Police allowed to seize guns in home without a warrant

Reptile · Jan 31, 2021

'A blatant attempt by law enforcement to create gaping holes in the 4th Amendment'

In an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, a civil-liberties legal group contends lower-court rulings in a Rhode Island case have set a dangerous precedent that allows police officers in some instances to enter the homes of citizens without a warrant and confiscate legal firearms.

The Rutherford Institute, in a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Caniglia v. Strom, asserts the lower courts wrongly invoked the "community caretaking" exemption in the Fourth Amendment.

"This case represents a blatant attempt by law enforcement to create gaping holes in the Fourth Amendment force field that is supposed to protect homeowners and their homes against warrantless invasions by the government," said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute.

"What we do not need is yet another slippery slope argument that allows government officials to masquerade as community caretakers under the pretext of public health and safety in order to violate the Fourth Amendment at will."

In 2105, Kim Caniglia of Cranston, Rhode Island, called police for a welfare check on her husband Edward, 68, after they had argued the night before and she hadn't heard from him the next morning. Rutherford said that during the argument, Edward retrieved his unloaded handgun, slammed it on a table dramatically and told Kim, 'Why don’t you just shoot me and get me out of my misery?"