A Phoenix man (not pictured above) was sleeping soundly in his bed Friday, surrounded by his prized possessions and most cherished foliage, when an armed robber kicked down his bedroom door. The 54-year-old resident didn’t think twice — he grabbed his heater and plugged the larcenous whipper-snapper. The police would later find a handgun near the slowly exsanguinating criminal, hence the “armed” part of armed robbery. There’s little doubt that the gun saved the homeowner’s life, and as far as the shooting goes, the guy’s in the clear. But he’s still being hauled off to the graybar hotel . . .
From the local CBS station:
Thompson said while officers were going through the house to secure it, they found the resident was growing marijuana. He had a medical marijuana card, which limits 12 plants and he had nearly 50 plants.
“This individual had the proper credentials, but the problem was he has more plants than were allowed by permit,” Thompson said.
Thompson said charges against the homeowner will be submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for review.
Some might call that a “stockpile” of marijuana. An arsenal, even. Nevermind that I probably have more cigars than that sitting in my cabinet at the club.
Currently, the ATF form buyers are required to fill out in order to purchase a firearm from a dealer requires that the prospective purchaser to attest that they are not addicted to or an unlawful user of marijuana. Under federal law, marijuana is still illegal.
Gun control advocates always ask, what’s the harm in adding medical records to the NICS database? Why wouldn’t you be in favor of stricter background checks? Well, if this man’s medical records had been submitted to NICS, he might not be alive today. And if we can save only one life, would it be worth it?
Glad to hear you enjoy a good cigar as well . . . . but you need to keep them closer to you. at home.
Yeah. Preferably right next to the scotch.
Just keep them away from Monica….
Just sayin
Now that’s just wrong. Funny, and true! Oh, you left out the main “smoker” our man Bill, of 1994 fame.
I wonder how many of those customized cigars he gave to Hillery to smoke?
OK, I laughed AND threw up in my mouth at the same time.
Home carry, Nick, home carry!
The officers had no legal right to “go through the house” to secure it. Anything not related to the incident and not immediately visible cannot be used in charging him with a crime.
Drug laws are no different than prohibition of alcohol. The government has no right to tell anyone what they can or can’t ingest just because they (gov’t) feel it is bad, much like the SCOTUS struck down nanny bloomingidiotberg’s soda ban.
Yes they did.
When a crime has been committed, or there is a reasonable suspicion of same, they then have the right to do certain things.
A crime was committed — by the dead guy. Such being the case, the home was the scene of an attempted robbery, possibly an attempted murder, breaking and entering, property damage et cetera in addition to the justified homicide.
A search for accomplices, a loot bag that might contain stuff belonging to neighbors, a deeper motive et cetera are all legally justified, along with bringing in the photographers, cordoning off the area and other such stuff.
It doesn’t end with the DGU; it ends when it ends.
I don’t smoke marijuana but I still have to ask; if this guy had 50 bottles of liquor and that wouldn’t have been a problem why should he be off to jail because he had 50 marijuana plants? The very concept that the growth of certain plants is a jail-able offense is anathema to both liberty and the dreaded ‘common sense’.
Agree completely, Ardent. Weed should be legal. However, he broke the rules, silly as they seem to us adults. I always vote to legalize pot.
Actually it’d be better if it was decriminalized, the laws that criminalizes drugs removed from the books. And while you’re at it, lets gets the NFA etc… off the books too.
He did break the rules, but that’s not a bad thing in this case, except for him. Any fool can make a rule.
As proven by current legislators.
Agreed, but welcome to America unfortunately. Where “freedom” is a relative term at best and the vast majority of laws aren’t about common sense or protecting people, they’re about controlling people at the benefit of the ruling class (government and those in bed with government).
I couldn’t have worded it better.
I agree with ditching NFA and most criminal drug laws. This way sure isn’t working and the only truly stupid idea is to continue to back a failed (obviously and utterly) plan.
I also think the pendulum needs to swing far back in the direction of individual rights and liberties. The police should have greater concern about harming the innocent and violating the rights of citizen than what a person might grow or consume or carry on their person or keep in their vehicle or home.
With the forfeiture and confiscation laws and the federal dollars for the ‘war on drugs’ these abuses will continue along with increasing militarization of the police.
I recall a time when it was typical to serve arrest warrants for non-violent crimes either during incidental contact with the suspect or after waiting for him to come out of his home or vehicle in order to allow a peaceful apprehension. Just because you can rip the door off with an armored car, send in an assault squad, grenade the place, shoot the dogs and drag everyone away doesn’t mean you should. The first step to reversing this dangerous and tyrannical trend is to make civil rights violations by the police hurt as bad as violating the laws of war for soldiers. When your career and your freedom are on the line you tend to make decisions about what you ought and ought not to do a little more carefully.
The second prong is removing the incentives. Stop forfeiture and confiscation from benefiting the police. It’s a license to steal no matter what you call it and it will always lead to abuse.
The third prong is removing some of the military hardware. If the proposition of kicking in the door is suddenly risky other, more subtle means of executing warrants will be employed. I’m not talking about risking officer safety, rather rules limiting the use of hard armor, bullet proof shields, armored cars and flash-bangs to actual violent situations that the perpetrator created. As it is the police are creating more violence than the suspects they are attempting to apprehend.
Yes, 12 is an arbitrary number invented by politicians. Its a dangerously low number for someone trying to conduct a legally sanctioned business, as plants can and do fail, or get diseased. Other plants have to be on hand to allow for this contingency, get cuttings to start other plants etc.
I would bet that every single licensed grower has more plants on hand than are “allowed” them by their permit.
This is just more drug-war nonsense and the sooner it end the better.
It’s positively abhorrent, Ardent. The human brain has receptors specifically for marijuana! Think about that. A lock and a key. Proof that the human race and marijuana GREW UP with one another!
Need I even point out that five of the nine current SCOTUS justices have, in one dissent or another, opined that Canibus should be decriminalized? Justice Thomas even expressed the view that the Controlled Substances Act was unconstitutional as beyond the expressed powers of the federal government. The founding fathers would, I imagine, be amazed to find that citizens must pay large fees to physicians and Big Pharma to relive pain or relax from their cares. The wives of Nantucket, their husbands off whaling, ran the island in their abscence, and archeologists have apparently proven that the women of Nantucket often smoked a bit of opium. [Yes, There once was a gal on Nantucket…. here we go]
er…Cannabis.
“And if we can save only one life, would it be worth it?”
Now that’s how to use the gun controllers own phrase against them in
their desire to ban military-style firearms or their outright confiscation.
Wasn’t there a ruling that the 4473 is a clear violation of the 5th amendment?
if we can save only one life, would it be worth it?
It depends on whose.
A good point that is all too often overlooked or ignored.
Well said, Ralph.
Good post Nick. …And a good example of idea of the “slippery slope.” I also enjoyed the use of the word “Exsanguination” which I had actually never seen before.
To me… things have become ridiculous over time. A permit to grow 12 plants. Why even bother. Welcome to the knee -jerking emotional whim of the majority.
Also… a great deal of liberal progressive anti-gunners have been on wikipedia lately defining “Slippery slope”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope
“Eugene Volokh’s Mechanisms of the Slippery Slope (PDF version) analyzes various types of such slippage. Volokh uses the example “gun registration may lead to gun confiscation” to describe six types of slippage:”
The IT slippery slope has been around for years, but it has been given a huge boost in meaning via systematic electronic data collection and data mining by those who would restrict our activities and freedoms.
Agreed. What started as a simple analogy has grown into huge proportions.
Just read Eugene Volokh’s garbage about gun control here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope
I’m guessing the weed was why the burglar came to the scene.
That’s possible Skyler but by no means certain. If the homeowner was a medical marijuana card holder and growing for personal use and not for sale it’s likely the intruder had no idea there was marijuana in the house. Either way, under state law he had the right to have it, it was his property and the intruder is still an armed robber regardless of what property he was after.
Yall are starting to sound like reefer madness with all this “dope” business.
“Reefer Madness” was an anti-weed hysteria film, designed to convince the gullible populace into believe pot turned folks into psychopathic killers. Because hemp fiber (NOT pot) posed a threat to the new synthetic fibers industry. They bought off William Randolph Hearst to put anti-weed hysterical all over his newspaper chain.
And that’s pretty much why pot became illegal, along with heroin, morphine and cocaine. All were legal once, and usage was minimal.
QUITE THE OPPOSITE of what we’re talking, Tex.
Manila is a stronger natural fiber than hemp, and has been used for centuries where strength is important. The synthetic fiber industry only really got started due to natural fiber shortages during wartime. Hemp fiber has never really been a threat to nylon or polyester, they’re barely even in the same category. It’s about controlling people, and forcing opinions on others, just like Prohibition.
Actually, the year before Refer Madness saw the release of a propaganda film backed by the U.S. Navy: Hemp for Victory.
As to opiates and cocaine, though, they really didn’t belong in the Sears catalog.
While morphine use might’ve been “minimal,” that’s one tough monkey to let run around unchecked. Or do you disagree?
Apparently a lot of rabid potheads here.
So the popo show up to collect the dead home invader. How does that call allow them, give cause, to shake down the homeowners residence? Any compartment for anything – drugs, lawyers, guns, money. If clearly visible along route from the door to the stiff not part of the shooting should not be allowed.
maybe he can claim, quite rightly, that those weeds just got away from him. They grow wild!
The weed was planted!
And fertilized and watered…….
Doublw win. Dead bg and jailed stoner.
Double win? I guess you would be proud to take that homeowner I mean stoner off the streets. The world would be a much better place if we can only put all the people that ingest medical marijuana behind bars.
Can you imagine the tax burden on the few left?
Double
Illegal to grow a plant (an easy plant to grow, or so my friend’s brother-in-law’s cousin, who makes $97/hour at home told me, I certainly have no personal experience). Illegal to distill your own whisky, for that matter. That’s my beef with the Washington State law – growing your own is still a potential felony, even if you never sell it. Like moonshining.
wait till you try to evade the government monopoly on “legal” pot. you think the DEA is bad? Try evading the State Dept of Revenue Swat team!
When government makes nature illegal, it must fancy itself a god.
What disturbs me is the lack of sympathy for the deceased home invader. Look, home invasion is a hard line of work to break into. With more and more home owners arming themselves, it is getting hard for home invaders to make a living. Every day, thousands of hard working home invaders start out to make a living and every night hundreds of them come home.
Thanks! I love a good laugh, Sir.
Has anyone noticed that today Dick Heller, David Baum, Collion Noir, Fate of Destinee et cetera are seemingly on vacation, leaving only Mark Kresser to read TTAG?
Oddish, that.
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