In parshat mishpatim, two weeks ago, it is clear that if someone is breaking into your home in the night, you are to assume that they opposed a mortal threat to you and you can use deadly force to repel them with no fear of consequence.
If the thief is seized while tunneling, and he is beaten to death, there is no bloodguilt in his case. If the sun has risen on him, there is bloodguilt in that case. (Exodus 22:1-2)
Amir Locke, a 22 year old man, was murdered by the Minneapolis police policy of no knock warrants on February 2, 2022.
The entire scenario was a set up, where police and citizens alike were predictably placed into a life threatening conflict. In a series of terrible facts, Amir was not the subject of the warrant when he was killed. He was in his own home. He legally owned his gun. The police moved in, waking him - dark figures coming at him with guns drawn. He reached for his gun, and now what are the police supposed to do? They shot and killed him, sensing that he was - correctly - going to use his gun against them. The entire thing should never have happened. But Amir Locke did nothing wrong, and he is now dead. The policy, the judge and the officers all pulled the trigger.
Fact: citizens sleeping in their homes have a constitutional right to have loaded weapons easily at hand to protect themselves from violent home intrusions.
Fact: no-knock warrants - by design and intent - look just like an armed intruder when they enter the home.
If I were in bed with a legal gun in my home and someone broke through the door without announcing themselves, I would shoot. It is the exact reason why anyone would have a gun in their home. What other possible outcome can you expect?
The tremendous stupidity of no-knock warrants is justified by the argument that armed bad guys named in the warrant need to be surprised and taken when they are vulnerable. Perhaps they could destroy evidence if given the warning. Not good enough. And here are some examples to prove it:
December 2013, in Texas, Henry Magee shot and killed a police officer during a pre-down, no-knock drug raid on his home. In February 2014, a grand jury declined to indict him, supporting his reasonable assumption of self-defense. What did they find in the home? A few home-grown marijuana plants.
In May, 2015, also in Texas, Marvin Guy did the same thing in the same circumstance. The grand jury in that case did indict him with murder of a law officer. 7 years later he is still in jail without a trail, where he will eventually face the death penalty. What did they find in the home? Nothing.
Two dead cops for warrants on non-violent drug crimes in completely avoidable circumstances. In the same state, two completely different outcomes. What of equal protection? The whole scenario is capricious and deadly.
But cops aren't the only victims, of course. Innocent civilians victimized by the practice include a severely burned 19 month old in GA (2014) from a flash grenade, a killed 7 year old girl in Detroit (2010), and of course we now should all be aware of the killing of Breanna Taylor in Louiseville in 2020.
According to Time magazine, from 2010 through 2016, at least 81 civilians and 13 officers died during SWAT raids, including 31 civilians and eight officers during execution of no-knock warrants.
In 2006 already, the CATO institute published a scathing report about the over-militarization of police raids and their consequences.
The no-knock warrant's benefit is not worth the risk.
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