Home Invasion in Pima County, AZ

It's May 5th at 9:00AM. Jose Guerena had gotten two hours of sleep in his bed after working the night shift at a nearby mine, when according to his wife Vanessa:

"When I saw this guy, like, pointing me at the window (she makes a 'gun' gesture) so I got scare, and I got, like 'Please don't shoot, I have a baby.' So I got my baby and I put my back into the window and I tell Jose 'Jose, wake up!"

Vanessa had more reason than most to be afraid. Two members of her sister-in-law's family, Cynthia and Manny Orozco, were murdered last year during a criminal invasion of their Tucson home.

Jose, a formerly-serving-Marine and two time combat veteran, grabbed his rifle and confronted the home invaders. Jose did not raise his weapon or point it at the invaders, he did not even take the safety off. One of the assaulters fired a shot, then the rest opened fire with their military-style weapons. He was shot at least 60 (edit: 22) times in seven seconds, with 71 shots being fired in his direction. His wife rushed into the room and says she heard him moaning before one of the black-clad figures grabbed her and dragged her out of her home.

The invaders were members of the Pima County Sheriff's Department SWAT Team.

They had a warrant (which is sealed from the public). They were looking for drugs. They found nothing illegal.

Paramedics arrived on scene two minutes after the shooting and were not allowed into the home for 1 hour and 14 minutes while SWAT searched the house with a remote-control robot. Jose Guerena died at the scene.

The justification for the no-knock home invasion? A vehicle from the residence followed a detective's car for an unspecified distance.

This is why no-knock warrants are a Very Bad Idea. When The SWAT team entered the Guerena's home, they were yelling 'search warrant'. They were dressed in 'tactical' uniforms with POLICE emblazoned on them. Criminals will, and have, conducted the same types of raids wearing the same types of clothing and play the part of police until the family is tied up. Then they torture their victims for the location of valuables. Often the invaders ensure that no witnesses remain.

This in only possible because police are entering homes in the same way.

No-knock warrants must be stopped for the sake of everyone's safety, citizen and police.

(Hat tip to William Grigg, Tamara K.)

Virginia Tech Tragedy

A few days ago (April 16th) I was shocked by two things. The first being the shootings on the Virginia Tech campus.

The second was my reaction. Initially I was overwhelmed by anger. How DARE this a**hole kill so many innocents! Why didn't anyone stop him? Then came the shocking part, hard on anger's heels. I thought 'The gun-banners are going to use this as ammunition'.

I know that they will, but what disturbs me is that the thought came so quickly. It seemed to cheapen the loss that the victim's families must be feeling right now. So I forced myself to look beyond my own interests and mourn for the victims. I thought of how their families and friends must feel now. I tried to imagine how the students that shared classes with them will feel when they look at the empty chairs and remember who sat there, the empty lectern and remember who stood there. I mourn for all of them.

Then anger made a comeback.

Virgina, like my home state of Minnesota, allows trained and licensed citizens to carry a concealed firearm for self-defense and the defense of others. The Administration of Virgina Tech, however, has made it policy that anyone with a firearm in their possession will be expelled, license or not. Obviously the shooter did not consider being expelled a sufficient deterrent to his actions.

I don't know for a fact that allowing concealed carry permit holders to carry one campus would have averted this tragedy. No one knows for sure. Maybe the students would have been too frightened to expose themselves to danger. Maybe they would have been afraid of missing the shooter and hitting someone else.

Maybe they would have ended that a**hole's life before he could do the same to more innocent students.

EDIT: Apparently the Westboro Baptist Church announced it's plans to protest at the funerals of the victims mere hours after the shootings. You may remember this group as the fun-loving bunch that protested the funerals of Matthew Shepard and soldiers that have died in the Global War on Terror.

Unfortunately for these rapscallions, Virginia has a little something to say about their plans:

In 2006, in response to protests at the funerals of dead U.S. soldiers, Virginia enacted a law that added funerals and memorial services to the state’s disorderly conduct statute. Other states have adopted similar measures to allow police to keep WBC protesters out of earshot.
-CBS News

And so, with any luck this mischievous bunch will find themselves spending a well-deserved night in jail shortly after arriving at the funeral's location.