Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office Seizes Guns

In a weapons check operation last week Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Detectives along with Agents for the California Department of Justice (Bureau of Firearms) seized several guns from owners. These included those legally barred from owning guns within Santa Barbara County, such as those who have been convicted of a felony, a specified misdemeanor or was otherwise found by a court or mental facilities to be prohibited from owning a firearm. This was reported by several outlets including Santa Barbara Edhat and KVEC TV.

While we don’t question that felons shouldn’t have guns (in most cases), we must question how effective this “raid” was, and whether it was really necessary? More importantly, how exactly did law enforcement determine whether an individual had a gun, or was it a random sweep? Wouldn’t civil liberties groups be up in arms if a sweep was done for drugs instead of guns?