RICO to gun laws
GOA reports on S. 456 which they say would allow prosecution for minor gun infractions under RICO. Here’s the bill.
Update: Sebastian says ehh, not so much.
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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September 18th, 2007 at 9:20 am
The government doesn’t seem very interested in freedom, does it?
September 18th, 2007 at 11:53 am
[…] is talking about a new senate bill GOA is alerting on that shows, once again, that GOA doesn’t know how to read legislation. […]
September 18th, 2007 at 11:55 am
I’m against this on federalism grounds, but as I detailed in my traceback, GOA is full of shit on the gun matter.
September 18th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
The real problem is GOA is obviously more aware of the systematic abuse of broadly written law. If you think their prediction is wrong, go do some serious research on RICO law prosecutions.
If that doesn’t change your “it’ll never be abused” attitude then you are beyond reason
September 19th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Hm… well, I don’t quite share Sebastian’s rosy viewpoint on things — the act does not require an earlier conviction for these named “gang crimes”, which could be ugly.
I’d be more worried about section 203, which seems to require anyone who is under arrest for the suspected commission of a crime of violence using a gun to prove that they’ve earned bail. That’s rather questionable in light of a court that’s supposed to be biased on the presumption of innocence.
I can’t speak from personal experience, but it’d suck quite a good deal if after being chased down by a now-room temp crazed druggy one was stuck in jail with no chance of bail. I can’t see most sane judges doing that, but there are another six circuits worth…
215 could require disarmament based on a court order naming someone as part of a criminal street gang without requiring an actual conviction, too.
It’s got some faulty parts (a study to permit hearsay evidence in court? wtf?) and some that seem like plain errors (section 215 describes gun ownership bans after a misdemeanor gang-related offense, but the only misdemeanor gang offense I can find is ignoring a court ruling)…
I can see some potential abuses, but I can’t see any part of RICO or this act that would make RICO any more abusive toward gun owners.