We all know nice cops. We know good cops. Many of us have even met nice cops who are also good cops. Some of us know a lot of them.
But make no mistake, in this era of bodycams, if a police officer of any jurisdiction is told to make arrests for PICA gun and magazine ban offenses by FOID holders, the vast majority will make those arrests. Most aren’t going to risk a suspension or potential termination for failing to make arrests of otherwise good people under orders of their superiors. This goes double for state cops who ultimately report to JB Pritzker. And big city cops like in Chicago. Or Aurora under Richard Erwin (who claimed he was pro-gun last election cycle… what a joke.)
Yeah, you can be polite and they’ll be as lenient as possible, but a lenient felony is still a felony.
“I’ll be as lenient as possible” is just verbal judo, ladies and gentlemen. It makes you feel good while you lose your right to keep and bear arms to defend yourself and your family from gang bangers and other criminals who don’t give a damn about the law.
Sure, you don’t have to worry about small town cops for the most part. Especially in those jurisdictions where local prosecutors have essentially (or overtly) said that they have no intention of prosecuting these sorts of cases absent aggravating circumstances.
You never know though.
But frankly, you shouldn’t have to rely on officer discretion and goodwill (along with prosecutorial discretion) to keep you away from a felony. That’s not how the rule of law is supposed to work.
Sure, oath-breaking cops will chalk it up to “keeping everyone safe” – as though FOID holders are using their ARs to shoot up public locations. Nor is it our state’s law-abiding FOID holders who run around with Glocks with full-auto switches installed. They don’t sell use their guns to sell drugs, do sex trafficking or to rob people. They’re not killing people or carjacking them.
Boys and girls in law enforcement, if you want to “keep everyone safe” then how about going after gang bangers and their full-auto Glock switches? How about hunting down those registered sex predators who have absconded from their reporting requirements? How about hunting down felons with additional felony warrants outstanding and bringing them into jail? Why don’t you folks go after criminal gangs? Or Internet child sex predators or human traffickers? How about pursuing – and apprehending – carjackers and armed robbers? And murderers and attempted murderers?
Heaven knows there’s plenty of work up in Murder City USA to keep you busy.
No, it’s human nature to take the easy path. It’s easier and safer to go after the professional career guy who will lose his job and ability to provide for his family if he gets a felony. Or the single mother who has her guns to keep her peace of mind intact in a sketchy neighborhood. How about the young woman who was sexually assaulted during her college career? Or the retired Marine now in his 80s. None of them are going to shoot at cops or investigators.
Guaranteed that if and when any cops start making PICA-related arrests of FOID holders, “just following orders” isn’t going to pass muster with most of the rest of us in short order.
“Just follow the law and you’ll have nothing to worry about”
And for those who say “gun owners should follow the law,” we say that legislators should stop violating their oath to the Constitution. Ditto for individual police officers. The Constitution says it plain as day, “Shall not be infringed.” The Bruen decision clarifies it for today’s world. The Second Amendment is no longer a second class right subject to interest-balancing tests. And if “shall not be infringed” is too difficult for your elected officials or law enforcement officers to understand, then perhaps they should read the Bruen decision from the Summer of 2022.
Or maybe they should find a new line of work.
On one hand, the good news is that our lawsuits will ultimately prevail. On the other hand, the sad news is that goodwill towards police (and politicians) is declining. Actually, for many politicians the goodwill is already gone among many of us.
Hopefully we’ll solve this area of conflict in the courts before the “bucket of goodwill” that most people have for police is replaced with a bucket of animus.
I read this yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aovCK6f7qHI
and was going to post a comment on your latest cop blog post. But I thought better of it.
Then, today, you out with this. So I dug it back up. I haven’t been hounding you with anti-cop postings, but this one is really disgraceful, but these were cops, after all, acting like SS, and the REST OF THE COPS helped them in the coverup. Of course, youtube alone is REPLETE with these videos, EVERY SINGLE DAY.
JB, have I finally broken through your shell of “back the blue til it happens to you?”
COPS are not our friends. You may have a cop who IS a friend. I have a dear friend who’s running for sheriff. He’ll make a good one. But he won’t make up for the 99% that are downright bad, or who cover up for the bad ones. And when I discuss 1st or 2nd Amendment “auditors” with him, he can’t hide his contempt. Even he. I try to get through to him that they are just like ME, and I have rights, jsut as they do. EVERY day there’s a new auditor video of one being harassed by ignorant cops who, ten years after these audits started, still don’t know that it’s OKAY TO RECORD PEOPLE (EVEN THE COPS) IN PUBLIC. How can any cop not yet know this? It’s INSANE the lengths they go to to violate your and my rights.
I wish someone would develop a curricula to carry to the elementary SKOOLS when they send in “Officer Bob” to tell the kiddoes that, when something bad happens, run to a cop, he’s your “friend.” The countervailing viewpoint would point out to the kids why they’re living with their mom, because dad got thrown in prison by a crooked cop. And why they can’t have new shoes or underwear – cause mom got a $220 speeding ticket going 25 mph in a 20 zone. And so on. How about losing your car to a COP because you parked in the only spot on your block that was open for a mile in the city?
You must know who your enemies are, or you’re already defeated. Just mentally process who your enemies are, because we will likely be engaged in WWIII by the end of the year, IF WE ARE NOT ALREADY, and things are about to get rough. It’s already freezing. What happens to “law and order” when your heat don’t work!
are you ready? Are you prepared? Do you know what you’ll do when SHTF happens and the cops start going door-to-door like they did in new orleans during Katrina? When they body slam your 80-year old mother to the ground because she shows them her lil .22 pea-shooter that she’s intent on using to defend her hearth and home? WHAT WILL YOU DO?
GOD SAVE US, and ISRAEL.
I wonder where they will stop and make a moral decision. Hopefully they draw the line and will refuse to help load people on the freight trains. Remember the phrase I was just doing my job was used in the past.
I came to a similar conclusion a while back. They’re just getting us ready for arrests.
I gotta say, after the first few I hear, I am not sure if I would piss on a cop from whatever the arresting agency even if he was on fire.
Constitutional le action will probably be honored. bullshit such as confiscation/forfeiture, red-flag action, public health emergency lockdowns – badge-dindus proceed @ your own risk.
They’re nice guys until you’re the one they’re putting handcuffs on.
I don’t “back the blue” on fundraiser calls. I don’t have any blue line stickers on my car. I support good cops and will stand beside them if push comes to shove.
Oathbreakers, on the other hand, not so much. They’re on their own.
I’m always amazed at how many officers know so little about the law. They think it’s OK to bully us peasants into submission. Also, “I was just following orders” wasn’t a credible defense the last time a tyrant’s toadies tried to use it.
So instead of only worrying about the bad guys, gangbangers, etc..I now have to worry about the people I called my brothers, my fellow patriots, fellow Americans I swore to protect.
Awesome.
My town has both good and bad cops. In a SHTF situation I won’t trust any of them.
All too true unfortunately. Nugh’ said……