as I am someone who generally keeps an eye out for this sort of news... i must point out that even for my taste, this "source" is one of this "They took Muh freedoms!" websites full of one sided opinion rather than multi-sided fact.
The problem i have with these sorts of sites is that anyone can take a complex and compelling story and turn it into a three quarter page text about how we arent free any more.
the fact is: When serving a warrant, the police have to knock and announce... UNLESS there is the possibility of threat to the police, or there is the risk that evidence sought in the warrant may be destroyed or otherwise rendered useless. This has been the supreme court ruling for decades if memory serves. As a police officer you can get to the door and say "you know what, this guy is armed, and there are certain bits of evidence we are looking for that can be destroyed if we knock, so Im making the command decision to exercise this warrant on a no knock basis"
In practical application, it does not matter if the warrant specified that the police must knock and announce - even if it says "You have to knock and announce" right there in black ink on page one of the warrant because they can over-ride that on site of search on a case by case basis.
this knock and announce requirement is most commonly over-ridden in cases of felony drug possession (such as was the case in the Quinn warrant) for the reason that the drugs, especially in smaller quantities, might be destroyed and rendered unusable as evidence.
The article you linked provides a number of quotes on the raid such as "... based solely on the suspicion that there were firearms in the Quinn household." however there is no links nor is any credit given to source material of the quote be it a document or an individual. For this reason, you have to take this article for what it is... any form of responsible journalism or reporting interested in case facts rather than appealing to emotion would have credited source material or individuals when quoting anything.
Researching the Quinn Drug raid on my own i have learned that it has a complex back-story beginning over 20 years ago with a very intensely venomous divorce case involving Quinn which eventually culminated in child custody suits, accusations of violence and even drug possession and dealing etc.
my guess is that the police were justified in their decision to conduct a no knock entry, knowing many officers as i do... i am sure a large part of their decision had more to do with the nature of the drug evidence than the simple fact that the man was a gun owner.
Hell... in Texas you are more a suspect for not being a gun owner than being one.
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