WSYM-TV | State faces lawsuit over guns in foster homes WSYM-TV (WXYZ) - A federal lawsuit brought on by two Michigan families and the national Second Amendment Foundation alleges the state of Michigan is violating Second Amendment rights by targeting gun owners who foster children. The dispute centers around ... |
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State faces lawsuit over guns in foster homes - WSYM-TV
During the past few years, foster parents around the country have come forward to say they were told to give up their gunsor give up carrying them on their person for self-defenseas a way of complying with the foster care requirements for their particular state.
A Michigan coupleWilliam and Jill Johnsonare currently in the news for this very issue. During efforts to become the foster parents for their grandson, Johnson claimed the case worker talked to him about gun ownership, saying, If you want to care for your grandson you will have to give up some of your constitutional rights.
The Johnsons filed suit as a result, and even The New York Times has picked up the Johnsons story and reported it in a substantive manner.
Johnson claimed the case worker talked to him about gun ownership, saying, If you want to care for your grandson you will have to give up some of your constitutional rights.According to the Times, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services handbook for foster parents says firearms shall be stored in a locked metal or solid wood gun case, or trigger-locked and stored without ammunition in a locked area. Moreover, the Times reports that MDHHS requires all ammunition being locked up and handguns be registered.
Michigan is getting all the attention right now, but itis not the only state with anti-Second Amendment mandates tied to foster parenting.
For example, on Sept. 1, 2015, Breitbart News reported that Nevada residents Kristi and Rod Beber faced the possibility of losing their foster children because Rod grabbed a gun and ran out in the front yard to stop an alleged disturbance. The matter was handled without a shot being fired or an injury incurred, yet News 3reported that the Nevada Department of Family Services (DFS) pulled the Bebers foster license and told them Rods reaction to the disturbance did not sound like an adult exercising sound judgment.
Months earlier, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that another coupleBrian and Valerie Wilsonwere denied their request to foster parent because they both carried concealed handguns for self-defense.
The Nevada Legislature corrected these rules/requirements, but similar regulations are still in place in states throughout the country.
Consider Massachusetts, where guidelines for foster and adoptive homes say:
Any firearms located in the home shall be registered and licensed in accordance with state law. All firearms shall be trigger-locked or fully inoperable and stored without ammunition in a locked area. Ammunition shall be stored in a separate locked location.
Even states like Oklahomaconservative and pro-gun by any measuretoyed with requiring prospective foster parents to sign a weapons safety agreement, then abandoned the effort before it could become official policy.
Illinois is currently facing a lawsuit over its anti-Second Amendment foster parent requirements. Fox News reports:
Prospective Illinois foster parents must either certify that there are no firearms in their home or complete a form called the Foster Family Firearms Arrangement. That document requires a list of all guns and ammunition in the home and locations where they are stored. Would-be foster parents also must certify the guns have trigger locks and are stored unloaded, separate from ammunition and in locked containers accessible only with a key kept off the premises or on the owners person.
Its a nonsensical law that flies in the face of the Constitution. NRATV's Grant StinchfieldOn Jan. 17 of this year, NRATVs Grant Stinchfield addressed the anti-Second Amendment regulation on firearms in the homes of foster parents in Illinois. He observed, Its a nonsensical law that flies in the face of the Constitution. He asked, Why should you give up a constitutional right when youre engaging in the charitable act of taking care of a child in need?
To Stinchfields point, why are foster parents targeted with gun control that exceeds the controls faced by other citizens? Are the states trying to discourage foster parenting, or are they just seizing an an opportunity to secure more gun control in any way they can?
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America's 1st Freedom | Foster Families Torn Apart By Anti-Second ... - America's 1st Freedom (press release) (blog)
By David Codrea
USA -(Ammoland.com)-Skyhorse Publishing is about to release my next book, which is devoted to great and fatal government-caused disasters. The title is . Im From the Government, and Im Here to Kill You: The Human Cost of Official Negligence, attorney and author David T. Hardy informed AmmoLand Shooting Sports News Thursday. Texas City, the Tuskegee Syphilis study, Ruby Ridge, Waco, Fast and Furious, the VA hospital scandal time after time, government employees kill Americans by negligence, stupidity, or agency corruption, and time after time they escape all legal accountability.
Hardys should be a familiar name to longtime readers of this columnists work. His contributions to advancing the right to keep and bear arms have been chronicled extensively on The War On Guns blog, which has over the years featured numerous posts on his numerous books, his groundbreaking In Search of the Second Amendment documentary, his observations on the Of Arms & the Law blog, and his legal work, including cases and law review articles.
By way of complete disclosure, Mr. Hardy has represented my interests in legal actions to obtain information from the government and is part of what a U.S. Attorney who came on board during the Obama administration has pejoratively described as a tangled web of connections between a small cadre of firearms activists.
Ill offer one other stipulation, just to make sure all cards are on the table so that any recommendations I make can be viewed with the appropriate skepticism the words of everyone with an agenda (admitted or otherwise) should be: I havent read the book.
Thats because it hasnt been released yet.
The publisher informs me that the book may be released 1-2 weeks before the official Amazon release date of October 10, Hardy advises. Amazon will begin shipping as soon as they receive the books, and October 10 only reflects the publishers guarantee that Amazon will have them by that date come hell or high water. The publisher tries to beat that date by a week or two.
So why make noise about it now?
Because you can pre-order it. And because with some authors, I have confidence and faith based on past experience. So Id like to start the buzz on this immediately, to prime gun owner rights advocates to be ready for the release by learning about the book now. As such, here are some resources you are invited to check out (and to share with those you think would be interested):
Note the website includes links to pre-order form Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Also see:
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
In response to the Union-Sun & Journal's recent editorial, I do believe in States rights, the need for local control and the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing state rights. However, I want your readers to know my steadfast belief that states like New York should not have the ability to take away the Constitutional rights of their citizens. Under no circumstances should these basic rights be denied, and federal action is warranted in a situation where a state is infringing on the rights of any American.
The Constitution is the law of the land, and the Founding Fathers produced a document with a clear vision regarding Second Amendment rights. The Second Amendment can only be interpreted one way, and that is it guarantees that Americans have the right to own a firearm.
My proposed legislation, the Second Amendment Guarantee Act (SAGA), has sparked a needed conversation about the Second Amendment rights granted to Americans in the Constitution. In 2013, Governor Andrew Cuomos Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act infringed upon the rights of law-abiding New Yorkers by instituting strict rifle and shotgun regulations. As you pointed out, these regulations were put in place purely for political purposes.
SAGA focuses specifically on protecting Second Amendment rights, and in no way is taking away the rights of states. When a state crosses the line and starts to implement regulations that are in stark contrast to the basic rights given to Americans, action needs to be taken. That is exactly why I am proposing my law to rein in the unconstitutional policies that Governor Cuomo forced into law.
Governor Cuomo overstepped with the SAFE Act, and my proposal to repeal much of the law has had a great deal of support. SAGA isnt hypocritical; it is a sincere effort to bring back the freedoms given to New Yorkers by our Constitution when it comes to owning a firearm. Law abiding citizens should not be punished because of onerous and unconstitutional state regulations.
It is my duty as an elected representative to make sure my constituents are protected, and that includes protecting the basic rights granted to them in the Constitution. The SAFE Act only curbed the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding New Yorkers, instead of providing them with a safer place to live as promised by the Governor.
The SAFE Act has done nothing to help our communities and has only taken away our freedoms. It is time we end this disastrous law for all New Yorkers and revert back to what the Founding Fathers intended for our nation.
U.S. Rep. Chris CollinsNY-27th Congressional DistrictClarence
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Collins: My bill would restore New Yorkers' 2nd Amendment rights - Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
The case is unfolding in Michigan and revolves aroundWilliam and Jill Johnsons efforts to care for their grandson.
On July 18 Breitbart News reported that theSecond Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed suit against the head of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services over alleged violations of the Johnsons gun rights. William Johnson claims the case worker said, If you want to care for your grandson you will have to give up some of your constitutional rights.
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb told Breitbart News that this sacrifice of Second Amendment rights would include having no guns for self-protection at home or carried on ones person.
Now the New York Times is covering the case, which they summarize by reporting, Mr. Johnson and his wife, Jill, are suing their home state, Michigan, which bars foster parents from carrying concealed weapons. At issue is whether the states rules amount to a functional ban on owning a firearm, in violation of the Constitutions Second Amendment.
They indicate that William Johnson says he had to forfeit his carry gun under duress in order to satisfy the requirements for foster care.
UCLAs Adam Winkler spoke about the Johnsons suit, saying, This is not a case thats outlandish or off the wall. Foster parents do have constitutional rights, and they dont forsake those rights just because they become foster parents.
William Johnson is a disabled military veteran and his wife owns a fishing tackle shop. Guns have been part of their lives, both for sport and personnel protection, and hesays the area in which they live is full of bear and other predators that could easily attack him, his wife, or his grandson. Having a handgun on his person is a way to be sensibly and constitutionally prepared.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host ofBullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter:@AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
P.S. DO YOU WANT MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX?SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY BREITBART NEWSLETTER.
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Shock: Gun Control Icon Defends Second Amendment Rights of Grandparents Targeted in Michigan - Breitbart News