 The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause supported by an oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. Hey everyone, Dylan Schumacher, Citadel Defense. Today we're going to talk about the Fourth Amendment. If you're unfamiliar with those words that I've read, that is in fact the Fourth Amendment. We talk about these amendments a lot, but it's important sometimes to go back and actually read the literal text and the words. It helps us ground us in what reality is. So the Fourth Amendment of course exists so that you are not subject to unreasonable searches and seizures. I consider the Fourth Amendment of course one of the most important amendments in the Constitution. It's number four for a reason. I always think it's funny that number three is the one about not having to house soldiers in your house, and that was the third most important thing that the Founding Father has wanted to put in the founding legal document of our country. We're not doing that again. We're not hosting those soldiers in our house. I just think that's funny of course, because that feels so far from reality now. However, it's in there. So the fourth most important thing that we have is the protection against searches and seizures. This comes before the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees you, of course, your right to a fair trial, not having to testify against yourself, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So that's how important the Fourth Amendment is. Unfortunately, it has been degraded in several facets in our country, TSA, anyone. However, it still exists. We still use it, and you still need to call upon it often, or I should say at least when necessary. Some examples of the Fourth Amendment are as if of course you ever get pulled over in your car and a police officer asks to search your vehicle, always say no. Talk about that in a second. However, the reason I'm making this video is because there was a story posted below where a kid was on school online, right, doing school online, and he had a BB gun on the wall behind him, you know, just like somewhere back here, whatever. Anyway, the school of course saw this. This was in Baltimore and thought this was concerning. And so they sent a police officer to search the house. Now, God bless America, police officer can't show up and search your house simply because they saw a picture of a gun. I'm sure some people would like it that way. However, that's not reality. So when the police officer got there, and I will post the link to this story below, they asked the homeowner whether or not they could search the premises. And the mother consented and allowed the police officer to come in and search their house. Of course, they didn't find anything illegal, and then they left, right. Now, you could say, what's wrong with that? Just let them in, no big deal, whatever. The Fourth Amendment exists to protect your right to privacy. And so the government cannot intrude on your house and your house and your house and your person, your effects needlessly without cause and harass you. That's basically what that's called. We call that governmental harassment. And the Fourth Amendment exists to protect from that. It's why stop and frisk laws are absolute and utter garbage. So, because they violate the Fourth Amendment. What I would like to remind you, this is your daily reminder, that the Fourth Amendment exists that you should never consent to a search of any kind ever. The reason being that when you consent to a search, it's either a tie, meaning you're right back where you started, they search, they didn't find anything, it's a tie. Or they find something that you didn't know was incriminating, that you did not leave there that was incriminating. Or some other thing that they can nickel and dime you with, that could be a problem. So I would never consent to a voluntary search under any circumstances ever. I took a class this spring in Ohio, I'm in Minnesota. And so it was a little bit of a trek to get there. My buddy and I went and we got pulled over in the state of Indiana. My buddy was driving my truck. We got pulled over for going too slow. We were doing like 65 and a 70 or 65 and a 65. But we were in the left lane. He said, you got to be doing at least 70, something like that. It was bizarre. And he gave us the whole rigmarole, you know, where are you going? What are you doing? Whatever. Told my buddy is just going to give him a warning for driving and asked him to come back to the squad car. And I thought, oh boy, here we go. So we asked him to go back to the squad car. And of course, he gave him the whole rigmarole and asked if he was carrying. My buddy said, yeah. And he's like, well, you didn't want to tell us all these other things. You know, where are you going? How are you going to be there? Blah, blah, blah. Comes back up to the squad car to me as I'm sitting or excuse me, come back up to my truck as I'm sitting in the passenger seat a couple of minutes later and asked me the same questions, right? Where are you going? How are you going to be there? Are you armed to, you know, stuff like that? Indiana is not a duty to inform state, so we didn't break any laws by that stretch. And so he's asking us all these things. And then he asked me, do you have any drugs in the car? He said, this is your truck, right? And I said, yep. He's like, do you have any drugs in the car? I said, no. And he's like, do you have any marijuana? Or he said, drugs even just a little bit, like even for personal use. And I said, no, marijuana, no, meth, no, cocaine. And I said, absolutely not. I'm thinking, we just told you we're going to take a shooting class. I don't, I don't have drugs in the car. So anyway, then I thought the next question was going to be, and I was, I was preparing to have to say, no, well, can I search the vehicle? I thought that was going to be the next question. And so he said, okay, great. I'll go get the warning. I'll be right back. And that was it. And we got on. It was, it was a really, it was the weirdest police pull of our very experience in my life. Point being that you need to always say no to a voluntary search. I don't know what that could possibly gain you. In my personal opinion, a good cop would never ask. They would either have probable cause and search you or they don't have it. And so they move on with their day. Asking is something that a, I would say less than optimal police officer would do. So that's my opinion. You can hate it if you want. But I would say stand by your Fourth Amendment rights. We need to use our rights. Rights are much like muscles. If you don't use them, they atrophy over time. So use the Fourth Amendment, embrace the Fourth Amendment, know your Fourth Amendment. Lastly, I would like to inform you that if you ever screw up and consent to a search, let's say you, you know, you're stressed out, you're super tired, whatever the police show up and asks to search your house. And you say yes, because you're not thinking clearly. And about 30 seconds later, you realize, oh crap, I should have said no. Dylan told me to say, no, what do I do now? You can withdraw your consent at any time. You can say, excuse me officer, I have changed my mind and I no longer consent to this search. That includes anytime you volunteer for a search, that's what you're doing, you can always withdraw that consent at any time. So I would invite you that even if you make the initial mistake of saying yes, because for whatever reason you weren't thinking you're being dumb, withdraw your consent at the earliest available opportunity. Open your mouth and say, excuse me officer, I've changed my mind, I withdraw my consent for this search. And then anything that happens thereafter, of course, is their choice. And if they're going to obey the law or not, and you can deal with that accordingly. So this is my reminder to you, like I said, never consent to a voluntary search. Embrace the Constitution. Love the Fourth Amendment. Do brave deeds and endure.