Letting the story lie for a weekend did not make it any more palatable. A report posted at the boston.com website of a Boston Globe article on Saturday speaks of a Boston PD plan to send plainclothes detectives into high crime neighborhoods to go door to door requesting permission from homeowners to enter the home and search their children's bedrooms for firearms. Since this is a voluntary, community goodwill program none of those pesky search warrants are needed.
Any firearms discovered in a child's bedroom will not result in charges for unlawful gun possession (unless it turns out to have been used in a previous crime). If the parents or legal guardians should elect to not participate in this programs, the detectives will simply wander on to the next home.
It is not unreasonable to believe that this program was launched with the best of intentions. Guns are a problem. How can the community be enlisted in making everyone safer? Got it - parents can let us toss their homes in search of illegal handguns!
And though the story doesn't contain such a quote, there is undoubtedly a chorus of well intentioned but naive Bostonians singing the "Only People With Something to Hide Will Have a Problem With This" song.
There are so many aspects of this program to have a problem with. Why only target the high crime neighborhoods? It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that those areas are predominantly populated by minorities, could it? Are comparatively wealthy white kids too genteel to possess or comprehend the use of a firearm?
Doubtful.
The nothing to worry about crowd has plenty to worry about. Once authorities are voluntarily granted access to the premises they are like vampires - impossible to get rid of. Anything they might see on the way to or from the bedroom is fair game, and just because Harry Homeowner doesn't think he is doing anything wrong or has anything to hide doesn't mean that is the case. A bag of fertilizer or can of Drano left out where it can be seen can be used as the foundation for a search warrant to seek additional bomb making materials. Just check the long list of common household items carried out of a parent's home every time a child commits a nationally acclaimed anti-social act.
It should not be necessary to be wary of those charged with our protection and well being. Unfortunately, to many holders of authority choose to misuse that position to solidify and extend that authority. (Other People's) civil liberties being eroded are not a concern for those individuals.
Vigilance in advance of a threat is far more effective than any amount of recovery after the threat has been exercised. The physical damage caused by a firearm, even damage that extends so far as to end a human life, is more readily recovered from than the loss of personal freedoms across the entire society.
The lost life is merely a tragedy.
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