LEO perspectives

[ggb3]

I ran across this and did some reading. I thought it was some refreshing info on the perspective of LEOs. It would be great if all law enforcement thought this way. Anyway, here are some links to a couple of particular threads.

http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79136

http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74710

George

 

[JWarren]

ggb3,


I read every post of both threads. In the first one, I was initially concerned that the view was of LEOs carrying Of-Duty rather than we normal folk. But there were a few comments that transcended officer and civillian.

The second thread was very straight forward since it asked opinions OF civillians carrying.

Thanks for posting this. I think it is good to remind ourselves of those GOOD LEOs who- in fact-- are the majority. Sometimes, it seems that the bad ones carry more weight in defining our LEO community.


And as I've said before... Most officers I know are also humans.


-- John

 

[PawPaw]

Let me log on as a 25 year veteran of police work. In my time I've seen a lot of things that I don't discuss around the house.

In my entire time as a police officer I have never felt threatened by a law-abiding citizen carrying a weapon.

One of the things I've noticed over the years, watching young cops, is that it takes about five years to make a good cop; a rookie goes through some fairly identifiable stages and one of them is the mentality that it's "us against them" or that the rules are somehow different for the police. This is a common theme and one that must be educated against. It's an attitude that must be guarded against from the top down with the veteran officers educating the younger ones. We're here to serve the people, all the people. The rich, the poor, the fortunate and unfortunate, and we're to serve them without regard to our own prejudices or passions.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

^^^^^^^ That was a super post.

A lot of Officers I know feel this way. Some don't. But, there's a mouth breather in every crowd whether you're talking about butchers, bakers, or candlestick makers.

 

[Chipperman]

Well said, PawPaw.

 

[jcoiii]

Well, fortunately I was a highroad member before I thought about LE Check out the general forum on arf.com too. It has a LE/FF/EMS section where the sentiments are also heavily pro-carry for everyone.

 

[Chipperman]

Check out the general forum on arf.com too. It has a LE/FF/EMS section where the sentiments are also heavily pro-carry for everyone.

Keep in mind that these are not representative samples of the LEO poulation in general.

 

[hotpig]

Keep in mind that these are not representative samples of the LEO poulation in general.

In your expert opinion most cops are anti?

 

[Chipperman]

I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying that any general opinions you take from a Gun forum are biased.

Do you think the members of THR are representative of all the gun owners in the U.S.? Do you think that the D.U. members are representative of all the Democrats in the U.S.? (Gawd I hope not)

See my point?

 

[golfer]

Thanks to you LEO's who weighed in on this issue.
As leagle carrying citizens, we must remember it is our responsibility to make sure tis works both ways. It is our duty to make LEO's comfortable with us and our leagle desires to protect ourselves.
LEO's know they can not possibly protect you from harm and in nearly every case they will be too late to the scene. It must difficult for them to know they may never get to stop the perp, but will only see the aftermath.
We must work with the LEO's in every way possible to make their job easier and safer when they are around us.
Thanks to LEO's for what you do, and the time you spend on this forum.
Best to all.

 

[hotpig]

I see your point.

 

[RiflemanTripleEight]

I just can't understand where the "police don't want citizens to have guns" argument comes from. I understand that there are a few uninformed police chiefs who put thier foot in thier mouth from time to time when making public statements, but overall police are all for law abiding citizens owning firearms. I tell people ALL the time, personal safety is your responsibility. There's no telling how long it will take me to get to you when you need help. Some things are beyond my control. I am constantly telling people to seek out training. I offer to train them myself when I can.

The only problem I have with some people and gun ownership is that sometimes they do not properly secure thier weapons. Your gun in an unlocked night stand in your unlocked house while you're at work is a BAD BAD idea.

 

[32winspl]

jccoiii, your Carlin quote compelled my to spray the better part of a mouthful of coffee on my monitor. Hmm, wiped off a lot of gunk, guess it needed it. Thanks. That IS one of the funniest things I've ever read!

 

[haybaler]

I've never met a policeman that is against civilians having guns. It wasn't too long ago that 2 different police chiefs told me that if I want an "evil black rifle" I'd better get it before the election. I was talking about getting a Glock and one of these police chiefs said he would give me his if his department would allow it. I think most cops know that citizens with guns are usually a good thing.

 

[glockman19]

PawPaw,

Well said, Thank you.

RiflemanTripleEight,

I just can't understand where the "police don't want citizens to have guns" argument comes from.

Me too

Please move to CA and run for Sheriff.

 

[jakemccoy]

Rifleman wrote,

I just can't understand where the "police don't want citizens to have guns" argument comes from.

A great person to ask would William Bratton, the police chief of LA county. There are millions of law-abiding citizens in LA county. I can count on my fingers the number of people there who have a CCW license. It's the police chief's fault directly.

Other good people to ask would be Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, and Police Chief Heather Fong of San Francicso. They basically don't want any non-LEO citizens to have any guns.

You won't find any of these heads of government hanging out inside your den, in other words, any gun forum. So, if you really want to know the answer to your question, you'll have to step outside of your comfort zone and try to figure out how these people think. They do happen to be highly relevant, sadly.

 

[jcoiii]

No, I wouldn't expect any officer posting on a gun related forum to be anti-gun for non-LE. I simply point out that there are more cops out there that do believe everyone should carry than some think. So it's not a lost cause by any means.

 

[RiflemanTripleEight]

Police Chiefs like the ones mentioned above are liberals before they are cops. Therefore I will give them as much credit as I give a liberal, none.

 

[K-Romulus]

My $0.02

As per my experience over my last 36 years on this earth, and my brother's seven years as a police officer in a mid-size city (pop 300K+):

His quote: "99% of the sworn officers support the RKBA, incl. EBRs and CCW."

We talked about this whole "LEO vs. RKBA" issue over a beer during one of his infrequent visits back east.

Basically, the anti-RKBA image comes mainly from media coverage of police chiefs from places like NYC, Miami, SF, LA, Chicago, etc., who parrot the far-left city councils that appointed them to their positions. Or other police appointees who parrot whomever appointed them. One example is the Maryland State Police legislative liaison who had to come testify in support of an EBR ban the first year after our new anti-RKBA governor got elected. For the four years prior, the same MSP officer came to testify AGAINST the exact same bill. He got his marching orders from the new MSP commander, who got his from the governor.

You take media saturation of police chiefs like Timoney railing against "semi-automatic killing machines," coupled with the fact that many officers from places like NYC end up moving to places like Virginia and bringing their culturally ingrained anti-RKBA biases with them (causing spectacular screw-ups when these transplants first encounter lawfully armed citizens), and PRESTO you get the impression that a good number of LEO's are really named J.B.T. Kittenstomp.

 

[jakemccoy]

Rifleman wrote,

Police Chiefs like the ones mentioned above are liberals before they are cops. Therefore I will give them as much credit as I give a liberal, none.

I understand your sentiment. However, you were questioning where the idea of "police don't want citizens to have guns" originated. As I said above, you have to ask the people that I mentioned why they feel the way they do. It sounds like you already know the answer though.