D.C. Residents Criminalized for Parking in their Driveways

Snowflakes details a situation in Washington D.C. where residents have been ticketed and fined for parking in their own driveways. Essentially, this comes down to a stupid city ordinance designed to allow the city to own your sidewalks as public property but make you liable and responsible for maintenance and any injuries.  Many cities have such laws. In  DC’s case, the wording essentially makes anything from your building forward such designation.  So people who have parked their cars in their own driveways, but not pulled up far enough (and we’re not talking about hang over into the sidewalk), are finding themselves ticketed.

http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1659296&nid=695

Why am I re-posting this clearly non-gun related issue? Is it just to rag on the city of D.C., famed for it’s anti-gun stance.

No…it’s to point out a belief I have long held. I believe the intention of our legal system under this government has been to formulate a legal foundation for which you can make any citizen a criminal.

No matter how much of a good citizen you try to be. There is a law out there that were the government to choose to do so, they could prosecute you on it.  And even such a minor thing as a ticket for parking in your own driveway can quickly become a more serious crime. Were you to miss a related court date, regardless of whether the courts sent you the wrong date (see Ruby Ridge).

It is also why I have little to no respect for our legal system. I do not consider it to be a system of justice. But a system of laws, mostly written by people for which I have the greatest distain. Our legal system has been separated from the people.  No longer are our laws accessible to the common farmer.

Thankfully, I seldom find myself in conflict with the legal system thanks to the fact that my personal moral code tends to exceed that of the legal system.

But it is a warning to us gun owners that we must be on our toes, to make sure that we don’t find ourselves caught up in some minute technicality of the law. And that we are ever vigilant to watch what legislation our elected officials are passing. To make sure that seemingly innoculous legislation does not contain traps and snares.