Skip to main content

The News Journal finds its Libertarian groove...

Let's see, in today's edition they published Patricia Cavender's op-ed on privatizing or outsourcing DelDot:

We could probably deal with a neighboring state or a private firm for less than we're paying for a poor excuse for engineering.


That, of course, quails in contention with some actual investigative reporting that reveals the Delaware State Police are using their discretionary authority to break Federal law and abuse privacy rights with so-called Superchecks on gun-onwers.

That's unusual in and of itself, but what about this editorial from our usual uber-Statist friends?

The report on today's front page by investigative reporter Lee Williams about the Delaware State Police's use of so-called "superchecks" on gun possession is at least disturbing and possibly a violation of federal law. This is not the kind of information Delawareans want to read about their nationally recognized state law enforcement agency.

Simply because the state police can access mental health records from their portable computers isn't a reason to do it. But that's exactly what it looks like: They do it because they can.

As Drewry Fennell -- executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware -- said, mental health history of citizens is surrounded by "robust protections. There's a clear directive that they're [computer checks] not supposed to be used for general law enforcement purposes." Emphasis on the word not.

And it certainly doesn't speak well for the state police when our neighbors in Maryland and Pennsylvania say their police don't do any such thing like what Delaware does with the confidential mental health records.

The News Journal found that more than 10 percent of background checks denied by the state Firearms Transaction Approval Program were requested by state troopers, not by gun dealers for whom the program was created by the state Legislature. None of the people on whom the background checks were made had signed consent forms, also required by state law.

The state police seem to dismiss these violations of law and personal rights as something they must do for their job. It doesn't look that way to us.


Five will get you ten that we won't quickly find our liberal/progressive friends jumping through hoops to support this patently illegal activity with all the fervor they used to denounce the Bush administration for warrantless wiretaps.

No, I'm not holding my breath.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Er, not to be contrary, but this progressive thinks this is a completely draconian overreach by the state police.

If they don't have the authority to make these checks (which they shouldn't in any event) then they should be punished under the law.

Period.
Anonymous said…
Joe M,

Good for you.

We libertarians should be less knee-jerk dismissive to all leftists. Some of them will defend civil liberties even when the transgressor is a democrat or in a blue state. As the right divorces us, and vice versa, we will have to look for friends from across the left-right spectrum. Lew Rockwell has a really good piece on this: http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory175.html

I'm glad to see you sticking to your guns, Joe.

http://www.mikevine.com/

Popular posts from this blog

The Obligatory Libertarian Tax Day Post

The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?

New Warfare: I started my posts with a discussion.....

.....on Unrestricted warfare . The US Air force Institute for National Security Studies have developed a reasonable systems approach to deter non-state violent actors who they label as NSVA's. It is an exceptionally important report if we want to deter violent extremism and other potential violent actors that could threaten this nation and its security. It is THE report our political officials should be listening to to shape policy so that we do not become excessive in using force against those who do not agree with policy and dispute it with reason and normal non-violent civil disobedience. This report, should be carefully read by everyone really concerned with protecting civil liberties while deterring violent terrorism and I recommend if you are a professional you send your recommendations via e-mail at the link above so that either 1.) additional safeguards to civil liberties are included, or 2.) additional viable strategies can be used. Finally, one can only hope that politici

More of This, Please

Or perhaps I should say, "Less of this one, please." Or how about just, "None of them. Ever again. Please....For the Love of God." Sunshine State Poll: Grayson In Trouble The latest Sunshine State/VSS poll shows controversial Democratic incumbent Alan Grayson trailing former state Senator Dan Webster by seven points, 43 percent to 36 percent. A majority of respondents -- 51 percent -- disapprove of the job that Grayson is doing. Independents have an unfavorable view of him as well, by a 36/47 margin. Grayson has ignored the conventional wisdom that a freshman should be a quiet member who carefully tends to the home fires. The latest controversy involves his " Taliban Dan " advertisement, where he explicitly compares his opponent to the Taliban, and shows a clip of Webster paraphrasing Ephesians 5:22 -- "wives, submit to your husbands." An unedited version of the clip shows that Webster was actually suggesting that husba