Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Gun Control
Steyn Online ^ | 5/6/2014 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 05/06/2014 10:31:41 AM PDT by Valpal1

If someone shoots up a grade school or a movie theatre, the cable airwaves fill with experts demanding gun control. But every day Americans are shot for no reason other than that armed bureaucrats "don't have time for this". Any chance of a little more gun control there?

As I always say in these circumstances, if you need to shoot a schizophrenic, a teenage partygoer, a lame septuagenarian, a confused hobo, etc, etc, etc, you're doing it wrong. "The book" is the problem. "The book" is what needs to change. Anyone who goes into law enforcement assumes the risk that a traffic stop might turn out to be something more. Mr Tolan, Miss Ramsey and the rest of us should not have to assume any such risk. In routine encounters with law enforcement, a citizen should not have to weigh the likelihood that the officer will decide to shoot him dead. That's about as basic a standard for civilized society as one can muster.

(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: banglist; guncontrol

1 posted on 05/06/2014 10:31:41 AM PDT by Valpal1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Valpal1

Ken James, the police chief of Emeryville, CA, a small incorporated city in the San Francisco Bay Area, recently was quoted as saying that the notion of a handgun being a defensive weapon is a myth. His take was that the handgun is about intimidation and power.

And this seems symptomatic of thinking in police circles these days, at least to judge from so many headlines chronicling police shootings that are “by the book,” but still border on official murder.

At least this Emeryville politician/cop was up front in admitting that armed cops aren’t about “to protect and serve,” but about projecting intimidation and power. As a manager, he probably doesn’t patrol the “mean streets” of Emeryville, but he does probably train others, and that’s a worrisome legacy.


2 posted on 05/06/2014 10:41:05 AM PDT by DPMD
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Valpal1

We need gun control for out of control cops who constitute a threat to the lives of innocent people.

Why they should be more trusted with decisions on the use of deadly force than the rest of us lesser mortals?

Liberals are the one who insist bullies with a badge should be the only folks authorized to carry guns. So they can shoot people with no questions asked.

That’s the liberal idea of gun control in a nutshell, folks.


3 posted on 05/06/2014 10:41:23 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Valpal1

“...a citizen should not have to weigh the likelihood that the officer will decide to shoot him dead.”

Or his/her dog.


4 posted on 05/06/2014 10:42:51 AM PDT by Jack Hammer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jack Hammer

Yup. Cops need to be trained to ask questions first and shoot later.

Like that young man, I would have beaten that cop to an inch of his life for manhandling my mom. Any decent son or husband would.

The Thin Blue Line face a hard and a dangerous job and not every one out there wishes them well but showing simple human courtesy can make their jobs a lot more pleasant and gain them respect and appreciation.


5 posted on 05/06/2014 10:50:11 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Valpal1
... hearing the commotion, Tolan's parents come downstairs in their pajamas and find their son and their nephew lying on the ground with a cop pointing a gun at them. Mrs Tolan explains, "Sir, this is a big mistake. This car is not stolen... That's our car."

Again, in a different policing culture, an officer facing four family members insisting this is a family vehicle might wonder whether it is, as Mrs Tolan suggests, all a mistake - a small mistake, if not yet "a big mistake". And he might ask the lady if she has any proof of that: How long have they had it, where did they buy it, etc.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has done everything they can do to teach police officers to fear white middle class citizens - the people least likely to harm police officers. That's the reason we hear so many more of these stories about police freaking out in totally safe situations.

6 posted on 05/06/2014 10:55:19 AM PDT by GOPJ ( Are we finally going to get a smidgen of truth? - - Freeper Veto!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GOPJ

Southern Poverty Law center AND Homeland paranoid Insecurity... Those groups have set up the ‘white middle class’ as the enemy. It’s a form of liberal elite evil...


7 posted on 05/06/2014 10:57:09 AM PDT by GOPJ ( Are we finally going to get a smidgen of truth? - - Freeper Veto!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Valpal1

Any time a cop pulls the trigger, that cop should stand trial. An impartial judge and jury should adjudicate the matter; no internal process should be allowed. There are no automatic clean kills based solely on the testimony of cops.


8 posted on 05/06/2014 10:59:29 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (When I first read it, " Atlas Shrugged" was fiction)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: muir_redwoods

In Canada, a cop has to go through an investigation and review process every time his gun clears leather on duty, for any reason. This cuts down on the unnecessary gunplay.


9 posted on 05/06/2014 12:29:27 PM PDT by coydog (Time to feed the pigs!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson