Penny Dean and Your Rights

<img src="http://media.skynews.com/media/images/generated/2014/4/15/302729/default... align="right" width="320">Five people have been killed at a house party in Calgary in what has been described as the city's "worst mass murder".

The son of a veteran Canadian police officer has been arrested in connection with the incident.

Police Chief Rick Hanson said: "We have never seen five people killed at one scene. The scene was horrific."

At least 20 people were at the party which was being held to celebrate the end of classes at the University of Calgary.

It looks like Boston’s Finest is going to be watched by its own. As the result of new contract negotiations between the City of Boston and the Boston Police Department, police cruisers will potentially be outfitted with GPS devices designed to monitor how cop cars move around the city. The contract includes some additional changes and still needs to be approved by the Boston City Council.

<img src="http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/3118398953_d804156... align="right" width="320">The Los Angeles Police Commission is investigating how half of the recording antennas in the Southeast Division went missing, seemingly as a way to evade new self-monitoring procedures that the Los Angeles Police Department imposed last year.

<img src="http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140409&t=2&i=881975812&... align="right" width="300">(Reuters) - A 16-year-old student wielding two knives went on a stabbing rampage in the hallways of a Pittsburgh-area high school on Wednesday, wounding 22 people before he was tackled by an assistant principal, officials said.

Gun maker Sig Sauer has filed a civil suit against the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claiming the federal agency wrongfully classified a “muzzle brake” Sig designed to reduce recoil, as an item “intended only for use” when making a silencer.

Sig claims that gun silencers are “subject to burdensome legal requirements” and by calling its muzzle brake a part for a silencer, the federal agency is subjecting it to “economic injury.”

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/qqWjBeJ.jpg" align="right" width="340"><strong>Tennessee Senate just voted for open carry without a permit</strong>

The state senate voted for a bill allowing Tennesseeans to openly carry any type of gun without a permit. The bill also eliminates other restrictions, for instance, allowing guns to be removed from cars on school property. A corresponding bill is waiting for a vote in the Tennessee House.

We have collected some relevant documents related to the Ares Armor case, with the BATFE, and the Complaint for deprivation of civil rights, declatory and injunctive relief.

Please use the links below to view the PDFs.

(more information also at http://aresarmor.com/store/Ares-Armor-dispute-with-the-ATF )

Under civil asset forfeiture, police can seize property suspected of involvement in criminal activity. Unlike criminal asset forfeiture, with civil forfeiture, people don't have to be convicted—or even charged—with a crime to permanently lose their cars, homes, or cash.

Even worse, in many cases, police get to keep what they seize through asset forfeiture. As long as cops get to keep what they seize, civil asset forfeiture will keep on spawning scandals.

Learn about even more crazy things purchased with forfeiture money...

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BB_l6sLxNj4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(thanks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ReasonTV">ReasonTV</a>)

Just to review, in Kansas you can be SWAT-raided and never be permitted to learn the basis for the warrant. This means the police can get a warrant for bogus reasons and reasonably expect that, if their victims are innocent, they will never be able to call them into an account.

So naturally, the Kansas state legislature has decided to add official protections to the police so that they are still more invulnerable to public scrutiny.

The bill is, thankfully, stalled at the moment, but it is not dead. It is called the “filing false complaints against a law enforcement officer” bill.