Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. That psychic discomfort is the price we pay for basic civic peace. It's worth it. It's a pragmatic principle. Defend everyone else's rights, because if you don't there is no one to defend yours. -- MaxedOutMama

I don't just want gun rights... I want individual liberty, a culture of self-reliance....I want the whole bloody thing. -- Kim du Toit

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them.-- Moshe Ben-David

The cult of the left believes that it is engaged in a great apocalyptic battle with corporations and industrialists for the ownership of the unthinking masses. Its acolytes see themselves as the individuals who have been "liberated" to think for themselves. They make choices. You however are just a member of the unthinking masses. You are not really a person, but only respond to the agendas of your corporate overlords. If you eat too much, it's because corporations make you eat. If you kill, it's because corporations encourage you to buy guns. You are not an individual. You are a social problem. -- Sultan Knish

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war. -- Billy Beck

Friday, September 20, 2013

Pima County Gets Its Wrist Slapped

May 5, 2011 the Pima County (Arizona) Sheriff's Office SWAT team put on their battle-rattle, climbed into their armored personnel carrier, and did an early morning raid on a suspected drug distributor's home.  Said suspect was José Guerena, a combat veteran of the Iraq war who worked  third shift at a local mine. Seeing armed men in their front yard, Guerena's wife apparently woke him. He put his wife and 4-year-old son in a closet, retrieved his AR-15 rifle, and prepared to confront what he thought were home invaders.

When the Sheriff's deputies broke open his front door, they saw him in the hallway, armed, and opened fire. Seventy rounds were expended, 22 of them striking Guerena. He never received medical attention. It is believed that he lived for approximately an hour after being shot.

Here's helmet-cam footage of the incident. Check the "professionalism" of the PCSD SWAT team:


Three months after the raid, in which no drugs were found in the Guerena home and no evidence of wrongdoing on his part, no one had been charged with any crime. Guerena's family sued for $20 million. They have been awarded $3.4 million.

José Guerena's crime, for which he paid with his life? Having relatives involved in the drug trade.

Had they wanted to, the Sheriff's department could have arrested him at work and then searched his home at their leisure.  Instead, they suited up and did a "raid."  And an innocent man is dead because of it.

And as Radley Balko documents, this is not an exceptional case, except possibly for the settlement.

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