Lessons in Gun Registration
A Sierra Times Special Report

On January, 5 2000, their home was raided - not by the FBI, ATF, or DEA,
but by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

MTA for short.

The Gonzalez' are traditional Catholics who practice their faith based on
the Council of Trent. According to Denise, both take their religious faith
very seriously. That faith was tested back in 1995 and what followed was a
pattern of events that led to the Terrorization of the Gonzalez family one
month ago.

About four years ago, columnist Charles Cherniss of Pasadena Star News
labeled the MTA as "a classic example of regional socialism." Living true to form,
the MTA decided receiving federal funds was more important than protecting
the rights of their own employees. AOL did something similar, but we'll get to
that later.

The issue in question was and still is - mandatory, random drug testing of
employees. This policy remains a controversy, even though its
constitutionality has been tested in numerous courts. The MTA is a public
entity, and according to Constitution attorney Nancy Johnson, "government
agencies do not have the right to violate the forth amendment rights of
civilian employees without basis." Yet the MTA insisted on going forward
with the policy back in 1995.

Enter the Gonzalez,' employed by the public transportation outfit for over
20 years. They filed suit against the MTA for their random drug testing
policy.

"I was ordered away from my job duties and forced to go to a medical
center," Denise Gonzalez said in a press release in 1995." The Gonzalez'
said theirs was not only a violation of the God-given right to be free from
illegal search and seizure, it violated their faith as well. " We are made in the
image of God; our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and are therefore
inviolate," Denise said.

Both Ruben and Denise always tested negative for any drug use.

Both Denise and Ruben said they suffered trauma from what they consider to
be an assault and an affront to their deeply held religious convictions. This led to
both seeking medical care. It was obviously her forthrightness that got the
attention of her higher-ups. She stated, "Random testing is immodest, indecent
and immoral. It is Marxist.  It is the Mark of the Beast. Random testing of
human beings is just as much a desecration as vandalism of a church or
temple. In fact, it's much worse because it is an assault against a person;
it strips you of your dignity and dehumanizes you."

On Janurary 5, 2000, The Gonzalez family got an even more bitter taste of
"dehumanization."

The Gonzalez' were already active in protecting their freedoms. She was the
block watch captain for her community, as well as notary public. Ruben's an
officer in the American Legion. They keep a clean home and have no past
criminal records. Their "crime" was only having the courage to fight back.

Denise was under a doctor's care for a year but the MTA refused to allow her
to return and charged her with being absent without permission, even though
she had followed all the company rules concerning medical leave of absence.
This lead to a lawsuit that was filed in the Los Angeles District Court in
April of 1996. The charge: Gross discrimination based on religion and
wrongful termination.. This was an additional  charge laid against the MTA.

Without merit, you ask? Well, take a look at an excerpt from the Motion to
Dismiss filed in 1997 by MTA's legal counsel Sharon Sanders.

Sanders asserted that the Gonzalez' faith was nothing more than a "personal
religious creed," and that Roman Catholics observe nothing more than
"personal preferences." According to the Sander's affidavit, Denise
Gonzalez had "unique personal and moral preferences" that are "beyond the
parameters of the concept of religion as protected by the Constitution."

No doubt this lead to tempers flaring on both sides.

Federal Judge James Ideman dismissed the Gonzalez lawsuit in 1997 but his
ruling has recently been overturned by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in
March of 1999.

In October, 1999, and in spite of the pending lawsuits; and despite the
injury and emotional distress the Gonzalez' have been subjected to, MTA
ordered Ruben to undergo yet another random drug test. In the wake of this
more recent assault against him, the MTA claims to have received threats from
supporters of the couple and from Ruben and Denise themselves. The Gonzalez'
deny these accusation. "These protests that were sent to MTA were within
everyone's first amendment rights," said Denise Gonzalez in an interview with
the Sierra Times.

The case is still pending, but since the reversal of Judge James Ideman's
ruling last year, the Gonzalez' were obviously marked.

The MTA claims they have received e-mail threats, such as "...if this
was 1776, you'd be hung for treason...," from one writer; and "..if you tried to
force me to submit to an illegal search & seizure, I'd put my .44 to your
head," from another. Citations from the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and
the Founding Fathers were quoted. Some letters just questioned the
intelligence of "randomly" drug testing innocent employees. Especially
repeated testing of middle-aged, Catholic employees of veteren status
with no incidence of drug use in the past 20 years.

These "threats" did not come from the Gonzalez,' but no matter. They were
the most vocal, and they would pay. A few calls were made in order to lock
down the location of these "subjects" who dared to speak out for their
constitutional rights. One call of note was to American Online, that gallant
defender of the first and forth amendments. Without even a warrant or
probable cause, they were asked to supply the MTA with the locations of
where the e-mails came from.

AOL's response: "You've got mail!"

Then the accounts were cancelled. To this date, and in spite of numerous
inquiries, AOL representatives have not bothered to explain to the Gonzalez'
why their account was cancelled.

Now comes the dark, ugly side of gun registration.

It just so happens that the Gonzalez' owned weapons, and being law-abiding
citizens, they followed the California guidelines and had them registered.

Eyebrows raised yet? Well, they were at the MTA as well.

This gave MTA the brass nuggets to send the "transit police" to obtain a
search warrant for (get this) "electronic terrorism" from one Magistrate
Ronni B. MacLaren in Los Angeles Superior Court. The co-conspirator was
Officer James A. Grimes (#34090), who at least did not request a night
search warrant. That was January 4th, 2000 at about 2:35 p.m.

January 5th, 2000 - 7:54 a.m.

With the sun just making it over the Los Angeles basin's clear, cool sky,
Denise Gonzalez' suddenly heard a God-awful noise downstairs  - a noise
that woke up her and has never allowed her to sleep soundly ever since.

It was the sound of her front door leaving its hinges.

"I had made it halfway down the stairs when they burst in like storm troopers.
There I was, a middle aged, unarmed woman, in a long flannel nightgown, standing
on the stairs. Two of them came through the door and pointed their guns at me," said Denise.
"They were in black jackets, but not the helmets or ski masks." Most of them, in
her words, "weren't jack booted thugs."

But there was one in particular. Detective Doug Raymond who insisted that he knew more
about the law and the Constitution than any other human being on earth, according to
Gonzalez'. Denise suggested that he read the Constitution rather than the Communist Manifesto.

"Do you think the Second Amendment is to be used to defend against Forth
Amendment violations?" asked Detective Raymond.

Denise replied, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. And so did the founding fathers."

According to the search warrant obtained by the Sierra Times, the mission
was to grab such deadly weapons as:

"...Any computing or data processing devices and associated peripheral
equipment such as computer units, central processing units, external drives
and/or external storage devices, tape and/or other disks, modems . . . ."

What about real weapons, you ask? They didn't forget them, even though the
accusation was about "electronic harrassment." The warrant included:

"Handguns, rifles, and shotguns of any caliber/gauge and any ammunition for
any handguns, and shotguns, any miscellaneous gun pieces or parts, any
photographs of guns, or paperwork... purchases, storage, disposition, or
dominion and control over any of the above items. . . ."

You get the drift. It took about 4 hours, but the Gonzalez' were cleaned
out and left with the threat of a possible arrest in the future. Sierra Times will not
disclose what was  taken. But we can say this: They even took the crossbow.
To date, there have been no criminal charges. But the damage has already been done.

During the search and seizure, Denise was asked, "Where are the guns?
We know you have them because we found registrations issued to Ruben Gonzalez.."

Get it?

The Gonzalez' opened their hardened safe as an alternative to the MTA police opening
it - by force. They were even asked if they had any knives.

Ruben, who was not home when the raid first started to take place (but
arrived about an hour later after Denise called him to come home) has sought
counseling to deal with the fears that both he and his wife endure nightly.

Both live with the emotional scars of wondering when they may come back
again. Denise said, "The police officers left with all our property. They violated
our Fifth Amendment right; we were denied due process. They left us with a
broken front door with no means to secure it; and with no means of self-defense."

It also cost Denise her desktop publishing business. All because of "a court
system and police body that is out of control," according to Denise Gonzalez

"The MTA lied to get the search warrant. They failed to mention that we
have a pending lawsuit against them and that we've been subjected to
intimidation, harassment and terrorism by them for five years. Five years!"
She finished by stating, "We are not the terrorists. We were terrorized by
state-sanctioned terrorists." Both are hoping something can be done, as they
are going broke due to legal bills.

Perhaps nothing can be done, but Sierra Times will be seeking information
from the men of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Los Angeles
County, California who all left business cards at the Gonzalez' home.
Perhaps one day the people listed below will learn about respecting the
rights and private property of others.

Detective Doug Raymond
Supervisor
Transit Services Section
Detective Unit, One Gateway Plaza, LA

Lt. Denis Cremins #20071
Transit Group Transit Services Section,
LAPD, One Gateway Plaza, LA

(Lt. Cremins was very cordial and had a pleasant discussion with
the victims about literature, authors, Libertarianism and Catholicism vs
Gnosticism. He's also the one who gave the order to ram the door down.)

Andy Woods #34205, Police Officer II,
Transit Services Section, Detective Unit
Los Angeles Police Department,
One Gateway Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Joe Hopkins, Police Officer II,
Transit Services Section, Detective Unit,
LAPD, One Gateway Plaza  Los Angeles,

Officer Barr #34036, LAPD
Transit Bus Division, 900 Lyon St, L.A.

Jose Martinez, Police Officer III, G.H.O.S.T. team,
Special Enforcement
Section, LAPD, 900 Lyon St., L.A.

Andy Grimes, #34090
Police Officer III, Transit Services Section, Detective
Unit, LAPD, One Gateway Plaza, LA

Officer Evan Guevarra #34091
Transit Group G.H.O.S.T. team
LAPD, 900 Lyon St., LA

Officer C. De La Cruz #34064
LAPD Transit Bus Division
900 Lyon St., LA

Officer T. Waymire, #34200
LAPD Transit bus Division
900 Lyon St., LA