Penny Dean and Your Rights

Just to review, in Kansas you can be SWAT-raided and never be permitted to learn the basis for the warrant. This means the police can get a warrant for bogus reasons and reasonably expect that, if their victims are innocent, they will never be able to call them into an account.

So naturally, the Kansas state legislature has decided to add official protections to the police so that they are still more invulnerable to public scrutiny.

The bill is, thankfully, stalled at the moment, but it is not dead. It is called the “filing false complaints against a law enforcement officer” bill.

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<img src="http://cdn.static-economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full-widt... align="right" width="340">FROM the way police entered the house—helmeted and masked, guns drawn and shields in front, knocking down the door with a battering ram and rushing inside—you might think they were raiding a den of armed criminals.

The terms of a recently settled lawsuit in Indianapolis, Indiana will require the city’s police force to remind officers that it’s legal for civilians to videotape on-duty cops, but it will also cost the department more than just that.

In addition to having to adopt an official policy recognizing the right for citizens to record law enforcement officials, the City of Indianapolis is also cutting a $200,000 check for a local man who was arrested and injured by police in 2011 after he refused to stop filming a nearby arrest.

The Supreme Court has declined to take on any of the 3 gun rights cases they considered.

Two of those cases were brought by the NRA, and they would have addressed the issue of the right to bear arms outside of the home.

<p>With headlines claiming “<a href="http://wonkwire.rollcall.com/2014/02/18/shoots/">Study Shows Gun Control Works</a>,” media outlets such as <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-gun-murders-rise-in-missouri-after-bac..., <a href="

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As long as it is turned on, your mobile phone registers its position with cell towers every few minutes, whether the phone is being used or not. Since mobile carriers are retaining location data on their customers, government officials can learn a tremendous amount of detailed personal information about you by accessing your location history from your cell phone company, ranging from ...

<img src="http://teapartyeconomist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Christopher-Roup... align="right" width="180">A Georgia family is in shock following the death of their 17-year-old son, who was accidentally killed by a police officer who believed the video game controller he was holding was a gun, according to the family’s lawyer.

Christopher Roupe of Euharlee, Georgia heard a knock at the door of the family’s home last Friday night. Upon opening the door, he was immediately shot by a female police officer.

Roupe was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital.

A Florida woman spent the night in jail this week after attempting to document her own police encounter.

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According to News10 (http://www.news10.net ) this pilot posted a video that he made inside an airport. As a result of this, his Federally-issued handgun was taken away, and his local Sheriff revoked his license to carry (California).