The good news is that Rick Bailey has had his expensive gun collection returned. The bad news is that he had to fight for it in court in the first place, in spite of never being convicted of any offense. From the canadafreepress.com: :A retired Navy veteran in Arizona whose gun collection had been seized by Glendale police now has his firearms back, the Second Amendment Foundation revealed today. SAF had intervened in the case of Glendale resident Rick Bailey early last month, taking on funding of the case and working with Chandler, Ariz., attorney Marc J. Victor. Bailey’s case had fired up Second Amendment activists across the country after police confiscated 28 firearms valued at more than $25,000, which Bailey had collected over more than a decade.” . . .
I have not found the offending statute. No doubt it’s in the law that authorizes judges to grant protective orders in private disputes. Marc Victor, Mr. Bailey’s attorney had this to say:
Mr. Bailey is the victim of an overly broad Arizona law allowing judges to immediately strip citizens of their fundamental constitutional rights to peacefully keep and bear arms based on unchallenged and uncorroborated assertions.
Here is an image of the part of the court order requiring Mr. Bailey to surrender his property.
The case made national news, and was covered by theblaze.com. But how many other cases are there in which the victims do not have the money or connections to fight, or whose circumstances render them less than the perfect example needed to gain national attention?
I have a very close friend to whom this happened and he was completely blindsided by it. He’s fighting it in court, but the process takes thousands of dollars. Some judges have reputations for including the prohibition on owning arms rather promiscuously, some not. But the law gives judges far more power than they should have. Here’s the SAF’s press release:
A retired Navy veteran in Arizona whose gun collection had been seized by Glendale police now has his firearms back, the Second Amendment Foundation revealed today.
SAF had intervened in the case of Glendale resident Rick Bailey early last month, taking on funding of the case and working with Chandler, Ariz., attorney Mark J. Victor. Bailey’s case had fired up Second Amendment activists across the country after police confiscated 28 firearms valued at more than $25,000, which Bailey had collected over more than a decade.
Bailey was generous in his praise of SAF’s intervention, noting, “I want to thank Alan Gottlieb and the Second Amendment Foundation for all the help in getting my firearms returned.”
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said he was honored to have been able to step in with support for what he called a “worthy effort on behalf of a deserving veteran.”
Bailey had complained to the City of Glendale about a neighbor’s habit of parking dump trucks used in his landscaping company. The dispute unfolded over several months until Bailey called police over concerns of toxic chemical odors apparently coming from the neighbor’s property. The neighbor apparently alleged that Bailey had threatened him, and the following day, he obtained a harassment order against Bailey.
“Mr. Bailey had been devastated by incident,” Gottlieb explained. “This all started because of a dispute with a neighbor that got way out of hand. Nobody should have their life turned upside down, and their property seized, because of an allegation that should have been thoroughly investigated.
“I want to credit attorney Mark Victor for his work in this legal action,” he added. “He was on top of this case, and SAF was delighted to help out with funding.”
“Now that Rick Bailey has his firearms back,” Gottlieb observed, “perhaps his dignity can also be restored. This kind of silly season story should never happen in real life.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.