LEOs, guns and mindset, part 2

[PawPaw]

Good morning, everyone. This is my first post on THR.

Quote from Dr. Dickie:

We who love freedom, are fighting back at the excessive regulations we are being forced to live under. We SHOULD make it a whole lot clearer that it is not the folks who are out there trying to enforce the rules, but the rules themselves we are fighting back against. But with the way things are set today, frustration runs high. Try to see that often the vitriolic words are not meant at the individual LEO, but the enforcement of unjust, un-American rules that are being imposed upon us.
NOTE: I am not suggesting, nor implying that LEOs should only enforce the rules they feel are right or wrong. The job is enforce the rules, that is what you do. We need to change (lessen) the rules. But try to see that most times it is the rules, not the individuals that people are venting about.
At least that is how I see things.

Well said, sir. As a 27 year police veteran I understand your frustration completely. I feel it too. There are a whole lot of laws out there to enforce, and many times they are not enforced in a manner that makes much sense. I'm of the considered opinion that the citizens of the US had most of the laws they needed when the Republic was formed. Yet we pay legislators to write more laws. War on Terror, War on Drugs, War on Poverty, we're always at war against something, and the legislators pass laws to support those wars. Its complete and utter nonsense, most of the time.

We'd be a whole lot better off if we'd convene a Congress with the stated goal of repealing a whole bunch of laws that are already on the books. If you don't like the laws you live under, don't blame the police. Blame your legislature. Write letters. Raise hell. Go to Town meetings. March in the streets if necessary. Be a citizen.

Oh, and to address the common idea of the thread. Unfortunately, most LEO's aren't gun people. It's a tool just like a hammer is to a carpenter. In any town you have carpenters who are good with hand tools and others who aren't so good with hand tools. Some carpenters would rather use hand tools, some wouldn't. Some carpenters do woodworking in their time off, some don't. Some carpenters are fine, upstanding individuals. Some aren't.

Making generalizations about LEOs is like making generalizations about building contractors.

 

[weisse52]

After reading some of the last posts I sit down and wrote a "War and Peace" epic in response. Then when I finally get back my connections had dropped and I had to log back in. When I did I read the response by PawPaw and decided to make one more statement instead.

Making generalizations about LEOs is like making generalizations about building contractors.

The same is true for non LEO as well. We all make decisions about our life for a variety of reasons that cannot be defined under someone's "3 simple reasons" approach.

And a Happy New Year!

 

[Deanimator]

So, I guess the question, I would pose is... would you rather see a police officer have an in-depth understanding of the law, the Constitution and your rights or be a good shot?

Unfortunately, in all too many cases, the police are neither good shots nor well versed (or respecting of) in the law.

Recent history in Chicago for example shows them not knowing (or caring) about the 4th and 5th Amendments and negligently (or maliciously) using their firearms. And it's cost the taxpayers an astonishing amount of money. I saw the total for the past few years the other day and it was breathtaking. Just two weeks ago, the family of an unarmed man shot by police won a $12 million judgement against the city.

In addition to money costs, such behavior compromises criminal cases. A number of prosecutions were thrown out after police lied about a probable cause event in front of a bar, then performed warrantless searches inside the bar. And all of that will lead to further lawsuits.