A Message From CalGuns Staff

[RANGER295]

It has long been the policy here on CGN not to allow any advocating of illegal activity and to remove any admission of a crime. In light of recent events there has been an onslaught of posts doing just that. The staff has been discussing how to handle these posts and have left most of them alone. We understand the anguish and hurt that most of you are feeling right now and we are having the same feelings and struggling with the same decisions that each of you are having to face. We may have reached a crossroads where it is time to have some of these discussions even in the open. There may come a time where the site leadership decides not to allow the discussion of illegal activity but for the time being please consider the following:

Calguns.net is monitored by law enforcement including the California DOJ, local agencies, and the Feds. We know this without a doubt and have even been subpoenaed for records before in criminal investigations.

Everything you post on CGN is public and visible to anyone that visits the site.

Professing intent to break the law could potentially be used as PC for searches later on and subject yourself to attention/investigation by law enforcement.

If you decide to make posts advocating illegal activity or expressing the intent to commit crimes, know that you do so at your own risk. CGN will respond to subpoena as we always have by deferring to our legal counsel's opinion on whether we have to comply or not; however we will not deliberately try to hide illegal activity. Further more, threats, even vague or hinted at, of violence have never and will never be acceptable. Any such conduct will be dealt with as deemed appropriate by CGN staff.

We all have important decisions to make in the next few months. Make sure that you make them from an informed and well thought out position. Also remember these decisions can potentially have a significant impact on others in your lives'. Make sure you include those people in your decision.

[dchang0]

Thanks for letting people vent.

I would hope and humbly ask that IF the gov't comes along and subpoenas you to investigate particular Calguns users, you please consider announcing such events publicly, as Reason Magazine did when the feds tried to uncover a few commenters joking about feeding a federal judge into a wood chipper, Fargo-style AND tried to gag Reason Magazine about it:

https://popehat.com/2015/06/08/department-of-justice-uses-grand-jury-subpoena-to-identify-anonymous-commenters-on-a-silk-road-post-at-reason-com

Reason Mag. handled it really well. They cooperated with the feds as much as they had to and then blew the story up into national outrage over the quashing of free speech:

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/21/free-speech-under-fire-subpoenas-gag-orders-over-reader-comments-at-reason-magazine/

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-06-09/reason-magazine-subpoena-stomps-on-free-speech

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-welch-reason-magazine-gag-order-20150628-story.html

http://iwf.org/blog/2797386/First-Amendment-Outrage:-Prosecutors-Subpoena-Reason-Magazine-for-Commenters'-Identities

The gag order was found to be exceptionally flimsy:

https://popehat.com/2015/07/09/what-did-a-federal-prosecutor-need-to-get-a-gag-order-on-reason-magazine-pitifully-little/

As they say, "sunlight is the best disinfectant."

Reason Mag. took a big gamble--they could've quietly gone along with the feds, which would have led to the feds coming back again and again for more info on users shooting the breeze in their comments section, but by blowing the whole thing wide open and garnering national support from liberals and conservatives alike, they sent a clear message to the feds that they'll have to be very careful and thorough the next time they come after a commenter.

It seems like more and more of our justice system is becoming secret to the people--secret FISA courts, secret terrorist watchlists, secret gun owner databases, etc. We're losing control of our gov't bit by bit.

[wpod]

Thank you

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[ez2b]

Good job staff

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[Calico1404]

Excellent update

[Kokopelli]

Thank you, moderators at CALGUNS.

People get upset and sometimes speak out of anger and frustrations. Better to vent than actually commit a crime. I've seen members call out someone going overboard, which makes CALGUNS a very classy place that often self-moderates.

But we all know that sometimes a thread needs to be locked. We appreciate the moderators and Admin of Calguns and trust your judgement. Thank you for all you do!

[00Medic]

As dchang0 said, Thank You. For some, this is the only place were we can vent with like-minded people.

Thank you for understanding CGN staff.

[CaliforniaLiberal]

I know you won't forget to Sticky this.

[AEtrane]

It was mentioned in another thread by another user, but bears repeating here:

Make the 2A forum accessible only by members who have a password.

For years, it has never made sense that anybody in the public domain can see the 2A forums but the OT forums are private.

Also, it's time everyone educate themselves on CalECPA (sb178) and what it means for their privacy.

Surprisingly, it's something our legislators did that can actually protect our privacy.

[CWDraco]

probably be a good idea to mass PM this to all members.

[ElDub1950]

Glad to see this. Some folks needed this info for their own good. I empathize with everyone's frustration and it's encouraging to see ideas. I'd just hate to see any of these statements used against someone down the road. I think it's great that you're letting most of these discussions spin for awhile and hopefully this sticky will help many of us.

[readinglist]

Link to more info

It was mentioned in another thread by another user, but bears repeating here:

Make the 2A forum accessible only by members who have a password.

For years, it has never made sense that anybody in the public domain can see the 2A forums but the OT forums are private.

Also, it's time everyone educate themselves on CalECPA (sb178) and what it means for their privacy.

Surprisingly, it's something our legislators did that can actually protect our privacy.

Cool, I had never heard of this. Here's more info:

https://www.eff.org/cases/californias-electronic-communications-privacy-act-calecpa

[LBDamned]

Big brother is watching - but they're only looking for terrorists

Thank you CGN staff. If CA hasnt become a complete Police State yet, then LE and Gvnmnt won't have any interest in the conversations being made here.

On the other hand - we know where CA is heading... So never expect American Freedoms here.

[mt4design]

Thank you to CalGuns staff for your tireless efforts on our behalf.

This is a welcome policy and an excellent warning.

However, what we're seeing in recent trends by TPTB is ex post facto making what was legal yesterday illegal tomorrow and the First Amendment is as under assault as the Second.

So, while I applaud the warning and the gesture, there really is nothing to stop an overreaching despotic regime from using what ever it deems "inappropriate" in order to further its agenda.

[Red-Osier]

Thank's for the reminder.