[pct-l] Bear canisters (was stealth camping)

[elee@microsoft.com (Eric Lee (RAT))]

Dave wrote:
>
Just tell him the damn thing is in your tent or backpack and if he wants
to 
see it you're claiming Fifth Amendment rights (no self incrimination)
and 
he'll just have to get a search warrant after convincing some judge of 
probable cause.
>

I think we've already talked about this once, but from a legal
standpoint rangers don't need to search your pack or tent in order to
enforce the bear canister regulations.  All they need to do is demand
that you show them one, and if you don't, you get fined or escorted out
of the park or whatever it is that they do.  What you actually have in
your pack is irrelevant.  You simply have to present a bear canister on
demand.  If you get punished, you're technically being punished for
failure to present, not failure to possess.  To put it another way, it's
your responsibility to prove a positive, not the ranger's responsibility
to prove a negative.

All this is subject to the usual disclaimers that I'm not a lawyer,
etc., etc., and it's quite possible I don't know what the heck I'm
talking about, but I believe this is the way it works.  Anyone inclined
to civil disobedience should understand how the system really works so
they can disobey in the most appropriate manner.  :-)

Eric