A widely published Associated Press story on the rise in police gun-related fatalities this year, along with a now-questionable opinion poll that suggested National Rifle Association members support some gun control measures has – perhaps unintentionally – revealed how gun prohibitionists plan to attack gun rights in 2010.
Over the weekend, the Associated Press story ran in several publications, including the Seattle Times, which added some of its own material relating to recent police slayings in Seattle and Parkland. The story noted that this year has seen a spike in shooting deaths of police officers, with 47 so far this year as opposed to 38 for the same period in 2008.
Pennsylvania, the state with the most gun-related officer deaths this year, has among the strictest gun laws in the country, according to a ranking by the pro-gun-control Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Other states, such asLouisiana ,Oklahoma and, have very little oversight and had few, if any, officer gun deaths this year. - Associated Press Kentucky
Some of those officers were killed by people using so-called “assault weapons,” while the Parkland killings were done primarily with a six-shot revolver, and perhaps one round from a stolen 9mm semiautomatic pistol recovered at the scene.
Gun prohibitionists will exploit these deaths to demand tougher gun laws, including a renewal of the ban on semiautomatic rifles, and to crack down on gun shows, even though there is currently no evidence that any of the firearms used in any of the police killings came from gun shows.
The chances of being killed in the line of duty are lower than they have been in modern times. But no one is immune to the dangers of the job."—Kevin Morison, National Police Officers Memorial Fund
But buried in the Associated Press story was some critical perspective that may have been overlooked by people who only read the first few paragraphs.
In Pennsylvania, where the largest number of police fatalities occurred this year, there are “among the strictest gun laws in the country, according to a ranking by the pro-gun-control Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.”
The story further noted that “In 1973, there were about 600,000 officers and about 156 gunfire deaths. Now, there are about 900,000 law-enforcement officers nationwide and only 47 gunfire deaths this year, a per-capita decrease of nearly 21 percent.” And, the total number of officer deaths from all causes is down slightly from last year.
But folks who are willing to intentionally target police officers seem to be able to find a way to accrue guns regardless of what the laws in those states would be," Morison said.
Is even one police officer slaying acceptable? Of course not. But let’s be honest. When bad guys and good guys mix, somebody is likely to get hurt. There was Lovelle Mixon, a convicted felon on parole in Oakland, CA who fatally shot four police officers earlier this year before he was killed in a gun battle with other officers. Cop-killer Maurice Clemmons lived for 42 hours after murdering four Parkland, WA officers, and it appears his intended fifth victim was the Seattle police officer who killed him. Accused cop-killer Christopher Monfort, charged in the slaying of Seattle officer Timothy Brenton, is now paralyzed after taking a bullet from a detective after pulling a gun on police at his Tukwila apartment.
Monfort was arraigned Monday morning in King County Superior Court. He has entered a “not guilty” plea.
In 1973, there were about 600,000 officers and about 156 gunfire deaths. Now, there are about 900,000 law-enforcement officers nationwide and only 47 gunfire deaths this year, a per-capita decrease of nearly 21 percent.
Most cop killers have prior criminal records. Monfort, if found guilty, would be an exception as his record was clean, except for some traffic violations. A felonious criminal record prevents people from legally purchasing or otherwise acquiring a firearm legally, yet they manage to obtain firearms regardless of the law. Anti-gunners never seem to get this, although a spokesman for the National Police Officers Memorial Fund understands this quite well.
And that brings us around to this poll released the other day by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and applauded by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Almost before the ink was dry, the NRA was challenging the credibility of the poll, and the polling outfit, Word Doctors, which conducted the survey. It’s a two-fisted rebuttal worth reading.
Since Word Doctors had no access to NRA membership lists, there's no way the pollsters could verify that any of the "NRA members" actually were NRA members.
The poll claims NRA members’ opinions differ from that of NRA leadership on key gun control issues. My colleague, David Codrea, writes about this issue here.
There is great concern in the firearms community that once the Obama administration and Democrat-controlled Congress are finished with health care and the economy (and you can define “finished” any way you wish), that the White House and anti-gun Democrats on Capitol Hill will turn their attention to gun control, perhaps hoping to clamp down before the Supreme Court rules on whether the Second Amendment is incorporated to the states.
The next several months could be interesting.
ITEM: Are you a fan of the Model 1911 pistol? Check out my review of the Para USA GI Expert pistol in the current on-line exclusive for Gun Digest.
More from Gun Rights Examiners
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Phoenix: Douglas Little | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Wisconsin: Gene German
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For more info: National Rifle Association.
Comments
"Is even one police officer slaying acceptable?"
You answered that one wrongly. Yes, there are times when it would be acceptable to kill a police officer. For instance, when one rapes a female driver through threat, or assaults someone not breaking the law, or beats a young woman nearly to death who is outweighed by 180 lbs, or any number of times when they are engaged in criminal activity. And that happens quite often. Otherwise I would agree with you, though I might have said the slaying of anyone is unacceptable. Not just cops.
Yes ... the gun prohibitionists will continuously attack, change their offensive strategy, and attack again.
What a pain in the ass. But I am heartened that their efforts will be met with diminishing success, now that Heller has, and McDonald will, transform the landscape of the battle.
Some day, they are just going to have to realize that they must quit going after guns. Once their funding sources give up on the idea, so too will the gun prohibitionist lobbies.
They calculated the percentage change wrong when comparing 1973 data to current data. It's actually a decrease of 79.9%
Chris, your math may be correct. I kept staring at that number and thinking to myself, "Self, that don't look right." It might be right if they said it dropped 29.9% every year or decade, so that it would be a compounding type of reduction....
I have tried figuring this out several different ways and I keep coming up with silly numbers, how did you work that out?
Percentage change is always (new-old)/old * 100. They got this correct at the start of the article when talking about the change between 2008 and 2009, but completely flubbed it later in the article when comparing 1973 and 2009.
How many police officers are ambushed and killed with their own weapon as happened to New Orleans police officer Nicola Cotton on 01/28/2008 (www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,326148,00.html). If memory serves correctly that number is around 80% according to the FBI.
Also, how many unarmed innocent people are killed summarily by police each year as happened to Oscar Grant on 01/01/2009 by Oakland Bart police. This represents a clear case where I would have intervened with lethal force if I saw this handcuffed and restrained innocent young man about to be executed by police officers without justifiable cause.
While I don't advocate using force against police, I also have to realize the fact that police are human and bring to the job all the failings of any human and they have an extraordinary responsibility to preserve and uphold the sanctity of human life and not destroy it on a whim as happened to Oscar Grant.
Kill all gun owners.
Il_Deuce, you do know that gun owners include police and soldiers who are out there everyday protecting you and your family? I'd love to see how long you would last against the criminals and terrorists if police and soldiers disappeared.
Next time, put down the crack pipe before typing on your keyboard.
IlDuce: You want to kill all gun owners? How are you going to accomplish that? We have the guns... And a lot of us actually know how to use 'em.
Molon Labe, baby.
ROFL!
My grandfather was a Texican. One of his favorite sayings was "Don't mess with Texas!"
I never realized the depths of treason that the democrat party would go to, to disarm Americans. How people cannot see through the designs of this political machine just blows me away.
The Democrat AMNESTY PARTY,isn't bothered in the slightest by all the drug lords and other illegal aliens from, for instance, Mexico, because of their treasonous OPEN BORDERS policies. It's enough to make a person that actually thinks about this stuff, just stand in place and look up sighing with resignation at the sheer stupidity and outright treason involved in all of this.
Excuse me, what I meant in my last post was that the Democrat Party isn't bothered AT ALL, by all the guns that drug lords and others possess, as they come over the OPEN BORDER.
You people are truly, truly, idiots. Strightarrow, you obviously are certifiably nuts and I woudl wager you have a long mental health history. GUNS DO NOT KILL PEOPLE, CRIMINALS DO!!! The would-be killers do acquire guns illegally and they will always acquire guns. Gun laws accomplish nothing other than infringe on the good people's 2nd Amendment rights. Being a cop myself, I will tell you that cops know that all gun laws are worthless. Cops are gun people and we support gun ownership. You scumbag liberals want a civil war, (which you cannot win) you keep messing with the Constitutional rights of The People. You'll have Bubba kicking your communist butts all over the place. You're all as ridiculous and useless as ti ts on a boar. I have nothing but contempt for you and you are all the worst part of the USA. Cowards all off you.
Furthermore, Pennsylvania gun laws are not strict at all. They are a pro-2nd amendment state and gun ownership is easy and restrictions few. I live 5 miles from the NY PA border. Anyone can buy an assault weapon, handgun, grenade launcher, tracers, high-capacity magazines...anything. The article is incorrect.
DT-- you didn't "get" what straightarrow said. When a law enforcement officer becomes a criminal, as some HAVE, then, yes, they deserve no less than any other criminal.
Good article, but I noticed a math error in the AP article quoted here: "In 1973, during a heyday of corruption and crime, there were around 600,000 officers and about 156 gunfire deaths. Currently, there are about 900,000 law enforcement officers nationwide and only 47 gunfire deaths this year — a per-capita decrease of nearly 21 percent."
That enormously understates the decrease--going from 156 deaths among 600,000 officers to 47 among 900,000 is not a "per-capita decrease of nearly 21 percent," but one of nearly EIGHTY percent. In other words, officers are 5 times less likely to be shot to death now than they were in '73.
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