Why It Matters.

Imagine that you own a chain of gun stores in Missouri. You are selling about $4 million a year in firearms, where it is completely legal to do so. That would be awesome.

Now let’s say that the government has managed to get all of the local banks and credit card companies to refuse doing business with you, so you are forced to hire an armored car company to transport the proceeds from your cash sales. They pick up the cash in Missouri, and transport it across Illinois to Tennessee.

Now selling guns is illegal in Illinois, so the cops pull over your armored car and confiscate all of your cash. $700,000 of it. Then a week later, they do it again.

That is why I am upset by what is happening in Kansas and California. I don’t care if pot is legal or not, there are rules for searching and seizing property, and this ain’t it. There are two Amendments to the Constitution that say this shouldn’t be happening. But it is.

Amendment 4
– Protection from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment 5
– Protection of Rights to Life, Liberty, and Property

No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

The rights protected by the Constitution aren’t only rights for people that I happen to agree with. They are for everyone. Someone doesn’t lose those rights merely because another person has accused them of being a lawbreaker, even if the accusation is being made by a cop or other government official. ESPECIALLY if that accusation is being made by a cop or other government official.