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Justice Democrats-Endorsed Candidate Wants to Disarm Police
Freebeacon.com ^ | October 19, 2019 | Charles Fein Lehman and Carlin Andersen

Posted on 10/20/2019 8:37:17 AM PDT by Kaslin

A congressional candidate, who is endorsed by the same progressive group that backed Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) in 2018, recently called to disarm police officers.

Jamaal Bowman, a New York City congressional candidate endorsed by Justice Democrats, has proposed taking guns from police officers in American cities.

"It’s time to disarm the police," Jamaal Bowman wrote on Twitter before retweeting one user's response that police in the United Kingdom "carry no guns" and thus have "killed no citizens."

Bowman, a Bronx middle school principal, is challenging incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.) in New York's 16th Congressional District. Just one-third of Justice Democrats-backed candidates won their primary in 2018, and Bowman is now the third candidate to challenge Engel, who was first elected in 1988, from the left.

If his call for police disarmament is any indicator, Bowman may soon join the majority of failed Justice Democrats-endorsed challengers. Bowman's proposal is "nonsensical," according to Manhattan Institute legal policy expert Rafael Mangual.

"The proposal itself is something that I don’t think is to be taken seriously," Mangual said. "This idea that we can disarm police, even in New York, which has now relatively low rates of gun crime, is really nonsensical."

In spite of the attention they receive in the media, police homicides are rare. Mangual pointed to recent research that found 99.22 percent of arrests did not involve the use of any force. Among cases where force was used, 98 percent resulted in "no or mild injury."

"This idea that we are suffering an epidemic of police shootings that are unjustified is nonsensical," Mangual said. "The vast majority of police shootings involve armed suspects that are actively resisting and posing threats to law enforcement."

According to the Washington Post‘s database of police-use of fatal force, there have been 32 police shootings in New York City and the five boroughs since 2015. Just one of the individuals killed in that time—24-year-old David Felix— was unarmed. Another, 18-year-old Sergio Reyes, was carrying a fake pistol, which he had just used to rob a bodega and pointed at the officers who shot him.

Bowman is also likely underestimating the contrast between the United States and the United Kingdom in terms of crime rates. According to data from the Metropolitan Police Service, there were roughly 131 homicides in London in 2018, a rate of 1.6 per 100,000 residents. That figure was actually the highest in a decade, thanks to a spate of stabbings that made international news.

At the same time, London's 2018 homicide rate was less than half New York City's for that year. According to the NYPD, the city experienced 295 homicides, for a rate of 3.5 per 100,000 population. The Bronx, which lies in the 16th district, had it even worse, with a homicide rate of 6.4 per 100,000 population.

London does not even come close to the homicide rate of comparable major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, or Boston, despite a decades-long trend of declining crime in the United States. Even at the lowest rates in 30 years, the United States is simply more violent than other nations.

Though Engel did not respond to request for comment when asked if he supports Bowman’s call to disarm police, two of Bowman’s primary opponents offered differing opinions on the issue.

A fellow progressive Democrat looking to unseat Engel from the left, educator Andom Ghebreghiorgis, echoed Bowman’s call to disarm police.

"As someone who envisions a society free of guns, I support disarming police," said Ghebreghiorgis, adding that arming police "needlessly escalates what should be non-confrontational interactions between community stakeholders."

But a third challenger with 25 years of police experience, Sammy Ravelo, disagreed, calling Bowman’s support for disarmament "outrageous and irresponsible."

"I believe that the recent call by my opponent to disarm the police is both outrageous and irresponsible," said Ravelo. "The suggestion of disarming our men and women in blue disqualifies Mr. Bowman from seeking to become an elected official."

"Disarming the Police will negatively impact poor communities and communities of color where violence is higher due to socio-economic reasons," Ravelo concluded.

Justice Democrats held several conversations with Ghebreghiorgis before deciding to endorse Bowman, according to the Intercept.

Engel celebrated a runaway victory against three primary opponents in 2018, receiving nearly 74 percent of the vote. Republicans have not run a candidate against Engel since 2012.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: newyork; police

1 posted on 10/20/2019 8:37:17 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

So if they disarm police, how many will resign or refuse to go into high crime areas? I can only imagine how loud the screams will be when the crime rates skyrockets and they then get on TV and cry that no one is protecting them.


2 posted on 10/20/2019 8:50:03 AM PDT by antidemoncrat
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To: Kaslin

Fastest way to get guns off the streets!!

[What a maroon -Bugs Bunny]


3 posted on 10/20/2019 9:18:37 AM PDT by Darteaus94025 (Can't have a Liberal without a Lie)
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To: Kaslin

“It’s time to disarm the police,” Jamaal Bowman wrote on Twitter

Every rapist robber drug dealer gang banger agrees with you. Majority of Americans do not.


4 posted on 10/20/2019 9:24:01 AM PDT by 48th SPS Crusader (I am an American. Not a Republican or a Democrat)
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To: Kaslin
where violence is higher due to socio-economic reasons

uh no it's a culture thing not money thing

5 posted on 10/20/2019 9:29:19 AM PDT by xp38
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To: Kaslin
"It’s time to disarm the police," Jamaal Bowman wrote on Twitter before retweeting one user's response that police in the United Kingdom "carry no guns" and thus have "killed no citizens."

Well, I've been to the UK, and that's not true.

Just as in the US, the cops are armed in proportion to the risk. Here in the US, not all cops are armed. NYC's Traffic Enforcement agents wear blue but don't carry guns. Similarly the cops who patrol the boardwalks here at the Jersey Shore in the summer usually aren't armed.

Any cop who would be willing to patrol neighborhoods in a city with armed drug gangs while not armed himself or herself could not be thinking clearly. Better to work as a barista at Starbucks.

6 posted on 10/20/2019 9:54:38 AM PDT by Sooth2222 ("Every nation gets the government it deserves." -Joseph de Maistre)
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To: Kaslin

Mr. Engel has apparently never heard of the UK’s “armed” police. They are a specialist force within the police department and their employment is tightly controlled. Here is a Wikipedia article where they killed an innocent man they thought was a terrorist:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes

I have no comment on the rightness or wrongness of the killing per se. However, note how involved the procedure was to actually get armed officers onto the train where the shooting took place.

By the way, this complicated procedure only “works” because of widespread confiscation/control of firearms. So, the proposal to disarm the police is also a proposal to disarm the public. (The criminals, being criminals, will never disarm.)

Mr. Engel can make all the pie-in-the-sky proposals he wants to. He already knows they are not going to happen. So this is really a combination of pandering to his base and virtue signaling. Although, for a politician, they may be the same thing.


7 posted on 10/20/2019 10:15:43 AM PDT by Captain Rhino (Determined effort today forges tomorrow.)
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To: antidemoncrat

Those that don’t want police and guns to mix...should not call police and deal with the situation themselves, with love and restraint. Problem solved.


8 posted on 10/20/2019 10:30:54 AM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: Kaslin; Chode; Squantos; SkyDancer; Lockbox; carriage_hill; MtnClimber; tubebender; Delta 21; ...

The way to fix the “epidemic” of Bad/Wrongful shoots is to RAISE THE SELECTION REQUIREMENTS to weed out the Rambo/want to play Army on a Search & Destroy Mission types.

Probably 1/2 of the current LEO ranks should not be issued a Firearm or even be on Patrol.

As far as fixing problems with things let’s “Disarm” the politicos of their mouths, fingers and brains to put a STOP to stupid Laws and Bills at the source.

Policy PING


9 posted on 10/20/2019 11:04:33 AM PDT by mabarker1 ((Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!A fraud,a hypocrite,a liar. I'm ,,! I a member of Congress)
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To: mabarker1
lets start with their own protection untis...
10 posted on 10/20/2019 4:25:56 PM PDT by Chode (Send bachelors, and come heavily armed!)
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To: Kaslin

AND this nut is a middle school principal. Now that calls for some kind of investigation on its face.


11 posted on 10/20/2019 11:07:20 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

They can’t get any more ridiculous.


12 posted on 10/21/2019 3:47:46 AM PDT by Kaslin
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