Steve,
My intent was to point out the type of interpretation that can occur with this bill.
As far as serial numbers and property logs as has been stated on the list the government does not keep this stuff, it is usually disposed of as soon as the property is sold.
Even if they wanted to prove a contract exsisted proving purchasing it, they are destroyed 7 years after final payment is made on them. (Post ww2 ones are at least)
So now you have a situation that if you have a piece of equipment that may have been owned and is now deemed on the demil list. To prove ownership perhaps all the government has to do is produce a photo of a truck such as yours at the trial. Can you prove it is not yours?
We can discuss hypothetical situations all day long but we should be focusing our efforts on getting this removed.
This is just a bad law, PERIOD.
I have written and attempted calling my senators. Please do the same.
Rick
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: islander <islander@midmaine.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 11:34:16 -0400
>Hi Richard,
>
>>Unless you have the orginial reciept for your riflescope how are you going
>>to prove it is not ex DOD surplus? The DOD has bought off the shelf items
>>at times.
>
>I am absolutely positive that the burden of proof is on their shoulders,
>not yours. They would have to prove that your scope was part of a batch
>purchased by the DoD. I would expect they tracked serial numbers or
>otherwise marked the scopes with something. Plus... I am sure they don't
>give a flying fig about scopes, so no real problem here (other than the
>proposed law sucks!).
>
>>This bill provides no functionality for hearings or appeals when a
>>decision is made to sieze an item.
>
>There is always the courts. They are the ultimate forum for hearing
>appeals when it potentially violates the laws and/or the Constitution.
>
>>If this passes I would be the first one to try to take them to court over
>>it. I am not a lawyer but it seems to me that this law violates the right
>>of due process.
>
>It really depends. If you signed a piece of paper (or were supposed to)
>when you got your truck that says the DoD can reclaim it at any point in
>time, then it does not violate the law for them to come and grab it.
>BUT! If you have something like a M38 or M37 which was not originally
>designated to be demilled, I don't think this is legal at all. At least
>not without full compensation *and* equal application to everybody who
>owns such vehicles (it is not legal to discriminate!). But as it stands
>right now, things like M38s and M37s are clearly not the target of this
>legislation or the DoD's current definition of SME. The one clause that
>specifically covers such stuff, and their parts, are not currently in
>force.
>
>Steve
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 08 2001 - 10:59:01 PDT