Do we live in a police state? Judge for yourself. From the Washington Time's Emily Miller:
D.C. businessman faces two years in jail for unregistered ammunition, brass casing
Mark Witaschek
-
The Washington Times, Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Mark Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no
criminal record, is facing two years in prison for possession of
unregistered ammunition after D.C. police raided his house looking for
guns. Mr. Witaschek has never had a firearm in the city, but he is being
prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The trial starts on Nov. 4.
The police banged on the front door of Mr. Witaschek’s
Georgetown home at 8:20 p.m. on July 7, 2012, to execute a search
warrant for “firearms and ammunition … gun cleaning equipment, holsters,
bullet holders and ammunition receipts.”
Mr. Witaschek’s 14-year-old daughter let inside some 30 armed officers in full tactical gear.
D.C. law requires residents to register every firearm with the
police, and only registered gun owners can possess ammunition, which
includes spent shells and casings. The maximum penalty for violating
these laws is a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
Police based their search on a charge made by Mr. Witaschek’s
estranged wife, who had earlier convinced a court clerk to issue a
temporary restraining order against her husband for threatening her with
a gun, although a judge later found the charge to be without merit.
After entering the house, the police immediately went
upstairs, pointed guns at the heads of Mr. Witaschek and his girlfriend,
Bonnie Harris, and demanded they surrender, facedown and be handcuffed.
In recalling what followed, Mr. Witaschek became visibly
emotional in describing how the police treated him, Ms. Harris and the
four children in the house.
His 16-year-old son was in the shower when the police arrived.
“They used a battering ram to bash down the bathroom door and pull him
out of the shower, naked,” said his father. “The police put all the
children together in a room, while we were handcuffed upstairs. I could
hear them crying, not knowing what was happening.”
Police spokesman Gwendolyn Crump would not provide further information on the events in this case.
The police shut down the streets for blocks and spent more
than two hours going over every inch of his house. “They tossed the
place,” said Mr. Witaschek. He provided photos that he took of his home
after the raid to document the damage, which he estimated at $10,000.
The police found no guns in the house, but did write on the
warrant that four items were discovered: “One live round of 12-gauge
shotgun ammunition,” which was an inoperable shell that misfired during a
hunt years earlier. Mr. Witaschek had kept it as a souvenir. “One
handgun holster” was found, which is perfectly legal.
“One expended round of .270 caliber ammunition,” which was a
spent brass casing. The police uncovered “one box of Knight bullets for
reloading.” These are actually not for reloading, but are used in
antique-replica, single-shot, muzzle-loading rifles.
This was the second police search of his home. Exactly one
month earlier, Mr. Witaschek allowed members of the “Gun Recovery Unit”
access to search without a warrant because he thought he had nothing to
hide.
After about an hour and a half, the police found one box of
Winchester .40 caliber ammunition, one gun-cleaning kit (fully legal)
and a Civil War-era Colt antique revolver that Mr. Witaschek kept on his
office desk. The police seized the Colt even though antique firearms
are legal and do not have to be registered.
Mr. Witaschek is a gun owner and an avid hunter. However, he
stores his firearms at the home of his sister, Sylvia Witaschek, in
suburban Arlington, Va.
Two weeks after the June raid, D.C. police investigators went
to his sister’s house — unaccompanied by Virginia police and without a
warrant — and asked to “view” the firearms, according to a police
report. She refused. The next day, the D.C. police returned to her house
with the Arlington County police and served her with a criminal
subpoena.
The Office of Attorney General of the District of Columbia
Irvin Nathan signed an affidavit on Aug. 21, 2012, in support of a
warrant to arrest Mr. Witaschek. A spokesman for Mr. Nathan would not
comment on a pending case.
Mr. Witaschek went to the police station on Aug. 24 at 5:30
a.m. to turn himself in, but was not transferred to central booking
until 11:30 a.m., at which time he was told it was too late to be
arraigned that day. He spent the night in jail and was released the next
day at 10 a.m.
Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier reserves such harsh tactics for
ordinary citizens. When NBC News anchor David Gregory violated the
gun-registration law last year by wielding an illegal 30-round magazine
on live television, he was not arrested.
Mr. Nathan also gave Mr. Gregory a pass, writing that prosecuting him “would not promote public safety.”
Mr. Nathan, who is unelected, showed no such leniency to Mr.
Witaschek. In September 2012, the attorney general offered Mr. Witaschek
a deal to plead guilty to one charge of unlawful possession of
ammunition with a penalty of a year of probation, a $500 fine and a
contribution to a victims’ fund.
Mr. Witaschek turned down the offer. “It’s the principle,” he told me.
To increase the pressure a year later, Mr. Nathan tacked on an
additional charge in August of illegal ammunition from the first,
warrantless search. Mr. Witaschek chose to accept the risk of prison
time by going to trial instead of pleading guilty.
The firearms laws in places such as the District of Columbia,
Chicago, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey do nothing to reduce
violence, but merely infringe on the Second Amendment rights of the
law-abiding.
However, if these laws are going to be enforced, the police and government must treat everyone equally.
The charges against Mr. Witaschek should be dropped.
Emily Miller is a senior editor of opinion for The Washington Times and author of “Emily Gets Her Gun” (Regnery, 2013).
