GHEI: ATF’s latest gun grab

The Obama administration is making it  easier for bureaucrats to take away guns without offering the accused any  realistic due process. In a final rule published last week, the Justice  Department granted the Bureau  of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)  authority to “seize and administratively forfeit property involved in  controlled-substance abuses.” That means government can grab firearms and other  property from someone who has never been convicted or even charged with any  crime.

It’s a dangerous extension of the civil-forfeiture doctrine, a surreal legal  fiction in which the seized property — not a person — is put on trial. This  allows prosecutors to dispense with pesky constitutional rights, which  conveniently don’t apply to inanimate objects. In this looking-glass world, the  owner is effectively guilty until proved innocent and has the burden of proving  otherwise. Anyone falsely accused will never see his property again unless he  succeeds in an expensive uphill legal battle.

Such seizures are common in drug cases, which sometimes can ensnare people  who have done nothing wrong. James Lieto  found out about civil forfeiture the hard way when the FBI  seized $392,000 from his business because the money was being carried by an  armored-car firm he had hired that had fallen under a federal investigation. As  the Wall Street Journal reported, Mr. Lieto was never accused of any crime, yet  he spent thousands in legal fees to get his money back.

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