informers among us

[benEzra]

Wait, the officer respond to your home, finds no automatic weapons, if he does you show him your class III license, or he checks the system to see if you have one on file. Everything is in your name, everything has paperwork or can be traced back, you will be fine. Everything will be evaluated on the spot, and as long as your are not doing anything illegal, your weapons are going nowhere.

Joe hoodlum on the otherhand has no paperwork, no record of sale, he is a felon, he says that his guns are his cousins (which he forgets his exact name) and he has sawed off shotgun and a modified semi auto rifle that now shoots automatic. He will lose those weapons and hopefully go to jail.

Please don't side with Joe Hoodlum.

You're forgetting one thing. The anonymous tip may not result in an officer knocking on your door and politely asking you some questions. The more likely approach to an anonymous "dude who lives at ### Seventh Street owns illegal guns" tip would be a dynamic entry.

That's more or less what happened in the Kathryn Johnston case. Anonymous informant lied about drugs being sold from house at a certain address, either to gain favor or for money. The police got a no-knock warrant based solely on the anonymous tip (the made-up story about corroborating the information via a controlled buy was merely a means to that end). And then they kicked in an innocent 88-year-old woman's door and shot her to death when she tried to defend herself.

THAT is the type of scenario that paying for anonymous "I think my neighbor has an illegal gun" tips will invariably lead to in a substantial percentage of cases. Not a conversation with Officer Friendly on the front porch, but a dynamic entry.