Posted on 08/10/2012 6:10:23 PM PDT by george76
An off-duty Michigan police officer's public lament about not being able to carry a handgun in a Calgary park has him taking cyber fire from both sides of the border.
Walt Wawra of Kalamazoo, Mich., wrote a letter to the Calgary Herald this week complaining about a recent daylight encounter he and his wife had while visiting Nose Hill Park, a vast expanse of hilly grassland on the city's north side.
Wawra said two men asked twice in a "very aggressive tone" whether the couple had been to the Calgary Stampede yet. They were "disrespectful" and had a "menacing manner," he recalls.
He said he ignored the two men at first, but when they moved closer he responded: "Gentlemen, I have no need to talk with you. Goodbye."
Everyone walked away peacefully.
But in his letter to the editor, Wawra laments a man should have the right to protect himself when he needs to and said it felt strange not to be able to carry his handgun off duty.
"I thank the Lord Jesus Christ they did not pull a weapon of some sort, but rather concluded it was in their best interest to leave us alone," Wawra writes.
(Excerpt) Read more at winnipegfreepress.com ...
Because he's a weenie that expects civilians to cringe and not to diss him?
Most critize him because they assume that his is saying that because he is a cop he should be able to have at gun. He is not saying we all should be able to have a gun, it is the I am special call.
Most critize him because they assume that his is saying that because he is a cop he should be able to have at gun. He is not saying we all should be able to have a gun, it is the I am special call.
Yes, but that is very situational. A lot of admittedly very fast thinking has to go into a judgment to brandish, including distance, attacker appearance, movement and momentum.
In some of the former cases, like Zimmerman, I imagine that it wasn’t that they chose not to draw, just that the attack was so fast they didn’t have the chance. Had the decedent in that case stopped 10 feet away from Zimmerman and just shouted at him or threatened him, he would have had a much greater opportunity to draw.
After noting that the decedent was not continuing to approach, whether or not his hands were empty, whether or not he appeared rational, and subjective stuff.
And of course, the assumption is that you have a gun. If you do not, your strategy has to be different.
In New Jersey they categorize that as BRANDISHING, and send you to jail.
In Arizona we passed a special law simply to prevent that sort of abuse. It is called the defensive display law, and it allows you to let a potential attacker know you are armed without worrying about being charged with a crime because you did so.
Although I support the idea of open carry, this cop needs to be reminded that (1) he is outside his jurisdiction and therefore a private citizen, not an LEO and (2) when visiting a foreign country one is subject to the laws of that country.
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