking exception" to the 4th Amendment.

Thomas wrote: The very core of the Fourth Amendment's guarantee is the right of a person to retreat into his or her home and "there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion."

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CC:

The Supreme Court just struck down warrantless gun seizure.
I'm Phil, host of the Minute Man Moment.

Like this video and comment down below if you didn't need SCOTUS to tell you that taking guns from your home without a warrant was unconstitutional…

And here I thought the 2nd & 4th Amendments already made that clear!
In Caniglia v. Strom, Rhode Island police stole firearms from a gun owner's home WITHOUT A WARRANT after taking him in for mental health treatment.

But the Supreme Court JUST struck down this warrantless gun confiscation 9-0.

Specifically, they ruled that the "community caretaking exception" to the 4th Amendment DOES NOT extend to the home.

Here are the facts of the case:

A husband and wife, Edward and Kim Caniglia, were having troubles after 27 years of marriage.
Edward was a "68-year-old man with no criminal history and no record of violence, misuse of guns, or self-harm."

At one point, to show how hurt he was, Edward went to the bedroom, took an unloaded handgun, threw it on a table, and said something like, "shoot me now and get it over with."

Kim decided to leave the home in order to reduce the tension and stayed at a motel for the night.

At no time did Edward take any violent or threatening action, physical or verbal, toward Kim or himself.

Neither did Kim take any aggressive action toward Edward.
Basically, both of them just left the situation really P.O'd at each other.

The next morning, Kim tried to call Edward on the phone, and unable to reach him, recruited two police officers to accompany her to her house to check on her husband.

Edward calmly explained that he made the dramatic gesture with the handgun because he was sick of having arguments with his wife.

He denied he was suicidal and appeared completely normal to one of the officers.

And despite the facts you just heard, the senior officer somehow concluded that Edward was imminently dangerous to himself and others.
The cop insisted Edward be taken by ambulance to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Edward agreed to cooperate on the condition that they would not take his firearms.

But once he left, the officers located and seized his weapons.
Get this - At no point did Kim, his wife, ask the police to remove the guns.
Actually, the officers lied to her as well.

They told her that Edward had consented to the gun confiscation.
(incredulous) This gets worse.

Despite having searched for and seized his firearms, the police didn't tell Edward how to get them back.

When he tried to get them back, the police arbitrarily refused until Edward filed suit.

Even Rhode Island's own, Peter Griffin, would know this was wrong.
Anyway, the First Circuit said that the officers' removal of Caniglia and his firearms from his home was justified by a "community caretaking exception."

This exception is a fake, court-made doctrine that says in some cases, the police don't need a warrant to enter your home.
In our amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of all GOA members, the Gun Owners Foundation argued:

While the issue presented — whether the "community caretaking" exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirements is limited to vehicles or is expanded to homes — may seem reasonably discrete,
It. Is. Not.

This Court will decide whether Americans will continue to have meaningful Fourth Amendment protection in their own home or sacrifice it on the altar of the modern state.

Well, put.

Those balancing tests keep coming up.

The First Circuit's decision also shows the DISDAIN with which many lower federal courts have viewed the right to keep and bear arms.
But now we get to the good part.

Writing the unanimous Supreme Court opinion and responding to GOA's concerns, Justice Thomas - the legend that he is - wrote that:

“Neither the holding nor logic of [the ‘community caretaking exception’] justifies such warrantless searches and seizures in the home.”

“The very core of the Fourth Amendment's guarantee is the right of a person to retreat into his or her home and ‘there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.’”

Well done, SCOTUS.

If you want to help the Gun Owners Foundation pay the bills and put out No Compromise Amicus Briefs for cases like this, click the link in the description below and join GOF!

I'm Phil, and this has been the Minute Man Moment.