Opinion

Philadelphia, PA –-(Ammoland.com)-“Philadelphia police seize massive arsenal of weapons from suicidal man's home,” the NBC headline reads.

NBC's national story goes onto state, “The man, who has been hospitalized, had at least 39 guns, multiple grenades and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, according to police.”

The story is about a 72-year-old man, whose son was concerned for his father's wellbeing. The son reported to police that he was worried about his dad and that his father had guns.

Police responded by raiding the man's house and seizing all his firearms even though the man's family says he wasn't a danger to anyone but himself.

The police said the unnamed man had 19 handguns and 20 long guns. The NBC news story said he had an “M-16 military-type rifle” which most likely was an AR-15. The other long guns consisted of hunting rifles.

The grenades referenced in the headlines were inert. The man was an avid collector of World War II memorabilia and firearms all his life. The grenades were from that era.

The “massive stockpile of firearms” was not an unusual amount to most gun owners. Collecting 39 firearms over 72 years does not seem like a lot to other firearms collectors. Although to the uninitiated 2000 rounds might seem like a lot, to gun owners, it isn't an unusual number of bullets.

Maj Toure of Black Guns Matter and Philadelphia candidate for city council has an issue on how NBC reported the story.

“You have a 72-year old man whose family says he is an avid collector,” Toure said by phone. “A 72-year old avid collector with only 39 guns. So, one, it is not a cache. Two thousand rounds of ammo is not a lot of ammo. My last shipment from Phoenix Ammo was more than 2000 rounds. It is not a lot of ammo.”

To Toure and other gun rights advocates, it seems that the police has violated the man’s rights by ignoring due process clause of the constitution. The advocates point out that police seized the man's firearms without charging him with a crime.

“His son called on him.” Toure said, “The question is if he is a threat to himself, why are you not just not taking him out? Why are you taking his firearms? He hasn't been charged with anything. There has been no crime committed. They seized his personal property. That is what is actually happening.” “There has been no due process. This is a violation of his fourth amendment rights. I think he or his family should sue. They are treating it as if they removed some crime-ridden lunatic off the streets. That is not the case. This man has not even been charged anything. I don't care if you are pro-gun or anti-gun. The issue is that this is a violation of personal privacy and a direct disrespect for our personal property.”

According to Lieutenant Dennis Rosenbaum of the Philadelphia Police Department, unless the family petition the courts to get the firearms back, they will be destroyed. Rosenbaum seems to think the family will not request to get the guns back.

“I don't think they're going to be trying to get the weapons back,” Rosenbaum told NBC. “I've talked to the family today as of an hour ago and they just don't want them to wind up in the wrong hands. They seem to be very nice people.”

About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%'ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.