A Veteran Cop’s View of Anti-Gun Laws
In a letter to the editors of the Philly Daily News, a veteran police chief inspector tells it like it is.
Politicians, government officials and editorial boards have no business using the recent spate of shootings of police officers as grounds for their anti-gun position. They have no right to call for tougher gun laws “for the sake of those officers.” Not unless they talk to them first and find out how they feel about the issue.
[Image - Chief Inspector Joseph Fox of the Philadelphia Police addressing the news media February 13, 2007.]Police chiefs should also spend more time with their own troops before they join the chorus. Of course, that might mean going against the media who’ve decided they know more about fighting crime than the cops do.
More gun laws will never be part of the solution until the laws already on the books are enforced with vigor. Unless violators are held accountable and punished to the max, they will continue to violate the law, the old ones and the new ones. What evidence is there to make the anti-gun lobby think differently?
Cops know better than anyone just how poorly the criminal justice system is performing today. They see it every time they risk their lives to take down an armed thug who is back on the street before the ink dries on his arrest paperwork. They keep arresting the same people over and over again, and watch as judges treat them with kid gloves.
Let’s try enforcing the current laws, sentence gun-toters to full prison sentences - and make prisons a place they won’t ever want to go back to.
That’s what cops want to hear when anyone speaks “in their name.”
Just ask them.
Joseph Fox, Chief Inspector (Ret.)
Philadelphia Police Department
I just wonder how many cops out there speak out about the judicial system’s revolving door policies but get no media venue? My guess is the majority of rank and file cops see things the way Chief Fox does.
Emphasis mine. H/T Wayne LaPierre’s Blog
2 Responses to “A Veteran Cop’s View of Anti-Gun Laws”
Philadelphia Lawyer on 31 Mar 2008 at 0920 #
Funny, a cop talking about enforcing the laws. Isn’t he doing his job? Maybe if his cops and him would get off their collective asses and stop eating doughnuts, they might get guns off the streets.
The reality is that gun laws don’t work. Fox is being disingenuous with this crap. His cops can work day and night to try and get guns off the streets, but more just appear magically. The gun laws are too weak to be enforced.
So, Fox can blame everybody, but he is really part of the problem because he is just repeating the nonsense which ensures that guns stay on the streets. Everybody in Philadelphia wants stronger gun laws, except for Fox.
Not to mention that the Philadelphia prison system is already over crowded, but never mind that. Saying you can “lock up criminals” sounds good to those who don’t know the situation here.
Which is cool. More guns for criminals means more work for the criminal defence bar.
Minstrel on 31 Mar 2008 at 0955 #
Then you should be in fine shape from a business standpoint.
I agree that gun laws only seem to be observed by the law-abiding. Citizens that are not allowed to carry guns by law are at risk for exactly that reason - they won’t have a weapon and the bad guys will.
Gun laws, no matter how weak or strong will always be ineffective.
As for guns causing crime, assault is a human behavior - not an attribute of guns.
I hope you also believe, as I do, that no police force can handle every emergency in a timely manner, and that you carry a weapon to protect yourself and your family.