In my Friday post about Maryland’s egregious treatment of the Filippidis family, I wondered how a Maryland Transportation Authority cop had access to a list of Florida concealed carry (CCW) permit holders. When I talked about this incident at a breakfast with friends on Saturday, Bill offered an explanation. It may or may not still be true — or lawful (see below) — but here’s Bill’s explanation as I understand it (strictly my own words; Bill can correct me if I’ve misunderstood):
In Colorado, the chief law enforcement officer (LEO) of each jurisdiction (generally, the county sheriff) has the option of sharing information about CCW holders in that jurisdiction with the state ( the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, or CBI, I presume). When you’re stopped by a cop in another jurisdiction (either inside or outside Colorado) and he or she checks your license and registration (to see if they’re valid, there’s a warrant out for you, the car is stolen, etc.), if you have a CCW permit, there’s a flag on the record indicating this to the cop.
Now, what such a flag should indicate to the cop is that you’re about a thousand times less likely to pose a risk than a person who doesn’t have a CCW permit (but nonetheless may have a gun). But a significant portion of the country’s LEOs have been brainwashed into believing the opposite.
I’ve done a little research, and it seems to me that Bill’s information, at least regarding Colorado, may be out of date. According to Colorado Revised Statute 18-12-206 as I read it, this flagging of driver’s license and/or registration records should no longer be the case (emphasis added):
(3) (a) Each sheriff shall maintain a list of the persons to whom he or she issues permits pursuant to this part 2. Upon request by another criminal justice agency for law enforcement purposes, the sheriff may, at his or her discretion, share information from the list of permittees with a law enforcement agency for the purpose of determining the validity of a permit. A database maintained pursuant to this subsection (3) and any database operated by a state agency that includes permittees shall be searchable only by name.
(b) (I) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection (3), on and after July 1, 2011, a sheriff shall not share information from the list of permittees with a law enforcement agency for the purpose of creating a statewide database of permittees, and any law enforcement agency that receives information concerning permittees from a sheriff shall not use the information to create or maintain a statewide database of permittees. Any information concerning a permittee that is included in a statewide database pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (3) shall be removed from the database no later than July 1, 2011.
Nevertheless, such flagging of driver’s license or vehicle registration records apparently takes place in many other states, including Florida, and this is most likely how the Maryland Transportation Authority cop knew that John Filippidis had a CCW permit and thus owned a gun. In other words, CCW permit records amount to a de facto gun registration database. Which brings us to the point made forcefully by Karl Denninger (all emphases in original):
There is only one solution to this problem folks — it’s none of the government’s damned business if you’re carrying a weapon or not. It’s none of the government’s damned business right up until you do something unlawful with it, at which point it becomes both reasonable and appropriate to search, arrest, charge, whatever — for the unlawful act.
But the bottom line here is that the fact that this individual registered his ownership and intent to carry for personal protection of himself and his family in the places where it is lawful to do so with the government meant that he was unlawfully stopped, detained and searched by a ****head who has faced no penalty for the violation of his Constitutional right to be left aloneabsent evidence of, or probable cause to suspect, actual unlawful activity.
The only solution to this is Constitutional Carry. That is, you have the right under the 2nd Amendment to carry, either openly or concealed, a firearm without applying for any sort of permit or asking for permission from the government first.
It is only if and when you commit a crime with a weapon present and in some way related to the offense that the government gains the ability to intervene in your personal decision to not be a victim and protect both yourself and others near you, most-particularly your family.
There is no means to solve this problem any other way, as despite whatever sanctions Florida may apply to its peace officers for abusive acts of this sort the very act of registration exposes you to abuses by other political subdivisions in the United States.
Therefore, the only means of stopping this crap is in fact to get rid of any such requirement of registration — period.
What he said. In Colorado, State Representative Chris Holbert has introduced a Constitutional Carry bill, HB 14-1041, in the legislature. If you’re a Colorado resident, ask your state representative and senator to support it. Or go here to have Rocky Mountain Gun Owners deliver your petition in support of the bill to them for you.
