« More on veteran's suit against Michael Moore | Main | Parker (DC case) brief online »
ACLU and consistency
An interesting issue, pointed out by Jim Beers:
Indianapolis recently enacted an ordinance forbidding convicted sex offenders to come within 1000 ft. of parks, pools, and playgrounds, and the ACLU has sued. "The six plaintiffs, who include child molesters and rapists, are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana." ACLU of New Mexico has sued to block sex offender registries.
The Lousiana ACLU has testified against a similar statute: "These laws promote hysteria and suspicion without any evidence of improving public safety. Instead, branding individuals with a scarlet letter prevents them from finding stable residences, or worse drives them underground....Individuals could break this law without even knowing it."
Now, I can see some of the arguments being made. "Sex offender" is sometimes a very broad class that can include some poor cuss who relieved his bladder, was seen by someone else, and took a dive on indecent exposure. And preventing a person from coming within 1000' of a school does prettty much make travel impossible.
But, I have to wonder, where were they when Congress made it a felony for a person, convicted of nothing, to pass near a school with a firearm? What is it that makes convicted sex offenders more appealing than firearm owners?
Comments
"Putting all that aside, I don't want to dwell on constitutional analysis, because our view has never been that civil liberties are necessarily coextensive with constitutional rights. Conversely, I guess the fact that something is mentioned in the Constitution doesn't necessarily mean that it is a fundamental civil liberty."
Nadine Strossen
President of the ACLU
"Life, Liberty, and the ACLU"
Reason, October 1994
Posted by: Robert R. at June 2, 2006 01:16 PM
Maybe because more of their members are "sex offenders" then gun owners?
Posted by: emdfl at June 4, 2006 09:10 AM