Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office hit with corruption probe over concealed weapons permits
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/07/sheriffs-office-hit-with-corruption-probe-over-concealed-weapons-permits/
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office served a search warrant at the Sheriff’s Office last week, as part of an apparent corruption probe into allegations of political favoritism in the agency’s issuing of concealed weapons permits, according to sources familiar with the investigation...
...(S)ources confirmed that the investigation involves an alleged “quid pro quo” between donors to six-term Sheriff Laurie Smith’s election efforts and people who have obtained concealed-carry weapons permits from her office, which has been relatively stingy about issuing the privilege compared to neighboring counties...
...It might feel like déjà vu for Smith, whose office was the subject of a federal lawsuit in 2011 that also questioned how so-called concealed-carry permits are handed out. That lawsuit and an investigation by this news organization revealed that some recipients lived out of the county or out of the country and that political donors to Smith were well represented among the relatively scarce number of permits issued...
...But at least four recipients of the 13 permits either issued or renewed last year donated at least $1,000 to Smith’s re-election efforts, including to her formal campaign or to the independent Santa Clara County Public Safety Alliance that supported her...
Corruption is what happens when police are allowed to decide what civil rights a citizen may have.
It's the Bill of Rights, not the Bill of Needs.
If someone meets all the qualifications (aside from 'in good with the local PTB') for issuance of a
conceled weapons permit, they should be given one. Period.
