martial law in penn

i read this story ealier today, and it has been bugging me ever sence. seems in some county in penn there has been 4 muders in a month, so the local sheriff,, pardon spelling,, has declaired, again pardon spelling, a emergency. ie meaning that at 9pm till 0600 you are not alowed outside. if you meet with more then 3 people you need to have a permit. wish i had the story link to provide, but i do not.

to me this is unconstitunal martial law,,, again pardon the spelling there.

while i do feel for those that died, is it possible for martial law to be impossed???

as i recall martial law, was only in a time of war??? do i have this wrong in the idea that those in power have deff gone outside the lines of law here.

a permit for more then 3 people to meet,, at 9pm till 0600 you cannot be on the street????

so it starts there,, who says it will not be in your town, or across the country ????

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  • appologies i have been sick for a bit, so now i reply,,
    spoken like a true officer, i commend you.
    i am not saying revolt, but i wonder how many rights must be taken away before it becomes an absolute?
    i know more and more officers of long serving, and enlisted that have given up there commissions and contracts due to this sort of thing.
    and yes i know that a new civil war, or revolt, etc would never end well,
    and yes, the first doctrine if follow the comander in chief, then there is that other one that says, any lawfull order that is morally corruptable to the other laws of conduct a sailor does not need to follow and will not recieve punishment if it is deemed an unlawful order.
  • The point keeps coming up about "all threats foreign and domestic." What troubles me is the use of that phrase, apparently, to condone revolt of some sort against lawful authority. Yes, abuse of police power is a problem in this country - and should be viewed with unveiled suspicion in any country which holds itself out to be based on democratic principles.

    And you are absolutely right: The people have rights, not the police, and the primary duty of the government is to protect those rights.

    But let's not take the oath of allegiance given on induction into the armed forces and turn it into a drumbeat against our own nation. That same oath includes an an obligation to obey the orders of the officers appointed over us. It is all part of a larger statement.

    As far as abuse of the police power is concerned, we have a better system available to curb abuse. It is called the ballot box.
  • the whole point of this post was not to debate martial law, but the power that police now chose to bear agienst the populace. wether they have the right or the power to do so, they still seem to do it, this cycle must end. when i first read the story i was horrified,
    those said to protect us, where now useing made up powers to enslave us.
    if they can do it there, they will do it elsewhere, this trend cannot be allowed to continue, We the people, have rights, not we the gov or we the pd.

    funny thing about being a vet, we all took the same oath, all threats foreign and domestic.
  • A sheriff *cannot* impose martial law.
  • i have read the directs of martial law, military law, and civilian law. concerning this matter, it seems that local pd, or sherrifs depts basically imposed it.
    what gets me is? if they can do it there as a test bed, then they can do it any where. to many of our rights have been taken away, we do not need to loose more.
    again i will say this,, we all took an oath, all threats, foreign and domestic.
  • The sheriff didn't declare martial law - all he did was declare a curfew. I doubt very much that it's a federal constitutional matter although it might very likely end up in the state supreme court. Whether or not he had authority to do what he did is a matter of state law but it certainly doesn't pass the "smell test" to me.
  • I takes more than a Sheriff's departmet to declare Martial Law and this is deffinately a major breech of our constitutional rights. This is a major law suit heading toward the Supreme Court if I've ever seen one. Only Congress can declare Martial Law and this is the definition..." In strict dictionary terms, martial law is the suspension of civil authority and the imposition of military authority. When we say a region or country is "under martial law," we mean to say that the military is in control of the area, that it acts as the police, as the courts, as the legislature. The degree of control might vary - a nation may have a civilian legislature but have the courts administered by the military. Or the legislature and courts may operate under civilian control with a military ruler. In each case, martial law is in effect, even if it is not called "martial law." The Sheriff's department might get this confused with an "ordinance" that even then, Local Government must pass just as any other local laws/ordinanance which still must not impede on the Civil rights and constitutional rights of Americans. Local laws/ordinaces are superceded by State, State is supeceded by Federal. I would challenge the Sheriff's Department on the validity of this.
  • Law enforcement officers can't make laws - that's what we have legislatures for. But inasmuch as a local sheriff is not a military officer, whatever he might do, it isn't martial law. There's also that little thing in that piece of paper they wrote up in 1791 about "the right of the people peaceably to assemble shall not be infringed."
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