Posted on 11/22/2006 10:21:02 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
Stung by the shooting deaths of two officers outside a western Fairfax County police station in May, county officials want to push the Virginia General Assembly to ban the carrying of guns into law enforcement buildings by anyone other than authorized personnel.
State law bans weapons in courthouses. But the absence of any prohibition on weapons inside police stations or jails places officers at risk, county officials say. At the request of Fairfax County Police Chief David M. Rohrer, the Board of Supervisors has included a ban in a draft of its legislative program for the 2007 Virginia General Assembly.
The county has made numerous attempts to keep firearms out of government buildings, only to see the initiatives languish in a state legislature loath to restrict the rights of gun owners. But the issue has gained new urgency since the May 8 shootings at the Sully District station in Chantilly.
Michael W. Kennedy, a mentally ill 18-year-old, drove to the rear parking lot of the station and fired more than 70 shots with an assault rifle and other weapons. Detective Vicky O. Armel, 40, died that day, along with Kennedy. Officer Michael E. Garbarino, 53, died of his wounds nine days later.
Mary Ann Jennings, a Fairfax police spokeswoman, said Rohrer would not comment on the proposal, the subject of a public hearing before the board yesterday, because it is still in draft form and has not been formally approved by supervisors.
The Sully shooting touched off an intense discussion among county officials about security at public-safety facilities. The measure has stirred opposition by gun rights groups. Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said such a ban would not have prevented Kennedy's assault on the Sully station, which occurred outside the building.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Since I would be "under the 'able' protection" of the police while in their facility, I would not object (too strongly) to a similar "check your piece at the door" accommodation at a police station or jail.
OTOH, I fail to see how even such a "check it" policy (much less a mere statutory prohibition) would have helped prevent a situation where some maniac stood out in the parking lot and hosed the building with gunfire...
(Dumb@$$ liberal politicians!)
I agree it would not have stopped this crime. But I would not have a problem banning people from carrying guns into a police station. You just need one bad apple to do it, commit some attrocity, and then the gun grabbers will be wanting to ban them within 500 yards of a police station. Better to ban them, and then if some gangster does it anyway, you can say "it just proves that it doesn't work."
Fine, as long as there are plenty of free lockers provided at the entrance to the no-guns area. Things can get pretty rough inside a police station or jail, and there's an argument to be made that a gun-toting soccer mom could get her gun grabbed by a violent perp who's experienced in that sort of thing. Or that a young gangbanger with no documented criminal record, and thus no obstacle to carrying legally, could deliberately provide a grabbable gun to a perp pal in custody. As long as there are armed police/guards to protect unarmed citizens, and nothing to prevent the citizen travelling to and from the station/jail armed, this is reasonable.
When Florida passed it's landmark CCW legislation in 1987 (it became a national model) it was part of the law from the start to not allow carry into these types of areas.
It was a source of undying pleasure that I got to legally carry a cocked and locked 45 into a police station when I entered one after Hurricane Andrew as a captain in the national guard there to coordinate responses with local law enforcement. Walked thru the metal detector and it went off and a cop looked at me in my BDUs and asked: You armed? It felt so good to just nod and watch him shrug and motion me thru. LOL
Perhaps consideration might be given to making murder illegal? Seems to me that making it against the law to murder people would save a lot of lives. Who could argue with that?
Yep. That law was pushed thru as a result of a courthouse shooting here in Orlando. I'm an attorney. I had just left the courthouse, got back to the office a couple blocks away, and was informed that there was a shooting going on at the courthouse. Just missed getting trapped in the middle of it.
I'm sure you're a BRILLIANT attorney, too. I live in Miami and my daughter lives in Orlando with her husband. What kind of law do you practice?
I do lending work. Represent borrowing companies, for the most part. A lot of it is real estate lending.
At the time of the shooting, though, I had largely a court room practice.
Making more unConstitutional laws banning perfectly Constitutional guns won't solve one damn crime. In fact, those of us who legally own the types of guns the grabbers want banned would then have no reason to remain law abiding.
There are 80 million of us.
Do not push us...
I am not a 'civilian', I am a CITIZEN!
You can't disarm criminals with laws. You might be able to do it with metal-detectors and bullet-proof glass. The last time I was in the local police station, I entered a narrow hallway, which was no doubt constructed of bullet-proof materials. The hallway ended in a very comfortable looking waiting area, with seating, tables, and reading material. The "receptionist" police officer was seated behind what appeared to be a window made of glass at least an inch thick. I spoke to him over an intercom.
There was no way that a suspected bad guy was going to be able to hurt anybody except other visitors.
After I showed my picture ID and explained that I was there to get my Florida CCW fingerprint card filled out, a door opened up and a polite officer escorted me into the controlled area of the station. I was not searched nor did there appear to be any metal detector. I was simply presumed to be law-abiding.
"Michael W. Kennedy, a mentally ill 18-year-old, drove to the rear parking .."
See, there is the wisdom. While the law may seem silly and ineffectual, we have not taken the mentally ill perspective that the law is in response to. AH!
It's really a PR issue. There is no need for a law abiding citizen to have a gun in a police station. If you let people bring in guns, some criminal shoots the place up, you look like an idiot. Not only that, but you open yourself up to the likelihood of an overreaction.
Do you have a very long list of places where the law-abiding should be at the mercy of armed criminals? I just pointed out that I would have been the only target available to a bad guy in the waiting area of a police station. Why should I be denied the right to defend myself from such a criminal? Why do you presume that disarming me, given that I will not wilfully disobey the law, will have any effect whatever on criminal behavior?
What PR value would there be in having me defenseless and gunned down in the waiting area of a police station? You might look on it as a PR victory that a police officer was not killed, but my family would view it as a tragedy enabled by feel-good laws.
You're not at the mercy of armed criminals. You're surrounded by cops who have guns.
Yep. Just like all those folks at Columbine.
Touche'!
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