• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Doesn’t it strike people as just a little bit fucked up that you can lose a fundamental constitutional right that easily?

    Google “the Mulford Act”. Republicans loved chasing poc around for owning or displaying guns, all up and down California, back in the 60s and 70s when the Civil Rights Movement was at its peak.

    Its definitely fucked up. But its all part of the grand kabuki theater of criminal justice in our country. Build up a hysterical fear of Other People so you can give the police something to do. Then use the parade of prosecutions as proof that (a) crime is out of control and (b) we absolutely need to gut more public services so we can put a bigger and more heavily armed police force on the street.

    Should you lose the right to a trial by a jury of your peers, with legal representation, if you’re addicted to Oxy? Should you be forced to go to an evangelical, Christian nationalist church if you’re an alcoholic? There’s a pretty decent argument that conviction of a violent crime–including misdemeanor domestic battery–should cause you to lose your 2A rights. But this isn’t a case of someone being convicted of anything.

    You can find instances of all of the above tried by various state and local courts in the US.