From The Boston Globe, via The War on Guns:
Boston police are launching a program that will call upon parents in high-crime neighborhoods to allow detectives into their homes, without a warrant, to search for guns in their children’s bedrooms.
As we’ve seen in the past, the gun grabbers don’t just hate the Second Amendment, they hate the Fourth and Fifth too.
The program, which is already raising questions about civil liberties, is based on the premise that parents are so fearful of gun violence and the possibility that their own teenagers will be caught up in it that they will turn to police for help, even in their own households.
Hmm, using irrational fear to trick people into giving up their rights? Isn’t this the exact same thing the left has been accusing Bush of doing for the last six years? Only in this case, instead of being a vague possibility that one might be wiretapped or whatever some time in the future, these fascists are proudly admitting door-to-door sweeps in an American city. Naturally, they try to justify it as somehow being voluntary or something:
The officers will travel in groups of three, dress in plainclothes to avoid attracting negative attention, and ask the teenager’s parent or legal guardian for permission to search. If the parents say no, police said, the officers will leave.
Because we all know that when a group of armed agents of the state show up to search a place saying it’s for the kids’ own good and promising not to arrest anyone, no parents will be intimidated into complying, right? Sounds to me like the mafia asking a business owner for a “donation” because “bad things might happen,” but okay..
Police will rely primarily on tips from neighbors. They will also follow tips from the department’s anonymous hot line
Joseph Stalin would be proud..
As bad as all that is, I find the following bit the most nauseating of it all:
“What I like about this program is it really is a tool to empower the parent,” [Rev. Jeffrey L. Brown] said. “It’s a way in which they can get a hold of the household and say, ‘I don’t want that in my house.’ “
What?! This program completely and unequivocally absolves parents of anything remotely resembling parental responsibility. If the parents want to “get a hold” of their household, they should look for themselves. Otherwise, the only entity which this program empowers is the state.
Finally, I can’t help but wonder how many kids will be arrested for terrorism when the police find Lite-Brites in their rooms.