By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Two years after police in Santa Clara, CA. seized firearms belonging to a woman whose husband suffered an episode that resulted in his being held for a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has filed a lawsuit on her behalf in federal court, seeking the return of her guns and an injunction to prevent future violations.
Joining SAF in the legal action is the Calguns Foundation (CGF). They sued on behalf of Lori Rodriguez, whose firearms were taken in January 2013. Her husband, Edward, was taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in the incident, which did not involve any firearms.
The guns were locked in a California-approved safe at the time, and since then, the combination has been changed so that only Mrs. Rodriguez can gain access.
The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California. Attorney Don Kilmer of San Jose represents the plaintiffs.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are the City of San Jose, the city police department and Officer Steven Valentine in his official capacity.
“The City of San Jose or any other jurisdiction simply cannot be allowed to seize someone’s legally-owned property because of the actions of a spouse or some other third party,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb observed. “We have looked at the state code and have serious concerns about the policies and procedures in San Jose. Lori Rodriguez should get her firearms returned.”
He noted that SAF has in the past successfully sued Washington, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Seattle, Omaha, New Haven and other municipalities for what he called “trampling on the rights of gun owners.”
One of the interesting allegations in the lawsuit is that the city attorney apparently acknowledged that Lori Rodriguez could go out and buy more firearms because she is not prohibited from doing so, Gottlieb said.
“We think she should just get her own firearms returned,” he observed, “and that this continued deprivation of her property needs to stop immediately.”
Gottlieb vowed to continue looking for cases like this “so long as local governments ignore the fact that citizens have civil rights protected by the Second Amendment.”
