Former top Texas drug officer Barry Cooper is releasing a video entitled "Never Get Busted Again".  You see, Cooper had a change of heart after seeing all the lives and families he was ruining for non-violent drug offenses.  He came to take great offense at the draconian measures the government had adopted in its war on drugs.

Now, I'm not a big fan of drug use and neither support nor condone it but I think the government takes enforcement against relatively minor drugs way to far and infringes on our basic rights and freedoms. Some of the tactics they have adopted such as asset seizure without trial let alone proof are abominable.  

My main interest in this video is what knowledge I can transfer for my own protection.  In New Jersey, guns are illegal under state law with ownership and possession allowed only with proper licensing under the FID system.  Most LEO in this state treat any gun, gun part, even bullets as contraband.  It is important for us to protect ourselves under the partial gun prohibition from unnecessary legal and financial burdens that can occur in this state even when we are in full compliance with the law.

Even in red states with liberal gun laws, people can run into the same problems.  Just look at this exchange caught on hidden video between two Austin, TX officers illegally searching a car:

Even more shocking, the male officer becomes alarmed at a "gun bible" and "a bunch of pictures of him all camouflaged with a bunch of guns and sh**" and recommends a "10-0" advisory.

The female officer is somewhat alarmed at this and asks if there is a gun. The male officer responds, "He'd be dead," indicating that he would have killed the driver if there was a gun in the car.

The video will be for sale at his website, nevergetbusted.com starting December 26.  The trailer for the Never Get Busted Again video is also available on YouTube.  I am sure Cooper is going to be making a lot of enemies in the law enforcement community with this video.  After all, asset seizure is enormously profitable to agencies at all levels.

"My main motivation in all of this is to teach Americans their civil liberties, and what drives me in this is injustice and unfairness in our system," he said. "I'm just teaching them how to not ruin their lives by being put in a cage. I'm not creating the problem; it is already there."

It is likely that some of the advice won't be that useful.  Tricks to transport a dime bag of weed might not apply to how to get to the range with a couple boxes of hollow points.  But it sounds like some of the information on profiling and behavior could be useful.  As far as your rights against search and seizure go, FlexYourRights.org has a full video up on YouTube on how to act and react when stopped by the police or a request is made for an unwarranted search.

 I'll post a review of Cooper's video as soon as I get my copy. 

Apparently the Bush administration has decided to reverse itself on the ground breaking Ashcroft opinion that the Second Amendment was an individual right.  This is bad news.  A potentially huge setback for us.  The position was made public in an FAA document regarding spaceflight of all things.  David Codrea has been investigating the story and has been told that this has approval from Executive Office of the President:

When John Ashcroft penned his "individual rights" opinion, it made headlines around the world. Terms like "sea change" were thrown about, and we were told how significant the opinion was for gun rights. The Bradys went nuts. 18 state attorneys general followed suit and drafted their own letter of concurrence. And this was used to tremendous advantage to convince gun owners to throw their support behind the Bush administration.

But now we have it from one of the top attorneys in that administration that the "collective rights" language "was reviewed and approved by the Executive Office of the President."

Ladies and gentlemen, most will not realize this, but this is news, and it is significant. But chances are, this insignificant blog is the only place where you will learn of it, which means most gun owners will not.

Indeed, this is bad news and if true, word needs to be spread.  If this is truly from the top and represents the new official position of the Bush administration, will the DOJ adopt it as well and submit an amicus brief supporting the collective rights interpretation  in the Parker appeal?