In a developing story, Sheriff Nick Finch was arrested, charged with a felony and suspended without pay for supporting a citizens 2nd Amendment rights. Its not a story you hear every day. Its certainly not a story youd expect out of a county named Liberty. The events began when Floyd Eugene Parrish, a Florida resident, was arrested and detained by one of Finchs deputies for carrying a firearm without a permit on March 8th, 2013. In the state of Florida, this lands you a 3rd degree felony charge. Finch released Parrish because, in his assessment, Parrish was not a violent criminal and was acting innocuously. Finch called the clerk and told her not to draw up arrest documents until he was there to assess the situation. Note, Parrish had not been officially booked into jail- only detained. The arresting deputy had multiple complaints for overstepping his authority from citizens over the past several months before Parrishs arrest. A month after Parrish was released from jail Sheriff Finch decided he needed to launch an internal investigation against the deputy due to multiple complaints and phone calls he had received. Once the deputy found out that an investigation was going to be launched against him, he resigned to keep the investigation from occurring. On May 1st, the deputy, who was no longer employed in the state of Florida, filed a complaint against Finch for the Parrish arrest that took place more 2 months beforehand. Rick Scott, Florida governor, stepped in and had Finch arrested. MORE: http://benswann.com/exclusive-fl-sh...for-protecting-citizens-2nd-amendment-rights/ http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/201...-arrested-for-allowing-concealed-carry-video/ Parish was not even booked in yet and it is a sheriff's prerogative whether to follow through with an arrest or not. Not to mention the fact the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land and protects the right to bear arms, which it seems is the reason the sheriff did not follow through with the arrest. Gov. Rick Scott has now had Sheriff Finch arrested, charged with a felony, and suspended without pay. On what grounds is Scott making this arrest and on what authority can he intervene in a sheriff's office matter? It is the sheriff NOT the governor who has the ultimate law enforcement jurisdiction in a respective county! The office of sheriff has a long and noble history. It dates back over a thousand years and originated in England. The sheriff is the ONLY elected law enforcement official in America. He is the last line of defense for his citizens. He is the people's protector. He is the keeper of the peace, he is the guardian of liberty and the protector of rights. The sheriff has ultimate authority and law enforcement power within his jurisdiction. He is to protect and defend his citizens from all enemies, both "foreign and domestic." Yet, in this case, Gov. Scott, a tyrant has overstepped his bounds and authority to protect the tyranny of the state rather than protecting the rights of the people. This act of tyranny among the many other violations of small government constitutional principles should be made known to every resident of Florida from now until election day in hopes of removing a traitor to the U.S. Constitution, enemy of the people, and tyrant from office.
The 2nd amendment may be the law of the land, but the court's have routinely shown that none of the amendments exist or should expect to exist free from ALL limitations. Reasonable restrictions are legal, such as the law that requires you to register your firearm and especially if you're going to be carrying in public. In the gun control debate, we are constantly told that law abiding citizens are not the enemy, but here we have a citizen who was not abiding the law. I support a person's right to own and carry a firearm, and I don't want to see it abridged, but this isn't the old west where you just walk down the street with as many guns as you want. There are rules. Follow them. It's just like with my kids. They get mad when they do something wrong and suffer the consequences and my response is the same every time, because I tell them that they were aware of the rules and chose to ignore them. They made a conscious choice, and choices have consequences.
I live an hour away from this incident. The local tqlk radio guys from Tallahassee and panama city are doing a support protest tomorrow in the town that is smack in between PC and Tally. I'm a BIG supporter of 2nd amendment.... but what concerns me the most about this story is, and why I have yet to form an official opinion is the fact that it could very easily be a 'good ole'boy system' is why he released the arrested guy, and now that he's called on it, he's claiming it was a 2nd amendment issue. The story says it all.... it was not properly registered. This was a case of the sherriff releasing a guy who was illegally carrying an unregistered gun? So, I'm listening for if there was a relation between the guy that was supposed to be arrested and the Sheriff? That will tell me 90% of what I want to know. Calhoun county is a VERY SMALL, very rural count with only one major city... Good ole boy systems are all over the place in this area....
Regardless, the guy DID break the law, and the Sheriff released him. Now, A DA can certainly refuse to proffer charges, but that's not the Sheriff's job. He should be charged with a crime.
I was curious as to what the crime he was accused of is- so I went looking: He's accused of freeing a man who'd been arrested on weapons charges and then altering jail record to reflect Floyd Parrish was never there. Monday his attorney's claimed no one can prove Finch whited out the logs himself or ordered anyone else to do it. They tried to convince a judge that the jail logs in question were not public records. "I think it's significant here that the log entries were never completed. For example on the booking log Mr. Parrish's name and some of the other information was put in that log the date he was being booked was never entered by the jail," says Defense Attorney Larry Simpson. Both sides agreed that Sheriff Finch had the authority to let Parrish go, but prosecutors argued that the logs were public records and they should be albe to argue to the jury those should never have been altered. Now it's up to a jury to decide if the former sheriff falsified or destroyed public records. So he wasn't arrested for freeing the man- but for official misconduct for altering the records.
I agree.... it's why I'm just hesitant to blindly support the sheriff "because 2nd amendment" it seems like he got caught doing something he shouldn't be doing, and is simply using the 2nd amendment as a convenient way to distract that he overruled a cop who arrested a guy who broke the law. why did he overrule the cop? was the guy who had the gun a freind of the family... someone he was doing business with.... a political favor? That's the hard question the local talk radios aren't asking? WAS THIS A CASE OF GOOD OLE' BOY OR NOT?
there you go.... he's hiding behind "it's a 2nd amendment issue" for support when it's really an "altering or falsifying records issue" it's like the 18 y.o. girl who tried to say she was only arrested because she was gay, when in truth, it was because she statutory raped a girl. There are plenty of conservatives that are blindly supporting this guy despite 2nd amendment not being the issue. Just like tehre were plenty of liberals who supported a girl because she said the accusers were homophobic, despite homophobia not being the issue.
America the Beautiful, Ballad of a Coward I am a real man and there are many like me. I am a coward and America is my home. I stand amongst its brave unawares to others. I share in their glory without hazarding myself. No one sees me for who or what I am. No one asks and I don't tell. Yet I'm here. I am a sluggard and America is my home. I work and toil not and I never will. I stand amongst its workman unawares to others. I'm given a share their earnings without cause. No one sees me for who or what I am. Ive searched the earth across its ages. And my cowardice and laziness have followed me. They had shown brightly and were plain. My deeds were laid bare for what they were. But I have found my home, a place free of knowing scowls. I work at nothing and accomplish nothing. I love my home. My place of rest. A place where the workman is vilified and accused. I do nothing yet and am loved and nurtured. I hide in plain sight and no one sees me for who I am. A place where character and virtue have died. A place where men cannot be tested or pressed out. But a place where all men stand equally apart from their efforts. I stand with its brave and stand with one that toils. I thrust out my chest and mock them with laughter. But no one sees me for what I am. I am a coward and America is my home.
