The US Supreme Court is hearing Caniglia V Strom, this case will have massive implications for policing, due process, mental health, and the 2nd amendment, and the Biden administration is pushing the court to uphold warrantless gun confiscation. Since the case is centered around the warrantless confiscation of guns it bleeds into the 2nd and 4th Amendments.
In 2015 a couple in Rhode island got into a heated argument, Edward Caniglia made a comment to his wife, Kim Caniglia, about not using a certain coffee mug because he might catch a case of dishonesty since her brother used it. This comment started a massive argument between the two and in an effort to end it Edward Caniglia placed an unloaded handgun on the table and told his wife “Why don’t you just shoot me and get me out of my misery?”. The effort was unsuccessful and Kim Caniglia eventually went to spend the night in a motel.
In the morning Kim would call her husband to make amends, when he didn’t pick up she phoned the police to perform a wellness check. The police wrote in an incident report that Edward was normal and “was calm for the most part”. Despite this, the police insisted that Edward go to the hospital for a psychological evaluation, he refused at first but eventually agreed on the condition that the police do not seize his firearms. The police agreed, but this was a lie.
The police would take Edward Caniglia’s guns while he was away and even lied to his wife, Kim Caniglia, claiming that Edward has consented to the confiscation. Edward would be released from the hospital almost immediately as there seemed to be nothing wrong with him, his firearms were already gone and he had to file a civil rights lawsuit against the department to get them back.
Officers argued that this was “community caretaking” as there was no emergency that would allow for the immediate confiscation of the firearms. The community caretaking exception to the 4th amendment was created nearly 50 years ago and was made for cases involving highway safety and impounded cars.
The Supreme Court case might decide that gun confiscation falls under this community caretaking exception, this would mean all firearms are subject to confiscation so long as the police decide it is for the betterment of the community. Caniglia’s lawyers expressed concerns that if this community caretaking exception is expanded then it is a major violation of the 4th amendment, stating “It would grant police a blank check to intrude upon the home“.
Another issue this case created is public trust in the police, not many would be willing to phone the police if it meant that they can search your home without a warrant.
The Biden administration had chimed in on this case, asking the Supreme Court to uphold the First Circuit Courts ruling. The Biden administration stated that “the ultimate touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is ‘reasonableness’”.
