
This is not something to be concerned about; this is something to be proud of…
A father in New Jersey posted a picture to Facebook of his 11-year old son posing with his new .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle (a plinking rifle is what we call it). Some bed-wetting, pantie-wearing nanny-state loving asswipe saw it and made an anonymous call to the New Jersey Department of Family and Youth Services (child protection agency).
Shortly thereafter, an agent of DFYS (who refused to give her name to the father) and four armed officers (is there any other kind?) showed up and demanded to be let into the home, allowed to inspect his gun safe and the guns within it — ostensibly to verify that they are properly registered, even though…just as the it is here in Texas…guns are not required to be registered with the state — all without reasonable cause or a warrant.
Stomping on the second and fourth amendments in one fell swoop. Police officers who should know better trying to bluff their way past this man’s rights.
Luckily, this father didn’t fold to their threats and attempts at an illegal search:
Shawn Moore said he gave his son Josh the gun as a present to use on hunting trips. The elder Moore was at a friend’s house when his wife called, saying state child welfare investigators, along with four local police officers, were at the house, asking to inspect the family’s guns.
Moore said he called his lawyer Evan Nappen, who specializes in Second Amendment cases, and had him on speaker phone as he arrived at his house in Carneys Point, just across the Delaware River from Wilmington, Del.
“They said they wanted to see into my safe and see if my guns were registered,” Moore said. “I said no; in New Jersey, your guns don’t have to be registered with the state; it’s voluntary. I knew once I opened that safe, there was no going back.”
With the lawyer listening in on the phone, Moore said he asked the investigators and police officers whether they had a warrant to search his home. When they said no, he asked them to leave. One of the child welfare officials would not identify herself when Moore asked for her name, he said.
The agents and the police officers left, and nothing has happened since, he said.
“I don’t like what happened,” he said. “You’re not even safe in your own house. If they can just show up at any time and make you open safes and go through your house, that’s not freedom; it’s like tyranny.”
A Little Warning to My Facebook Friends
I use both Twitter and Facebook quite a bit. But I use them very differently, with very little overlap in terms of content posted or the people with whom I interact on each platform.
I use Twitter mostly to political banter with people I may or may not actually know (mostly “don’t know”). While I use Facebook mostly to keep in touch with friends I’ve known for most of my life and to share pictures, stories, and events with my wide-spread family. With very few exceptions, if we’re “friends” on Facebook, we’re friends in real-life, too.
But let me just go ahead and put this out there to any of my current Facebook friends or family: During Cash’s childhood and teenage years, I’m going to teach him to shoot guns, how to safely and responsibly handle firearms, and how to hunt. Along the way, I’m going to buy him some guns of his own. In fact, thanks to a kind neighbor and good friend, he already owns his first gun (a Marlin .22 rifle).
I would imagine that there will be many pictures of him holding his rifles.
If seeing a child proudly (and safely) holding a firearm offends or bothers you…especially to the extent that you would make an anonymous call to child protect services…you better go ahead and un-friend me right now.
Because if this were to happen to me, and I found out that it was you, you can betchurass that I’ll be on my way over to your house to have words with you. And for those that know me in real-life, you know how little you want that have me pissed at you and standing on your front porch.
Kuddos to this father for standing up to the New Jersey jackboots who wanted to stomp on his first and fourth amendment rights: