ObamaCrapCare, Doctors And Police Join Up To Grab Guns

From Right To Bear Website:

Here’s One of the Craziest Gun-Grabbing Stories You’ll Ever Read

---

 

When Krysta Sutterfield of Milwaukee went to see her psychiatrist to help her with some personal trauma, the last thing she ever expected to happen was for her plight to play a role in the regression of constitutionally protected freedoms.

Sutterfield was with her psychiatrist when she made the offhand comment that she was going to go home and blow her brains out.

After leaving her doctor’s office, the psychiatrist called the police fearing that Sutterfield might actually follow through and hurt herself.

The police responded by instigating a search for Sutterfield that included interviewing neighbors and waiting for her at her residence.

When Sutterfield discovered police were searching for her, she called her doctor and told the doctor that she didn’t need the assistance of police and asked for the police to call off the search.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

When Sutterfield finally arrived home, police showed up and asked to be let in so they could help keep Sutterfield safe. And when she refused, the police insisted they were going to come in whether she let them in or not.

According to the physical court document:

Sutterfield answered Hewitt’s knock at the front door but would not engage with her, except to state repeatedly that she had “called off” the police and to keep shutting the door on Hewitt. Sutterfield would not admit Hewitt to the residence, and during the exchange kept the outer storm door closed and locked. Unable to gain admittance to the house, Hewitt concluded that the police would have to enter it forcibly.

Sutterfield called 911 in an effort to have the officers leave; as a result of that call, the ensuing events were recorded by the emergency call center. Sutterfield can be heard on the recording telling the officers that she was fine and that she did not want anyone to enter her residence.

After informing Sutterfield of his intention to open the storm door forcibly if she did not unlock it herself, Berken yanked the door open and entered the house with the other officers to take custody of Sutterfield pursuant to the statement of detention. A brief struggle ensued.

Sutterfield can be heard on the 911 recording demanding both that the officers let go of her and that they leave her home. (Sutterfield would later say that the officers tackled her.) Sutterfield was handcuffed and placed in the officers’ custody.

At that point the officers conducted a protective sweep of the home. In the kitchen, officer James Floriani observed a compact disc carrying case in plain view. He picked up the soft-sided case, which was locked, and surmised from the feel and weight of its contents that there might be a firearm inside. He then forced the case open and discovered a semi-automatic handgun inside; a yellow smiley-face sticker was affixed to the barrel of the gun, covering the muzzle. Also inside the case were concealed-carry firearm licenses from multiple jurisdictions other than Wisconsin. Elsewhere in the kitchen the officers discovered a BB gun made to realistically resemble a Glock 29 handgun.

The contents of the case were seized along with the BB gun and placed into police inventory for safekeeping.

Berken would later state that he authorized the seizure of the handgun in order to keep them out of the hands of a juvenile, should a juvenile enter the house unaccompanied by an adult while Sutterfield remained in the hospital.

The court eventually ruled in favor of the officers on duty, saying that though Americans were afforded the protection of the 4th amendment and the ability to resist unlawful search and seizure, if officers deemed the subject to be a threat to their own safety, they could intervene and ignore the Constitution in the process.

As the 7th circuit court of appeals ruled:

“The intrusions upon Sutterfield’s privacy were profound,” Ilana Rovner wrote for three-judge panel.

“At the core of the privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment is the right to be let alone in one’s home.”

But the court also found, on the other hand, that “There is no suggestion that (police) acted for any reason other than to protect Sutterfield from harm.”

“Even if the officers did exceed constitutional boundaries,” the court document states, “they are protected by qualified immunity.”

What’s startling about this decision is it opens up a dangerous legal loophole that would allow police to invade any private residence out of concern for the well-being of the occupant.

This creates a situation where a warrant isn’t needed to seize your gun… all that’s really needed is a premonition that you might be a danger to yourself and they can come barging in.

And with mental health now being a legitimate qualification for disarmament under the Affordable Health Care Act, it’s not a stretch to believe that through coercion of medical professionals we might see more and more of this kind of action taking place on a regular basis.