Friday, April 12, 2013

QotD: Truth In Government Edition...

On announcing that they suspended a man's constitutional rights over what turned out to be a massive case of derp*:
Erie County Clerk Chris Jacobs said, "Today, we all look like fools."
You said it, Chris, not me.

*They say it was the NY State Police's derp. Not sure who the NYSP is blaming, but if they were as diligent about this as they were about reading EOTech instructions, I'd say that the dunce cap is all theirs on this one.
.

22 comments:

Chad said...

"Jacobs is meeting with Judge Boller on Thursday. Most likely, he says, Boller will remove the suspension, and David will be able to retrieve his pistols from Amherst Police."

Last paragraph of the article. WTH do you mean "most likely"??

Tam said...

Because he most likely will?

Who knows, the guy could go on a stabbing spree between now and then and they'll keep his pistol permit. Or they could find out he's really a deep cover FSB mole between now and then. It's unlikely, but it could happen. I'd say he'll most likely get his permit back, though.

Chuck said...

So....cops everywhere have a long history of kicking in the door at the wrong address and shooting the wrong family's dog.

Now the bureaucratic machinations upon which we are supposed to believe the cops use to "get stuff right" proves once again it's thoroughly corrupt and riddled with failure.

More and more, cops seem hell bent on performing their Missions From God, which all too often result in fracking up someone's life, only to announce later "Oops, sorry, our bad." There's absolutely no excuse for any of this sort of thing.

Are they deliberately trying to make themselves our enemy? If so, they're doing a pretty good job of it.

Anonymous said...

"a recommendation from State Police that David's permit be revoked because he used anti-anxiety medication in the past.
... it was all a mistake and that they had the wrong man"

I've got a huge problem with this, even if he was the guy they thought he was. Since when has a history of a mood disorder been reason to confiscate someone's firearms?

If used judiciously, the standard of "adjudicated mentally defective" makes some sense. If someone has been found in a court of law to be so deranged that they are not able to be responsible for their own actions, then OK. For instance, the last few months of my grandmother's life when she had terminal Alzheimer's and was completely deranged, paranoid, and combative - sure, it's a good thing she didn't have guns at that time.

But someone who, at some point in the past, had a mild mood disorder? Really?

By some estimates, that would make almost 20% of the adult female population ineligible to own firearms.

They may not be getting their AWB through, but some of the stuff they're sneaking through in the fine print could be actually more dangerous than the sweeping bans we get all riled up about.

Alath
Carmel IN

Tam said...

Alath,

"...permit be revoked because he used anti-anxiety medication in the past..."

If that is, indeed, the entirety of the story, there is a lot to be pissed about.

I'm bearing in mind, however, that reporters who don't know anything about spray-firing automatic weapons with high-capacity assault clips and shoulder things that go up don't suddenly become smarter or more accurate when reporting on other topics.

NotClauswitz said...

My East-Coast shootin' Prof. buddy lives in the Amherst/Springfield area, he probably knows the cops.

Steve Skubinna said...

If it saves just one life...

J.R.Shirley said...

What if that life is a criminal's?

Windy Wilson said...

"If it saves just one life. . ."

"We can overlook the statistical increase in other deaths and injuries because they are not directly connected in the minds of the media."

Ed Jones said...

Does this mean in New York, if you took Welbutron to help you to stop smoking, you can not own guns?

Anonymous said...

So in keeping with the law of unintended consequences we will now have a large number of people with issues like depression and anxiety not getting the help they need because to go and get treatment means they will be disarmed. This will not end well.

I understand what they thought they were doing but really this one isn't even hard to figure out.

Stuart the Viking said...

Ed,

I wondered the exact same thing.

Along with anyone given a little medical help in dealing with the loss of a loved one, or anyone who is afraid of flying who gets prescribed something to take the edge off if they need to travel somewhere distant.

As far as the anti is concerned, this is a feature, not a bug.

s

Aesop said...

Please, please, please, let his lawyer feel that his client has suffered a mid-7-figure pain in his Constitutional Rights.

They sued the KK out of existence, and it seems like a good way to defund the gun-fearing retards too.
Especially if plaintiff uses the money on more guns and ammo.

Steve Skubinna said...

Ed, I suspect that if you took aspirin at some point some petty functionary would determine it disqualifies you from owning guns.

Anonymous said...

"Sorry we arrested you / took your property / ransacked your house / terrified your family / shot your dog / killed you. Accidents will happen, you know. Thank goodness, you really can't do anything to us to get even!"

--- Your Local Police

This was hard for me to write as I generally respect policemen. However, things have really, really gotten out of control in our country, and I fear that it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Anonymous said...

I'd replace "look like" with "are".

Anyway, NYS is a "may issue" state so the judge could say "tough shit, you don't get your guns back."

Chuck said...

From Tam:
"I'm bearing in mind, however, that reporters who don't know anything about spray-firing automatic weapons with high-capacity assault clips and shoulder things that go up don't suddenly become smarter or more accurate when reporting on other topics.

BUT - the low information voters who read those stories, or see them on TV "news," will assume the reporters are correct because the LIVs don't know better and depend on reporters and TV for the information on which the LIVs make up their minds. And the LIVs VOTE.

One either kills bad information in its cradle, or one is faced with killing supporters of it at the Siegfried Line at much higher cost. Pick one.

God, Gals, Guns, Grub said...

"fools"... I can think of a better word that is more accurate...

Dann in Ohio

fast richard said...

I guess when evaluating a proposed new law we should keep in mind that it will be enforced by fools.

Aesop said...

Which is a switch, since usually they are written by them.

Geodkyt said...

"...we will now have a large number of people with issues like depression and anxiety not getting the help they need..."

Already been happening for years with servicemembers and veterans.

Windy Wilson said...

Docjim505, of course, the respectableness of the police you know is irrelevant to the iussue of the harm they can do enforcing bad laws and "just doing my job, ma'am". The only genuine card-carrying Nazi I ever met was a sweet old man, but that doesn't change the fact that by his membership he enabled socialist evil to walk the Earth.