Posted on 03/19/2005 12:42:08 AM PST by tarawa
County officers face barring of retail gun sales Weapon used in shooting at Towson Town Center was linked to officer’s shop
By Anica Butler Sun Staff Originally published March 17, 2005, 8:48 PM EST
Baltimore County police officers would be barred from outside work involving the sale of firearms under a policy drafted after officials learned that the weapon used in last month's fatal shooting at Towson Town Center was bought in a gun shop owned by a county officer, police said Thursday.
County police said they wrote the policy because of the gun shop's connection to the shooting at the Towson mall and to the 2000 crime spree by Joseph A. Palczynski.
"It's not a good thing for our officers to be involved in," said Baltimore County Police Chief Terrance B. Sheridan.
The president of the county's police union called the policy -- which is to take effect in two weeks -- an "unnecessary restriction."
"It flies in the face of state law and the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights," said Cole B. Weston, president of the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police, adding that the union likely will challenge the rule.
A draft of the policy says it will prohibit "employment where the member is engaged in the sale, exchange, trading or otherwise dealing of firearms or ammunition."
A Baltimore County Police spokesman said the policy will only apply to the retail sale of guns, and that officers who collect, trade and sell vintage weapons, for example, would not be affected. The policy would apply to the more than 1,800 sworn officers on the county force, but is expected to directly affect only a few officers, Sheridan said.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
So if a cop sells a car...
You know the rest.
Well there could be some wink-wink conflicts of interest there. I think this is what the new rule is intended to head off. The guys who are supposed to look into whether the sales are kosher, shouldn't be the sellers.
They have authority to kill someone, but not to sell a firearm? Sounds like a plot to reduce liability...
When off time activities can be restricted by an employer, we've really gone too far down the road toward Big Brotherism.....
YEP, we had quite the spirited debate here on FR when the Lansing Michigan Company fired the employees for smoking at home. Now someone elses OX is getting gored. Let the games begin!!
Police don't monitor gun sales to begin with.
It's the BATF's job to regularly monitor and audit gun dealers.
The policy is clearly unconstitutional in that it restricts who can sell a LEGAL product while not on duty and not in uniform; it impedes the person's right to make a living and there is no conflict of interest. However, our fuzzy thinking judiciary may not see it that way.
Could be, wink, wink? What the hell are you talking about. Do you know something?
By your reasoning police officers should not be allowed to be in any business since they investigate crime.
You can trust a cop to carry a firearm but not to be in the business of selling firearms? Come on!
Licensed dealers are prohibited by federal law from selling firearms from motorized or towed vehicles. [ 18 USC section 923(j) ]
Liberals have no ideas to drive business. Only ideas to kill businesses. If they put the same creativity into driving business instead of killing it, our economy would be double its current size.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Not so funny when they succeed...
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