Penny Dean and Your Rights

<img src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140409&t=2&i=881975812&... align="right" width="300">(Reuters) - A 16-year-old student wielding two knives went on a stabbing rampage in the hallways of a Pittsburgh-area high school on Wednesday, wounding 22 people before he was tackled by an assistant principal, officials said.

Gun maker Sig Sauer has filed a civil suit against the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claiming the federal agency wrongfully classified a “muzzle brake” Sig designed to reduce recoil, as an item “intended only for use” when making a silencer.

Sig claims that gun silencers are “subject to burdensome legal requirements” and by calling its muzzle brake a part for a silencer, the federal agency is subjecting it to “economic injury.”

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/qqWjBeJ.jpg" align="right" width="340"><strong>Tennessee Senate just voted for open carry without a permit</strong>

The state senate voted for a bill allowing Tennesseeans to openly carry any type of gun without a permit. The bill also eliminates other restrictions, for instance, allowing guns to be removed from cars on school property. A corresponding bill is waiting for a vote in the Tennessee House.

We have collected some relevant documents related to the Ares Armor case, with the BATFE, and the Complaint for deprivation of civil rights, declatory and injunctive relief.

Please use the links below to view the PDFs.

(more information also at http://aresarmor.com/store/Ares-Armor-dispute-with-the-ATF )

Under civil asset forfeiture, police can seize property suspected of involvement in criminal activity. Unlike criminal asset forfeiture, with civil forfeiture, people don't have to be convicted—or even charged—with a crime to permanently lose their cars, homes, or cash.

Even worse, in many cases, police get to keep what they seize through asset forfeiture. As long as cops get to keep what they seize, civil asset forfeiture will keep on spawning scandals.

Learn about even more crazy things purchased with forfeiture money...

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BB_l6sLxNj4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(thanks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ReasonTV">ReasonTV</a>)

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.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0I2z9cCC9zs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<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.