Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Wednesday October 05 2016, @08:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the use-virtual-reality,-instead? dept.

Federal agents have persuaded police officers to scan license plates to gather information about gun-show customers, government emails show, raising questions about how officials monitor constitutionally protected activity.

Emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency crafted a plan in 2010 to use license-plate readers—devices that record the plate numbers of all passing cars—at gun shows in Southern California, including one in Del Mar, not far from the Mexican border.

Agents then compared that information to cars that crossed the border, hoping to find gun smugglers, according to the documents and interviews with law-enforcement officials with knowledge of the operation.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/gun-show-customers-license-plates-come-under-scrutiny-1475451302

First they came for the Muslims, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Muslim.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2016, @03:34PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2016, @03:34PM (#410648)

    "if the government knows who has guns, when they get all oppressive and take away everyone's guns they'll know whose door to knock on, and we can't have that". My experience is that those gun owners that are really paranoid about the government knowing they are gun owners is that these aren't the folks that want a pistol to protect themselves or a rifle for hunting, but the guys who think their very survival depends on being able to fight the US government.

    Ironically these same guys are usually the ones who advertise they have guns and are paranoid when they plaster their vehicles with bumper stickers like "NRA - Stand and Fight", "Don't trust the liberal media", "Nobama", "Come and get it (with picture of AK-47)", a Confederate Flag, and "Hillary for Prison". It doesn't take a huge government surveillance program or a sharp person to figure out who these people are, just walk around the parking lots of fairs, churches, and bars with a notepad.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2016, @05:57PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 05 2016, @05:57PM (#410744)

    Ironically these same guys are usually the ones who advertise they have guns and are paranoid when they plaster their vehicles with bumper stickers like "NRA - Stand and Fight", "Don't trust the liberal media", "Nobama", "Come and get it (with picture of AK-47)", a Confederate Flag, and "Hillary for Prison". It doesn't take a huge government surveillance program or a sharp person to figure out who these people are, just walk around the parking lots of fairs, churches, and bars with a notepad.

    No, ironically, many of us who subscribe to the doctrine of Molon Labe do not advertise ourselves in any way that you would detect. Until you try. And I'd bet we're the rule and the vocalists you'd see are the exception. Only one way to truly know that, though, since our government's systems are still mainly predicated on allowing firearm owners to remain more-or-less anonymous (except for the idiots who try to do things like allow background checks to be logged, requiring state logged "permits" to own weapons, doing license plate scans at gun shows, etc.) And sure, I don't go to gun shows and may have just outed myself (thanks to the NSA or other 3 letter agencies who'd chill out speech if they could.) I'm just one. We the armed citizens of the United States are legion.
    The silliest part? Most of us are absolutely fine with complying with law enforcement and view government, sans true corruption, as a Good Thing. So far. Just because I believe in Molon Labe doesn't mean I'm going to whip out my gun when the police do a traffic stop on me, or otherwise have a legal and rational reason for taking custody of my pistol temporarily.