Posted on 04/03/2014 9:24:00 AM PDT by Nachum
Theres been a lot of discussion among members of the Armed Intelligentsia lately about how Connecticuts finest might proceed if they decide to confiscate unregistered guns from the states 100,000 or more newly-minted felons. The level of concern is evidenced by daily long comment threads, speculative posts by people who are not members of law enforcement, and even a couple of contributed opinions from the LEO community. The rational consensus seems to be that if the gun-grab order were given, cops would pinch a registration scofflaw at the grocery store, at work, on the road anyplace other than his or her home where a Ruby Ridge-style tragedy might ensue. Here I propose the alternativethat LEOs might not in fact be that rational if and when the time comes . . .
You may have read or at least heard about Malcolm Gladwells lookback at Waco in the New Yorker last week. Its part book review (siege survivor Clive Doyles memoir has just been published), part interview and part history. Gladwell reprises what most people now knowthat the Branch Davidians werent violent and almost certainly werent involved in the illegal gun trade or any other criminal enterprise. He also provides a brief and interesting history of the group, which was founded some 80 years before David Koresh came along.
Gladwells main theme, though, is the thought process and mentality of the law enforcement officials toward the end of the two-month siege. And that should give us all pause.
The F.B.I., to justify its decision to bring about a sudden and violent end to the siege, believed that the Branch Davidians were dangerously in the thrall of Koresh; it feared a catastrophic act like the mass suicide, in 1978, in Guyana, of the cult leader Jim Jones and his followers in the
(Excerpt) Read more at thetruthaboutguns.com ...
They'll terrorize some.
Others they'll enrage and fill with a terrible resolve.
One more thing.
From Adm. James Stockdale, on his seven years checked-in at the Hanoi Hilton:
“This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the endwhich you can never afford to losewith the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
WOW three incidents instead of two. Really “debunks” my premise that police get away with murder literally. NOT
Where did that come from? I remember it happening, and remember the video cameras were pointedly off during that moment. Knew much of the event, but didn’t see that amazing pic until now.
Sorry it took so long to respond, but let me clarify. There are certain FReepers who seem to push the meme that all law enforcement are jack booted thugs. Go to just about any thread about law enforcement. You’ll very rarely see one that lauds law enforcement. We usually only see posts condemning the police for violating people’s rights. Not only that, but in those threads you’ll rarely see anyone defending law enforcement.
Consider this thread. The Connecticut police haven’t even started rounding up the unregistered weapons. We don’t know what they’ll do if they’re ordered to do so. Yet, we have a thread talking about the possibility of another Waco. The general opinion again seems to be anti-law enforcement, some going so far as to post how we’re going to need to start shooting back.
Please correct me if I’m wrong. Where are the posts lauding police for jobs well done? I’m sure in a nation this big, the police do heroic deeds. It’s not all bad.
There are certain FReepers who seem to push the meme that all law enforcement are jack booted thugs.
We know there's one who has clearly stated he looks forward to kicking doors open.
Well like I said, that was just off the top of my head. But if your “fact” was wrong on that one, odds are there are others. Five minutes of internet search turned up the examples below. My point is not that there aren’t cops getting away with murder, but that when you start throwing around “facts” that are easily proved incorrect, you undermine the credibility of any other arguments you make. At least you should provide a source. If you can’t, what does that say about your claim?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_brutality_cases_(United_States)
September 4, 2005: A deadly police shooting occurred on the Danziger Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Six days after the hurricane, seventeen-year-old James Brissette and forty-year-old Ronald Madison were killed in the gunfire, and four other civilians were wounded. All victims were unarmed. Madison, a mentally disabled man, was shot in the back. Members of the New Orleans Police Department coordinated and fabricated a cover-up story for their crime, falsely reporting that seven police officers responded to a police dispatch reporting an officer down, and that at least four people were firing weapons at the officers upon their arrival. The officers also planted a gun at the scene to make it seem the civilians were armed.[35] On August 5, 2011, a New Orleans Federal Court jury found five police officers guilty of a myriad of charges related to the cover-up and deprivation of civil rights.
June 5, 2008: Tyrone Brown, a United States Marine, was fatally shot by an off-duty Baltimore police officer, Gahiji Tshamba. After partying at a night club, Brown made a sexual advance toward Tshamba’s girlfriend. Tshamba pushed Brown away and shot him. Tshamba claimed Brown was being aggressive and he was in fear for his life. However, witnesses said that Brown was turning to leave when Tshamba shot him. Tshamba was subsequently convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
May 16, 2010:7-year-old Aiyana Jones was shot and killed by Detroit SWAT officers. Jones was shot in the head or neck area. Police claimed Jones’ grandmother grabbed an officer’s gun and set it off, but other witnesses said the officers threw a gas bomb into the house and fired into the house despite being told there were children in the house. The officer who shot Jones has been charged with manslaughter.
October 24, 2004: Frank Jude, Jr. was beaten at a house party while unarmed by three off-duty Milwaukee police officers, Andrew Spengler, Jon Bartlett, and Daniel Masarik. Several other officers, including one on-duty officer, took part in the beating. Jude’s three friends were also assaulted by the officers, including two women who were pushed by the officers for calling 911 on them. All the officers were charged but acquitted by the state court.[112] However, the three officers were later convicted on civil rights violations and assault in federal court. Other officers pled guilty to lesser charges of violating Jude’s civil rights. One officer was acquitted of all charges.[113] Bartlett was sentenced to 17 years, and Spengler and Masarik were sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. The other officers were sentenced from one year to four years in prison.
The one who stated he was looking forward to kicking in doors was #1 just one and #2 angry. I’m not saying there aren’t bad cops, but there are also good, honorable ones. We always seem to highlight the former and ignore the latter. I’m not saying there are no troubling trends in modern law enforcement. The militarization of police definitely bothers me, and I definitely think the ATF and other federal agencies need to be reigned in. However, most police are not “jack booted thugs.”
That's because the latter cover for the former. I know an ex sheriff's dpt who blew the whistle on some of his colleagues for beating the crap out of a woman in the jail. He got death threats, and was told by the top management that if he didn't quit he would never be promoted, and would be put on all the crappiest jobs they could find for him. He testified and then quit. I believe one of the uniformed thugs was fired. The others got suspended without pay for a while, and the one that got fired was rehired in another county in less than a year.
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