More Firearms Equal More Grief, Loss of Life

The Columbus Dispatch ^ | 26 December 2003 | Officer Pat Barr

[buccaneer81]

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Local/State > Editorials More firearms equal more grief, loss of life Friday, December 26, 2003

As the debate over the concealed carry of handguns continues, I am baffled that any law-enforcement officer or agency would come out in favor of the bill. I applaud Gov. Bob Taft; obviously, he is a man of conviction and common sense.

I have yet to hear the pro-carry people explain why putting several thousand more guns out on the street is a good idea and how that would make us all safer.

There have been about 105 homicides in just Columbus this year, many of them involving firearms. Without looking at the statistics, I’ll bet not one of the firearms used was a weapon registered to the suspect, purchased legally or that the suspect completed any firearms training.

Folks, I have a newsflash for you: Most of the firearms used in shooting and homicide incidents are stolen during burglaries or from automobiles. Very rarely are they legitimately owned.

I have been a police officer in Columbus for almost 24 years. Having spent most of that time on the street and in homicide, I have knocked on many doors to tell family members that someone they loved wouldn’t be coming home because someone with a firearm had ended their loved one’s life.

I watched the TV coverage of the "peaceful" pro-carry rally at the Statehouse by those who claim it is their right to carry a firearm. One man was wearing a pearl-handled .44 Magnum in a Western-style holster. He’s just what we need standing in line next to a family while they wait to get into a Blue Jackets game. After years of seeing firsthand the grief, suffering and loss of life, quite frankly the thought makes me sick.

And these same people are fighting public access to records of the people issued permits to carry concealed firearms. Well, it’s my right, should this bill ever pass, God forbid, to know who they are!

OFFICER PAT BARR

Columbus Division of Police

[Sir Gawain]

Idiot.

[Ken H]

What was the famous quote by General Patton about pearl handled grips on handguns?

"They're ivory. Only a pimp from a cheap New Orleans whorehouse would carry a pearl-handled pistol."

[HairOfTheDog]

He’s just what we need standing in line next to a family while they wait to get into a Blue Jackets game. After years of seeing firsthand the grief, suffering and loss of life, quite frankly the thought makes me sick.

He needs rest.

He is a minority among cops in my experience also. I got a congratulatory letter along with my CWP, from my elected sheriff. I have also been pulled over many times, calmly declared the presence of my gun in the car, and never once had a cop act remotely threatened by that.

[neverdem]

I work with many CPD officers. Their opinion is almost uniform. The cops can't be there. Law abiding citizens can prevent tragedies. Pat Barr is very much the exception to the rule.

You have my congratulations on your good fortune. I hope my impression as a resident of NY City for most of my life is wrong regarding most of the cities of this country, but I'm pretty sure about the very large cities, except maybe Texas. I read somewhere Texas has 4 out of the 10 largest cities in the country.

[Hank Rearden]

He's high on donuts.

People on drugs like that oughtn't try to write stuff.

[Trident/Delta]

If you have a specific niche, it is a booming business. If not, it sux.

Semper Fi

[BOOTSTICK]

Here is a tidbit for Officer Barr. According to the FBI an off duty police officer is more likely to misuse, or commit a crime with his weapon, than a person holding a concealed carry permit.

[neverdem]

LOL

[sgtbono2002]

Cops carry their weapons off duty they do not obey speed laws, they think they are above the law and have rights we as citizens dont. Many police officers dont want citizens to have guns because it gives them a feeling they are superior because they have something we cant have,

[go star go]

That's what I figured. I'd probably starve to death for lack of business. But I have considered taking a course so that I had the knowhow just for having the knowhow.

[HairOfTheDog]

I know a lot of cops, friends of mine, and what you allege is not my experience, either in contact with cops roadside, or among my friends.

Cops carry their weapons off duty

Are you saying they shouldn't? Why the heck not?

[Dont Mention the War]

This is not a guy that wants to be a cop. This is a guy that wants to be the chief of police.

Spot on! I wouldn't be surprised to find out he's a personal friend of Taft.

[groanup]

"I have yet to hear the pro-carry people explain why putting several thousand more guns out on the street is a good idea and how that would make us all safer."

How can he say this? The books are on the shelves. John Lott, Gary Fleck. What a crock. I HAVE YET TO SEE THE REBUTTALS OF THESE BOOKS. STUPID!

[semaj]

"One of the new breed who's been completely brainwashed by the leftist-socialist agenda."

Of course your statement is based on the assumption that this idiot had a brain to begin with.

[ZULU]

"I have yet to hear the pro-carry people explain why putting several thousand more guns out on the street is a good idea and how that would make us all safer. "

Disarming the law-abiding public to make people safer is not only unconstitutional, also it makes as much sense as belling the cat to keep it from eating mice.

[Darksheare]

"I have yet to hear the pro-carry people explain why putting several thousand more guns out on the street is a good idea and how that would make us all safer."
And even if explained to him IN DETAIL with proof showing that less guns in law abiding citizens hand means more crime he would not listen.

[SauronOfMordor]

There are 10s of thosuands of "AUTOs" that are legally owned in the US and NOT ONE LEGAL FULL AUTOMATIC WEAPON HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN A CRIME SINCE 1930's.

You should qualify that with "no CIVILIAN-OWNED" full-auto weapon has been involved in a crime. There was one incident where a full-auto weapon was used in a hit -- but the hit man was an off-duty police officer. I'll try to dig up the link

[SauronOfMordor]

I found the cite:

Crime with Legally Owned Machine Guns

In 1995 there were over 240,000 machine guns registered with the BATF. (Zawitz, Marianne,Bureau of Justice Statistics, Guns Used in Crime [PDF].) About half are owned by civilians and the other half by police departments and other governmental agencies (Gary Kleck, Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control, Walter de Gruyter, Inc., New York, 1997.)

Since 1934, only one legally owned machine gun has ever been used in crime, and that was a murder committed by a law enforcement officer (as opposed to a civilian). On September 15th, 1988, a 13-year veteran of the Dayton, Ohio police department, Patrolman Roger Waller, then 32, used his fully automatic MAC-11 .380 caliber submachine gun to kill a police informant, 52-year-old Lawrence Hileman. Patrolman Waller pleaded guilty in 1990, and he and an accomplice were sentenced to 18 years in prison. The 1986 'ban' on sales of new machine guns does not apply to purchases by law enforcement or government agencies.

---
Thanks to the staff of the Columbus, Ohio Public Library for the details of the Waller case.

[Orangedog]

Reads more like a she to me.

"I'm Officer Pat, and I think you little people are waaaaaaay to stupid to be armed!"

[Orangedog]

Their opinion is almost uniform. The cops can't be there. Law abiding citizens can prevent tragedies. Pat Barr is very much the exception to the rule.

Then they need to step up to the plate and stop voting for people who lead their unions and use their dues money to promote the opposite of what they believe. The FOP and the highway patrol have done everything in their power to kill every concealed carry bill that has come up for a vote in Ohio. If the police want my support, or even respect, they need to stop working against my right to be armed.