From chili cookouts and barbecues to parades and fireworks shows, here’s a list of Fourth of July events to keep you busy for the 240th anniversary of our nation’s independence.
For those looking to stay in San Jose, the Rotary Club will once again have its bombastic free fireworks show in Discovery Meadow at 180 Woz Way.
Have a great holiday and San Jose Inside will return Tuesday.
Happy 4th of July SJI!
Thank you to all our Veterans for your service to our country! I will be thinking of you!
Be safe out there everyone, and HAPPY 4th of July!
God Bless America!
http://www.mercurynews.com/animal-life/ci_30075972/morris-keep-pets-safe-this-july-fourth.
Gee our wonderful governor does not care about reporting stolen guns which are used to celebrate the 4th and commit murders and other crimes.
The ballot measure also will ask voters to require reporting of lost and stolen firearms — an idea Brown rejected Friday and has rejected at least twice before.
“I continue to believe that responsible people report the loss or theft of a firearm and irresponsible people do not; it is not likely that this bill would change that,” he wrote in a veto message.
WHAT AN IDIOT. OK to run a 3 page article in SJMN about stolen LE guns but he could care less about stolen guns from homes from private citizens. I bet that number is in the thousands.
toby1981- I couldn’t agree with you more!
TOBY,
Kathleen says she couldn’t agree with you more.
But I couldn’t agree with you less! For one thing, your comment was completely off-topic. But since you gave only one side of your issue, I’ll point out that there’s another side to it:
My dad gave me a shotgun made in the 1930’s. As a kid I used that gun to bag hundreds of pheasants and ducks, which my mom cooked for dinner when we had guests. I also shot hundreds of rounds of skeet and trap with that gun. Eventually my boy will get that great Remington over & under.
But what if it was stolen? Then what? Do you think he would inherit that shotgun? Think again.
If I reported it, there would be a record of me owning a gun. I don’t want that. Anyone who values our Constitution understands. For the rest, reading the 4th Amendment takes about 15 seconds.
The state has no business putting my gun along with my name and address in a big computer that’s connected to the feds.
Can you say C-O-N-F-I-S-C-A-T-I-O-N? I knew that you could (H/T to Mr. Rodgers).
Given a bad choice like that, I would have to just chalk up the theft as a loss. So to be safe, I have a good burglar alarm system, a video surveillance system covering my house and yard, and the gun is in a safe cemented and bolted into the floor. Any thief that can get to it is welcome to it. But they’d better bring lunch, because it might take a while.
It wasn’t always like this. The cops used to be on the side of honest citizens. Now they’re tools of their paymasters — who in turn are tools of the state and federal governments. Once the police take possession of an honest, law abiding citizen’s gun, it’s probably gone forever.
I suffered a break-in at my house in 1973. The thieves took that shotgun. The police recovered it the same day when the thieves were pulled over for speeding; one of the occupants had a felony warrant. So they found my dad’s gun.
At the time I hadn’t written down the serial number, but all I had to do was describe it. They said they’d found it and promised to return it.
But getting my shotgun returned took a year and a half! And that was back in 1973 – 74. If that gun was stolen today, I would never see it again (unless I hired a lawyer and dragged the case through court; a very expensive option that most folks couldn’t easily afford). Today the police would give me plenty of excuses, but they wouldn’t give my gun back. The government simply does not want citizens to possess firearms.
So I depend on myself to protect my valuables. Thieves or cops, they’ll both steal my gun. But the cops will also put my name in the federal computer, which is worse than simply losing the gun. That would happen in either case, cops or thieves. Both of them would disarm me.
I used to think all cops were basically honest, and I think they were back then. But it’s very different now. Look up “civil asset forfeiture”. Based on nothing more than ‘suspicion’: “He looked like a (druggie / gang banger / dealer / illegal / his tail light was out / or fill in the blank: __________”), I confiscated his cash / guns /valuables / car, etc.
It sounds preposterous to those unaware of civil asset forfeiture laws, but that kind of legal theft happens constantly, every day, and in most states. Furthermore, the victim must prove his innocence — and even then it’s questionable whether he will ever again see his money, valuables, car, etc.
There are literally thousands of reports of innocent, law abiding citizens being robbed by cops — and it’s all “legal”. Here’s just one tiny example out of thousands:
http://poorrichardsnews.com/tag/civil-asset-forfeiture
It takes only a few minutes to read those accounts of police gone wild. Do yourself a favor, and read about churches and orphanages having their savings stolen by the police! And keep in mind that it’s all “legal”.
That’s how bad things have gotten. Outright theft is now “legal” — so long as the thieves wear a police uniform. What we really need is an initiative requiring cops to wait until someone is found guilty of a crime before taking their property. Oh, wait… that’s already in the Bill of Rights…
TOBY writes that an upcoming… …ballot measure also will ask voters to require reporting of lost and stolen firearms… “Require”. Why? The federal government didn’t report the thousands of illegal guns that “walked” across the border, did they? No.
TOBY adds that the governor is an idiot, which I find hard to dispute. But then TOBY says that Gov. Moonbeam…
…could care less about stolen guns from homes from private citizens. I bet that number is in the thousands.
But why should TOBY care? And why is TOBY the self-appointed arbiter of who else should care about reporting their stolen property? Why should it be a requirement?
It should be the homeowner’s decision whether to report stolen items, no? That requirement isn’t in any intitative regarding stolen silverware, or stolen puppies. It’s only for stolen guns, which the state intends to eventually confiscate. Why else would they need a law for only one kind of item?
Please Vote NO on that anti-Constitutional initiative. It’s just one more step in America’s suffocating, ballooning government that wants to control every aspect and detail of your life, on the phony pretext of ‘freedom’.
Finally, things are not better today than they were thirty years ago; we are worse off, by almost any metric that matters. But the gov’t is now 3X the size, and it gets bigger every election. Therefore, a bigger, more expensive government does not ipso facto make life any better for us. Better for our ruling class, yes. But better for the average taxpayer? Hell, no!
We can’t do much as individuals. But we can vote to curb the growth of government whenever the opportunity arises. Voting NO on this nosy initiative is one step in the right direction.
Happy 4th of July, everyone! Please take a minute to think about why we celebrate it (and yes, Kathleen, I’m a veteran).
Good rant, Smokey.
Tell us how you bypassed the SJI message length posting limit. What kind of computer or browser are you using?
I am one hundred percent on the same page with you regarding Civil Asset Forfeiture. It is outrageous naked government perpetrated theft.
To borrow a phrase from notorious feminist hottentots, and applying it to forfeiture laws: “I am outraged”.
You also offer an interesting metric: if we have 3 times the government we had thirty years ago, is our governance 3 times better?
Not that I have noticed.
I suppose it’s pointless at this stage to advise you to remain calm. The time for calmness is probably past. Probably the best advice I can offer for your health and well being is to stay hydrated to avoid spontaneous combustion.
You really think cops want to take your guns? Some of the biggest gun collectors i know are cops. They all tell me the same thing “Gov Moonshine is an idiot” I used a lesser adjective for the sensitive viewers. Government has been screwing law enforcement for the last decade.
> I used a lesser adjective for the sensitive viewers.
Next time, give us a trigger warning:
http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/04/02/635952160224547364-923305277_flat,800×800,075,f.jpg
– “It wasn’t always like this. The cops used to be on the side of honest citizens. Now they’re tools of their paymasters — who in turn are tools of the state and federal governments.”
I wish I could wholeheartedly disagree with Smokey on this, but I’m afraid he has a bit too much evidence on his side. Law enforcement, which was once led by executives who encouraged fair-minded and common sense policing, is today ruled by career paper shufflers skilled only in scapegoating subordinates, kowtowing to politicians, and résumé building. Their revolting combination of ambition and self-centeredness has left their departments vulnerable to the whims, whines, and wiles of politicians as revolting as themselves.
A police department run by politicians serves politicians, which is another way of saying that it no longer serves the community. With an agenda driven by revenue raising and special interest obligations, such a department can engage in acts that officers might otherwise view as unconscionable, such as the devious application of confiscation laws, the quackery involved in concocting motives (hate crimes), and the outright dereliction of sworn duty (stand-down policies, selective non-enforcement, etc.).
Of course, such corruption would likely have been impossible in a community served by a legitimate newspaper, one with a commitment to journalism rather than political activism. Here in San Jose, where the deplorable Mercury conducts itself more like a political action committee than a newspaper, its favored progressives have extended favor to law-breaking foreigners, disrespected property rights, demeaned and dismantled its police department, imperiled Trump supporters, and installed a series of lapdogs as police chief, all of whom have obediently remained silent about mayoral policies that endanger their officers.
My hope is that one day, hopefully before the day they’re ordered to confiscated everyone’s guns, the police will just say no.
It is very simple if your gun is stolen, report it with a serial number. Do you know all the serial numbers and description of your guns? If you home is broken into why would you not report you guns stolen? Do you store your weapons in a secure place? Smokey and Finfan thought both of you were smarter that this rant. If my house was ransacked I would want to report the SS# of every item taken, would you? I bet you do not know the identity of all items in you house and if stolen would not be able to identity them by SS#
Are you both current or ex law enforcement ? Are you going to turn in you magazines that are over the new law for capacity?
> Are you going to turn in you magazines that are over the new law for capacity?
I would appreciate some law enforcement or loi-yah input on this question.
I have heard at least one amateur lawyer propose that requiring people to turn in high capacity magazines that they already own would be “confiscation of property” and therefore unlawful. Any legal traction?
> It is very simple if your gun is stolen, report it with a serial number.
There is already a requirement to “register” “assault weapons” with the State of California. And I understand the the laws recently signed by Governer Brown require other reporting.
Does anyone know if gun owners have a right to see what information the State of California has in their files with respect to their ownership of guns?
SInce I expect that the State will actually USE the information for various purposes, such as checking what guns might be on the premises when they get a 911 call from a specific address, I would like to have some assurance that the State has correct information, so that they don’t assume I have ten assault rifles and send in a SWAT team when in fact I got rid of them ten years ago!