Board of Firearms Permit Examiners Channel 3 News I-Team Segment

The Channel 3 News I-Team aired a segment on April 29, 2013, looking at the role and operation of the Board of Firearms Permit Examiners which included commentary by South Windsor Police Department Chief Reed and Attorney Baird:

"Local police depts. want more say with issuing permits," WFSB Channel 3 Hartford, I-Team Chief Investigative Reporter Eric Parker,  April 29, 2013 (WFSB Link to Report).

 

State Police Training Bulletin on Open Carry

American News obtained State Police Training Academy Bulletin # 2013-001 on April 29, 2013, which states:

"State Police personnel should NOT arrest a properly permitted individual merely for publically carrying a hand gun or firearm in plain view absent exigent circumstances."

The full text of the Bulletin may be found here: State Police Training Academy Bulletin # 2013-001.

American News requested and received the Bulletin pursuant to the state Freedom of Information Act.

See also Press Releases, "Connecticut State Police Finally Admit Open Carry is Lawful" at http://ctcarry.com/News/Releases.

 

San Diego First Amendment Case - Amended Complaint Filed

In American News and Information Services, Inc. v. Gore   ("American News") the Plaintiffs filed an Amended Complaint today alleging that the San Diego County Sheriff's Department uses government-issued press credentials to deny disfavored members of the media access to public information. Link to article by Ken Stone at the RamonaPatch:  "Ramona Journalist Claims 'Retaliatory Animus' in First Amendment Lawsuit."
 

The Amended Complaint at paragraph 192 includes these comments made by San Diego County Sheriff's Department Public Affairs Director Jan Caldwell, a Defendant in the American News lawsuit, at a Society of Professional Journalists meeting about access to public information:  [Link to Video]

“Um first of all and my first point I want to make is be nice to me, I mean seriously be nice to me because I’m a mirror and I will reflect how you treat me.  If you are rude, if you are obnoxious, if you are demanding, if you call me a liar, I will probably not talk to you anymore.

“And there’s only one Sheriff’s Department in town and you can go talk to all the deputies all you want, but there’s one PIO [Public Information Officer], just be nice to me. If you’re nice to me and when I say I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to that but I’m sorry I can’t talk about that, I’m not lying, I’m not lying to you.  Thirty Two years with the FBI, six years with the Sheriff’s Department I believe I have Integrity, because if you don’t have integrity you don’t have a good soul, then you have nothing. That’s my soapbox on that.

“Now we’re getting into a whole other area with regard to the, and this may be a panel for next year, journalism credentials and who should have them and should we have them and I would al… I’m gonna throw that back on you all in a minute to find out what you think.”

“Because you can sit with your Apple laptop in your fuzzy slippers, you can be eight hundred pounds, a disabled man who can’t get out of bed and be a journalist, because you can blog something.

“Does that give you the right because you blog in your fuzzy slippers out of your bedroom, and you don’t go out, and you haven’t gotten that degree?  Should you be called a journalist or should you be like Pauline ??? who graduated from Journalism school and has been doing a long time or J.W or Dennis I mean are you on the same par?

“In my estimation, and I’d like to hear from Darren and Michael on that no, because Pauline and J.W. and Matt and the others that have been doing this a long time know the questions to ask, as will you. But if you’re sitting at home on your laptop and you’re blogging and you just want to get under my skin for your city beat, I love that then yea, so I drop that out on you all what do you think about that?”

Fall 2013 Course Announcement - 2nd Amendment Rights and Gun Control

Northwestern Connecticut Community College in Winsted has scheduled the following course offering, to be instructed by Attorney Rachel M. Baird:

CJS 298 71 Special Topics: 2nd Amendment Rights and Gun Control

This one-credit course explores the raging battle over the Second Amendment from our state legislature to the United States Supreme Court. Do guns still have a place in our society or is it time to abolish the Second Amendment? Are guns the people’s protection and insurance against government tyranny, a last resort to self-defense? Students will gain a foundation to answer these questions in a course that ranges from an examination of Connecticut firearms laws, upcoming legislative decisions, the role of the courts, and the impact of the media on public opinion.

Course dates:  Friday & Saturday, September 20 & 21, 2013

FOX News 5 New York - Gun Legislation Commentary

Edward A. Peruta comments on Gun Legislation for Fox News Channel 5 New York:

April 2, 2013, News Segment: "Conn. lawmakers unveil bipartisan gun control plan"

2013 Freedom of Information Commission Annual Conference

The Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) will hold its Annual Conference this Tuesday, April 9th, at The Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station in Haddam. Sponsored by the FOIC, the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government, and the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information, the scheduled Featured Topic is:

Does Government Transparency Enhance our Safety and Security?

The invited Panelists are:

Attorney Rachel M. Baird, Michael Lawlor (Under Secretary, State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management, Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division), Matthew Reed (Chief of Police, Town of South Windsor), and James H. Smith (New Britain Herald and Bristol Press)

The Discussion will be moderated by Steven Kalb, Adjunct Professor, Broadcast Journalism, UCONN Storrs.

For further information, see Brochure.

Lawsuit challenges unconstitutional San Diego Police Department media policies

Attorney Rachel Baird has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of American News and Information Services, American News owner Ed Peruta, and James "J.C." Playford defending the First Amendment right to film police activity on public property.  The lawsuit challenges unconstitutional behavior and policies of the San Diego Police Department, which has repeatedly violated the First Amendment rights of J.C. Playford, a freelance photojournalist and member of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) currently employed by American News.

Mr. Playford has been arrested four times since 2010 for attempting to film police activity in San Diego County.  The San Diego Police Department has also revoked his police-issued press credential, in accordance with a policy by which the Department claims complete authority in determining who qualifies as a member of the news media.  Moreover, the SDPD refuses to recognize media credentials issued by private organizations such as American News, or even by more established organizations such as Fox News.

This policy is entirely inconsistent with recent Circuit Court decisions regarding the First Amendment right to film police activity on public property.  Most notably, the First Circuit ruled in 2011 that “the public’s right of access to information is coextensive with that of the press.”  Though the issue has not yet been decided upon at the Supreme Court, the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, along with multiple federal district courts, have issued rulings consistent with the First Circuit.  The proliferation of cell phones with video capability, along with ubiquitous internet access and the instant publishing capabilities of bloggers, has made every citizen a potential member of the news media in today’s society.

The filing of the complaint coincided with an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) letter written to SDPD Chief William Lansdowne expressing strong concern about the Department’s interference with First Amendment rights.  Moreover, the NPPA Advocacy Committee has posted a blog entry about the pending litigation, which has also been chronicled in a recent article in the Courthouse News.

The Playford complaint seeks a declaratory judgment establishing new guidelines for San Diego law enforcement that will respect the First Amendment rights of citizen journalists, along with compensatory and punitive damages for violations already committed.