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UT: Gun Rules Shot Down By Judges
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Gun Rules Shot Down By Judges
Saturday, August 17, 2002
BY ELIZABETH NEFF
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Utah judges kept gun lockers out of state courthouses Friday by eliminating their own court rules that subjected them to the new locker legislation.
The Utah Judicial Council, which sets policy for state courts, says its rule change trumps a new state law that took effect earlier this year requiring courthouses with designated gun-free "secure areas" to also provide secure firearm storage.
Weapons are still banned from all Utah courthouses, where taking a weapon inside is a misdemeanor. Friday's vote removed council rules that designated "secure areas," generally nonpublic places such as judges' chambers, private hallways and jury rooms, where carrying a weapon was increased to a third-degree felony.
Council members say the removal of the secure areas means courts are no longer subject to the gun locker law, which requires the lockers at courthouses that have such areas.
The change was approved as a temporary solution in May, but the council finalized its decision after consulting with state lawmakers, law enforcement and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, said council attorney Brent Johnson.
Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said its attorneys agree state courts are now complying with the terms of the gun locker law. But the council's action will still be reviewed to determine whether there may be related legal issues that need to be resolved, he said.
The council made Friday's rule change under an emergency provision that allowed it to vote without first having a 45-day public comment period. Johnson said the judges wanted to take action rather than delay and wait for comment.
A public comment period will begin in November, and the council can reverse or amend its decision afterward.
Charles Hardy, policy director for Gun Owners of Utah, has been a staunch supporter of gun lockers and said his group will take up the issue during the comment period.
"We plan to try to work with legislators to try to . . . close up this supposed loophole," he said. "My personal opinion is that the judges are still in violation of the law."
State Rep. John Swallow, R-Sandy, has argued it would be safer for legal gun owners to keep their weapons in lockers while they are in court, rather than to leave guns in their cars or stash them on courthouse grounds.
"The intent of the legislation was always to preserve the safety of individuals in our courtrooms," said Emily Christensen, a spokeswoman for Swallow.
She declined to comment on whether Swallow will attempt to rewrite the law to require all state courthouses to provide lockers.
A committee of judges who looked into the issue decided gun lockers would pose a serious risk of injury or death, said committee chairman 7th District Juvenile Court Judge Scott Johansen in Friday's council meeting.
Attorney Johnson pointed to the court's long-standing tradition of not allowing weapons of any kind.
"Courts are the last bastion where people resolve disputes without violence," he said, "or the threat of violence."
http://www.sltrib.com/08172002/utah/762626.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Saturday, August 17, 2002
BY ELIZABETH NEFF
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Utah judges kept gun lockers out of state courthouses Friday by eliminating their own court rules that subjected them to the new locker legislation.
The Utah Judicial Council, which sets policy for state courts, says its rule change trumps a new state law that took effect earlier this year requiring courthouses with designated gun-free "secure areas" to also provide secure firearm storage.
Weapons are still banned from all Utah courthouses, where taking a weapon inside is a misdemeanor. Friday's vote removed council rules that designated "secure areas," generally nonpublic places such as judges' chambers, private hallways and jury rooms, where carrying a weapon was increased to a third-degree felony.
Council members say the removal of the secure areas means courts are no longer subject to the gun locker law, which requires the lockers at courthouses that have such areas.
The change was approved as a temporary solution in May, but the council finalized its decision after consulting with state lawmakers, law enforcement and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, said council attorney Brent Johnson.
Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said its attorneys agree state courts are now complying with the terms of the gun locker law. But the council's action will still be reviewed to determine whether there may be related legal issues that need to be resolved, he said.
The council made Friday's rule change under an emergency provision that allowed it to vote without first having a 45-day public comment period. Johnson said the judges wanted to take action rather than delay and wait for comment.
A public comment period will begin in November, and the council can reverse or amend its decision afterward.
Charles Hardy, policy director for Gun Owners of Utah, has been a staunch supporter of gun lockers and said his group will take up the issue during the comment period.
"We plan to try to work with legislators to try to . . . close up this supposed loophole," he said. "My personal opinion is that the judges are still in violation of the law."
State Rep. John Swallow, R-Sandy, has argued it would be safer for legal gun owners to keep their weapons in lockers while they are in court, rather than to leave guns in their cars or stash them on courthouse grounds.
"The intent of the legislation was always to preserve the safety of individuals in our courtrooms," said Emily Christensen, a spokeswoman for Swallow.
She declined to comment on whether Swallow will attempt to rewrite the law to require all state courthouses to provide lockers.
A committee of judges who looked into the issue decided gun lockers would pose a serious risk of injury or death, said committee chairman 7th District Juvenile Court Judge Scott Johansen in Friday's council meeting.
Attorney Johnson pointed to the court's long-standing tradition of not allowing weapons of any kind.
"Courts are the last bastion where people resolve disputes without violence," he said, "or the threat of violence."
http://www.sltrib.com/08172002/utah/762626.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
Arrests pile up as force targets armed felons
By Bill Dries
dries@gomemphis.com
August 17, 2002
A local and federal task force looking for a convicted felon wanted for having a gun ended a three-month investigation Friday with a lot more to show for the effort than a single gun.
Police and federal officials Friday displayed a table filled with four rifles, six handguns, seven clips of ammunition and mounds of bullets seized in the investigation. There were also several kilos of marijuana.
Darrell L. Austin, who has a dozen prior felony convictions, and two men arrested with him Friday were charged in a federal criminal complaint with firearms violations. Two other suspects were charged with state firearms charges in the same probe with a sixth suspect wanted as well.
The officers and agents said the arrests and seizures demonstrate the worth of Project Safe Neighborhoods, an effort announced in March but started in January that targets felons for prosecution when they are found with guns.
Police Lt. Jeff Clark said some of the firepower seized is capable of piercing bulletproof vests.
"With these type of weapons - at least two or three of them on the table - you might as well be wearing a paper sack," he said.
What began as a tip about Austin led to the broader investigation with some of the suspects linked to street gangs, Clark added.
"They were exchanging drugs. They were exchanging weapons. They were using the weapons in an assortment of crimes. They won't be with us anymore. They were in the criminal business," he said.
Austin, 30, was indicted in June on a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm as part of the effort. Austin is one of 268 suspects either indicted or awaiting indictment through the first week of July on federal firearms charges.
The joint program teams Memphis and other local police with the U.S. Marshals Service and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as well as federal and state prosecutors.
Arrested with Austin on federal firearms charges were Iran Westbrook, 18, and Kenneth L. Williams, 33. When their car was stopped, authorities said Westbrook grabbed an Intratec 9mm semiautomatic assault weapon loaded with more than 30 rounds. Williams was armed with two handguns. Three pounds of pot was found in the car.
The exact state charges against Terrance Carruthers, 32, Ronald L. Logan, 27, and Derrick Kirk, 32, and details of other seizures were not immediately available Friday. Kirk remained at large.
Under Project Safe Neighborhoods, felons arrested for being in possession of guns who have two or more prior felony convictions for violent and/or drug-related crimes face more serious federal charges that involve prison terms of 10 to 15 years. Others can plead to state firearms charges with the condition that they must accept a mandatory prison sentence.
The goal of the program is to reduce the city's homicide rate by discouraging felons who have served time from carrying guns.
- Bill Dries: 529-2643
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_1331284,00.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
August 18, 2002 Posted: 8:23 PM EDT (0023 GMT)
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- Federal agents plan to serve a search warrant Monday at an explosives training school in the desert near Roswell where, authorities say, a Canadian national trained Arab students to use shoulder-launched missiles and other explosives.
David Hudak, 41, was arrested last week on federal explosives and immigration charges, said Special Agent Tom Mangan of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. A criminal complaint was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.
CNN NewsPass VIDEO
U.S. agents say Arab students were taught to use shoulder-fired missiles at a private facility in New Mexico. CNN's Carol Lin reports (August 18)
Play video
Hudak, from Canada, ran the school in the southeastern New Mexico desert, where students from the United Arab Emirates and Yemen were taught how to use high-powered explosives.
Last week, agents seized about 1,000 pounds of munitions -- including warheads, rockets and missiles for shoulder-guided weapons -- and believe they will find another 4,000 pounds when they open two bunkers Monday, Mangan said.
The warheads seized so far were in 49 crates, and many of them were painted with yellow bands, a NATO marking identifying them as containing high explosives, court papers said.
The crates were falsely labeled as "charge demolition," said Special Agent Tony Singleton of the U.S. Customs Service. Illegal importers often mislabel items to circumvent customs laws, he said.
Inside the crates were "bunker-defeat munitions," military warheads designed to be fired from shoulder-mounted weapons. Agents found no launching devices for the warheads.
There is no reason to suspect Hudak has ties to terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, he said.
Federal agents will be at the school, HEAT, an acronym for High Energy Access Tools, over the next week, he said. Because of the number of explosives and warheads, ATF officials have arranged for specialized government contractors to remove them from the site, court papers said.
One reason Hudak was arrested was that he lied in order to obtain the explosives, using the school as a front, Mangan said. The criminal complaint says Hudak possessed missiles that were not registered to him or the school.
The school's Web site gives a Casper, Wyoming address, and describes itself as "a provider of training services for law, military, and government personal (sic) only."
"It looks like that was, if you will, a front for him to hide himself and submerge himself to avoid the licensing," said Mangan.
"We are not training terrorists," said HEAT Security Director Frank Fish. "Actually, it's the opposite of that. We are assisting in training counter-terrorists, anti-terrorists, those kinds of things."
Hudak's wife, Leslie, told Canada's Global Television that everything the company has purchased is "perfectly legal" and was dealt with through the proper authorities.
"We train special forces. We train law enforcement personnel," she said. "Post-9/11, it's a very growing business."
She said the federal raid and her husband's arrest stemmed from a disgruntled employee, one of three her husband fired recently for improper conduct, and has resulted in "false and misleading accusations."
Mangan said he did not know how many students attended the two-week class. The students are cooperating with investigators, he said.
Norm Cairns, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque, said the school was engaged in "private training exercises," which by itself is not unusual.
"There are a lot of private firms in the United States that train members of the military from other parts of the world," Cairns said.
The court papers noted information from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which said it had previously investigated Hudak and his Canadian company, International Hydro Cut Technologies. HEAT is a subsidiary of that company, the RCMP said.
Hudak had told the RCMP that his company provides tactical explosive devices used by international police emergency response teams and anti-terrorism units.
Canadian authorities arrested Hudak in 1997 on charges of unsafe storage of explosives and possession of restricted, prohibited weapons, including handguns and shotguns. He pleaded guilty to possession of prohibited weapons and careless handling and storage of a firearm.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Hudak was in the United States illegally.
Mangan said additional charges were pending.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/18/newmexico.missiles/index.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Shanley Stern
Thursday, August 15, 2002
WALTHAM - Bentley College police officers will carry guns for the first time this fall after undergoing an intensive training course.
The college's board of trustees voted to allow the 10 campus police supervisors to carry semiautomatic pistols at all times, but opted to arm the 10 other officers only at special events, according to campus Police Chief Ernie Leffler.
Each of the 20 officers employed by Bentley College will undergo an 80-hour training course directed by the Waltham Police Department within the next month. As well as firearms, the training will include classroom work, psychological screening and background checks.
"It speaks to the issue of officer safety," Leffler said. "More times than not my officers go into a situation without knowing if there'll be a weapon involved or not.
"The officers deserve to come to work knowing they will be safe. Unfortunately in today's society, college campuses are not immune to violence, although Bentley is an extremely safe campus," Leffler said.
Waltham Police Deputy Paul Juliano said his department decided to take on the training of the Bentley officers to ensure they are properly trained and appropriately screened.
"They are police officers in our city, and we would extend the same courtesy to Brandeis," Juliano said.
The standards used are those of the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council, which regulates the training of state, municipal and campus police officers.
To become a campus police officer, Leffler said each of his staff members went through a 16-week course, similar to that of a municipal police academy. He said the main difference in the academy for city or town police officers, which is a 20-week course, is the firearms and motor vehicle training.
Leffler said, in the past, his ability to hire and retain qualified police officers was thwarted by the regulations on bearing arms at Bentley. He said with the new decision, he will have a much larger pool of candidates to choose from.
"As soon as they (applicants) found out that we drive police cars, wear police uniforms, but don't carry guns, it turned them right off," Leffler said.
Kathleen Yorkis, Bentley vice president of student affairs, said the decision to arm campus police officers was considered over several years and entailed research, consultants and campus input. The board, comprised of about 20 members, made the decision at its last meeting in May.
"It was not a quick decision. It was something that was discussed very carefully and thoughtfully because it's a decision that affects the entire college community."
Although Bentley students have not yet returned to campus, senior Christine Brousseau said she does not think it will be a big issue. Brousseau said she is personally in favor of the move if it helps the officers feel safe, and she does not see a downside to carrying guns.
"I figure if there's a problem on campus, then it's better for them to have guns. I know a lot of the officers, and I can't imagine them doing anything wrong or taking advantage of it," Brousseau said.
As a past campus police officer at Northeastern University where officers do carry guns, Leffler said he has been pushing the issue since his arrival at Bentley more than three years ago.
Officials at Brandeis, the other university in Waltham, said there are no plans to arm its officers at this point.
Boston College campus police officers have carried guns for the past 15 years, according to spokesperson Reid Oslan. Lasell College, also of Newton, does allow guns but Mount Ida College does not.
The Bentley Police Department falls under the authority of the Massachusetts State Police as a special branch and has a legal right to carry guns. But the decision of whether or not officers are armed is left up to individual colleges and universities.
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/news/local_regional/walt_bentleycops08152002.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878