Supreme Court rules that police cannot search homes without a warrant for safety reasons.

 

The US Supreme Court. US Government photo.

The Supreme Court has ruled that police cannot search homes without a warrant using the caretaking exception to the 4th amendment. NBC News. The case involved a suicidal man that owned two firearms. Police were called and the man agreed to a medical evaluation on the condition that the police didn't take his firearms. Police took his firearms anyways using the caretaking exception using a 1973 case involving an impounded car and a firearm. The exception said that police could use evidence they found while doing duties unrelated to crime, such as helping an injured person. The Justices said that the lower courts were wrong and their interpretation of the 1973 case was too broad as it never should have involved entering someone's home and that the standard should be more strict there. However, the justices said that the emergency exception to the 4th amendment still exists.

My Comment:

Though this is a 4th Amendment case I consider it to be a major victory for gun rights as the case involved the confiscation of firearms. The police had no warrant here and also lied about what they were going to do. They should not have been able to confiscate firearms without a court order or a felony conviction here but they did anyways. 

I generally think the 4th Amendment has too many exceptions to it anyways. I do think that if a cop sees something that they would see in plain sight they should be able to use that but if they are searching a house for firearms without a warrant that's obviously wrong. I am glad that this case was decided this way. 

In this case especially what the cops did was despicable. The man was in a bad place and the cops were only supposed to be doing a welfare check. They had no reason to take his firearms and had no basis for a search as he had not committed any crime. He had just threatened suicide and that's enough for cops to take someone's weapons?

For all the talk about mental health I can't help but say that the very idea that you could get your guns taken away in this kind of situation is very disturbing. I know there are a lot of people out there that simply won't talk to mental health professionals due to the fact that one of the few ways to lose your gun rights for good is to be involuntarily committed. If people truly wanted fewer deaths from suicides' not threatening your property rights just because you asked for help is a good start. 

It's important to note that the Biden administration wanted to go the other way with this. They apparently do not respect the constitution and think that the 4th amendment is just like the 1st and 2nd. Outdated at best and threats at worst. I am glad that the Supreme Court gave them a unanimous rebuke.