The tragedy in Pierce County last Friday night involving a sheriff’s deputy will be investigated, analyzed and discussed — as this column is about to do — from a variety of angles, and perhaps for a very long time.
Overlooked, however, will be the ironies as they relate to the rhetoric from gun prohibitionists over the years that “one more law” might have prevented Deputy Allen Myron, 49, from shooting his in-laws and then taking his own life. As the on-line Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, “friends and family members say they never saw it coming.”
Private citizens have been required to endure background checks and waiting periods at various times to buy firearms, and in law enforcement, there is even more screening before someone is handed a badge and gun. Myron reportedly owned several firearms — no surprise here, as they are not only tools of his profession, it is not unusual to find firearms enthusiasts in the law enforcement ranks — which makes him not unlike other citizen gun owners who don’t happen to wear badges on the job.
As the investigation continues into the Friday night shootings by 49-year-old Pierce County Deputy Allen Myron, friends and family members say they never saw it coming.
Many anti-gunners have argued over the years that, “only the police and military should have guns.” Tell that to the victims of Army Major Nidal Hasan, the accused Fort Hood shooter. Tell it to the family of Crystal Brame, gunned down by her husband, Tacoma Police Chief David Brame, who then took his own life in 2003.
There is no demonstrably reliable method, unless one is clairvoyant, to predict what someone may do with a firearm one, two or even ten or twenty years after they acquire that gun. Anti-gunners might have the public believe otherwise; that some new law or requirement will “weed out” certain people. Good luck with that.
They would hold gun manufacturers and dealers responsible, as if they are somehow better able to read the minds of consumers than car salesmen whose customers drive off and kill somebody six months later in a drunken crash.
Myron carried a gun everywhere, even in church, Weston said. The deputy joked about once greeting a date of his daughter's while being armed with four guns.—Seattle Times
Friday’s tragedy just might change, in some small way, how the press and public look at such unpredictable cases. It is long past time for anti-gun pundits and editorial cartoonists to move beyond looking at the average armed citizen as a crime simply waiting to happen. Deputy Myron has been described as a good neighbor, church member, family man; exactly the kind of guy one would invite to the Sunday barbecue. Like many prudent citizens, he was nearly always armed, according to the Seattle Times. (Considering that the King County Council, like other local governments, is looking at ways to raise taxes and/or cut services — including law enforcement — expect the number of armed citizens to continue rising. Just because there may be less law enforcement does not mean there will be less criminal activity. Violent crime has dropped in recent years when private gun ownership has climbed dramatically; something quite the opposite of what anti-gunners predicted. In areas of high gun ownership, violent crime rates are lower.)
The simple fact is that those areas in the U.S. with the fewest gun restrictions and highest gun ownership rates also have the lowest crime rates.— Jeremy D. Blanks, Ph.D.
This column makes no blanket judgment about police because of this case, just as nobody should paint all gun owners with a broad brush because some people with guns misuse them. Over the weekend at the NRA convention in Charlotte, NC, we met several good cops and sheriff’s deputies roaming the aisles of the NRA exhibit hall, talking guns and hunting, checking out the newest tactical gear or sporting equipment. Just because one of their colleagues did something tragic and shocking hardly should make them targets of suspicion. Likewise, a lot of very good and decent people serve in law enforcement in the Evergreen State. Who is going to step forward and smear them?
Yet, gun prohibitionists would have us living in fear and suspicion of anyone who has a firearm. They say people should be afraid of armed citizens in municipal, state and national parks. They claim armed citizens are a danger to others in coffee shops. They zero in on singular incidents as representative of an entire social class. They want us to share their hoplophobia.
Had the Pierce County shooting involved a private citizen, one might expect Washington CeaseFire to somehow capitalize on this case to push its agenda in Olympia. But because it involved a peace officer, expect the “only cops should have guns” crowd to remain untypically silent.
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 | Detroit: Rob Reed | Fort Smith: Steve D. Jones | Knoxville: Liston Matthews | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Tucson: Chris Woodard
And Don’t forget to visit:
KeepAndBearArms.com
GunVoter.org
TheHighRoad.us
OpenCarry.org
Comments
". Over the weekend at the NRA convention in Charlotte, NC, we met several good cops and sheriff’s deputies roaming the aisles of the NRA exhibit hall, talking guns and hunting, checking out the newest tactical gear or sporting equipment."
But they were unarmed, right? Just like an American citizen attending?
Once again, no CCW at an NRA convention. They should espouse what they 'fight' for and fully embrace the meaning of 'shall not be infringed'.
They should hold their convention in a state and at a convention center that respects the 2nd Amendment.
[Doubtful the fear mongers/lobbyist would allow such a thing.]
OK, "Freeman III", where would YOU hold that size of a convention?
Are YOU going to trot to that city or the state legislature and force them to change a statute?
Or are you going to hold conventions every year in Texas and Arizona and maybe Washington State (providing you can get somebody to build a facility big enough to hold the event in Seattle or Tacoma?)
Huh?
And while we're at it, Freeman, please explain what on earth your angst over the NRA convention venue has to do with the subject of this column.
I hope someone is calling the CeaseFire people about this one. I want to hear what they have to say, if somebody has to drag it out of them. Those rabidly ignorant, vociferously anti-American jackasses have to have something pithy to say about this...
Hey Dave,
Your anger and frustration at Freeman proves his point:
The NRA has ENORMOUS financial CLOUT during Convention Time: why not use it to further the NRA Constitutional Agenda.
Just because it is difficult to find many convention sites allowing CCW, that doesn't mean it's impossible.
I must also ask, what's wrong with Arizona and Texas? Don't both states have quite a few candidate cities which would meet the NRA Convention requirements?
Do it like Sacramento does for the annual Dixieland Jazz Festival: numerous venues in the same city, with free bus service between venue for badged attendees.
This subject matter has EVERYTHING with which to do with the subject matter of this article:
Fact vs Fiction regarding gun ownership, gun owner responsibilities, inability to prognosticate the future outside of real world scenarios, and the Constitutional 2A rights.
Dave, don't go down the road of Ceasefire or Brady C.
Cheers.
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