From: vojak@icebucket.stortek.com (Bill Vojak)
Subject: No Knocks
Originator: vojak@icebucket.stortek.com
Organization: Storage Technology Corp.
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 14:49:15 GMT


In article <viking.714019331@vincent1.iastate.edu> viking@iastate.edu
(Dan Sorenson) writes:

    Can you imagine storming a house?  I'd say you cannot.  Neither can
    I.  I'm not Tony, and I don't know what it's like to storm a house
    full of "armed and dangerous" people.  I'll give Tony the benefit
    of the doubt in this case.  Just as civilians are killed in a war,
    so are civilians killed in police raids.  I accept both, but I do
    not *at all* condone either.

    I agree, but you cannot expect a cop who has been told the people
    he is out to arrest are dangerous to handle them with kid gloves
    just because they haven't fired first.  I draw only a minor
    distinction here.

 But I DO expect SWAT members, who are the polices "Special Forces"
 type of people, to be trained to a level where they don't gun down
 unarmed people.  I would expect them of ALL people to know how
 to handle a gun properly and to keep their $%^$%&^$ finger off of
 the trigger. If not, send them back for more training. I also expect
 them to investigate a tip first, then act. Not the other way around.

 Also some mentioned about shooting back and "taking a few with you".
 One problem I see is that I may never realize that these are cops
 until the shooting is over. Just imagine: It's 1AM, your in bed.
 Since you are NOT a criminal, you hardly expect a SWAT team to come
 kicking your door in. Suddenly the dogs jump up and start going
 crazy. You grab the gun just as you hear windows break and the door
 being kicked in. Even if they DO yell "police", why should I believe
 them. I am NOT a criminal. As far as I am concerned, they are in
 my house illegaly, and I would have grave doubts as to if they really
 were police. Damn right I'd start shooting. And there would be no
 doubt in my mind that these people did not belong in my house, even
 if they were police. I would probably be shot/killed, and my wife
 would probably be able to retire after receiving a settlement from
 the government.

 The government and the police have an obligation to take reasonable
 precautions before raiding a house. These include: Verfying if the
 given information is true. Verfying that they have the proper location.
 Verfying who is in the house, (such as children). If they fail to
 act properly, and are shot/killed by a inocent person who was just
 trying to defend their home, tough! There have been several cases,
 (flordia & texas?), where cops were shot while "raiding" the wrong
 house. I all/most of these cases the homeowner was either not charged,
 or was found not guilty. I don't care if they do have a warrant. If
 they failed to properly meet the terms required for the warrant, both
 they and the judge should be charged with a crime. The BATF is developing 
 a reputation for acting first, investigating later.
 
                                Bill Vojak
                                Bill_Vojak@stortek.com
                                NRA, ILA, CFC

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Call 1-800-RUN-GUNS and turn in Ted Kennedy! "Um, there's this guy
I know of who always has UZIs & semi-auto handguns with him. . . ."
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