Police Make Life Hell for Youth of Color
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Kathy Durkin, Axis of Logic (New York), May 17, 2008
Going to the grocery store, visiting a friend and walking home from work or school are all ordinary, everyday occurrences. But not so for hundreds of thousands of people, mostly from African-American and Latino communities, who are stopped, questioned, asked for their I.D., searched and often arrested here in New York—and around the country. It happens to many youth and even to children.
{snip}
In the first quarter of this year, New York City police, by their own report, stopped, questioned and/or searched 145,098 people, more than half of them African Americans. At this alarming rate, a record 600,000 people will be stopped this year.
In the last two years, nearly 1 million New Yorkers were harassed by police in this manner—90 percent of them people of color. That’s 1,300 a day. And it’s legally allowed.
These operations, just in the past two years, have put more than 1 million innocent people, mostly African-American and Latino, into the huge police database; they are subject to future criminal investigations merely by their inclusion there.
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is challenging the legality of these potentially discriminatory practices and demanding information on the database kept by the NYPD—which the department refuses to turn over. It contains personal information on everyone stopped by police, though the vast majority—90 percent—have not been charged with any crimes.
{snip}
Another aspect of the NYPD’s racial profiling scheme is the campaign of terror targeting youth for possessing miniscule amounts of marijuana. This, too, usually happens in communities of color, even though social studies show a higher rate of marijuana use among white youth. (nyclu.org) In 2007 alone, police arrested more than 100 people per day, or 39,700 in total, for this so-called crime.
{snip}
Since decriminalization in 1977, the possession of a small amount of marijuana has not constituted a “crime” in New York City—as long as it is not shown in public. Possession since then has been merely a “violation,” such as speeding and other traffic infractions.
However, the police frequently stop Black and Latino youth and then arrest them on the charge of misdemeanor possession—when, most of the time, this is not the case. High school students are kept in jail overnight until they go to court. Then they are pressured into a plea bargain, usually with an overworked, court-appointed attorney representing them.
{snip}
It is well known that there is serious drug abuse in many high-pressure professions in this city, yet the police don’t occupy financial centers or carry out random searches in wealthy neighborhoods.
Rafael Mutis, coordinator of 7 Neighborhood Action Partnership Network, which works to repeal the draconian New York State Rockefeller drug laws, explains that “drug use” has become a pretext for stop-and-frisk searches in low-income neighborhoods. “They don’t go after people on Wall Street,” he said, “where there’s a daily snowstorm” of cocaine use. (highbridgehorizon.com)
{snip}
All progressive people need to show solidarity with the oppressed communities, especially the youth, in this struggle against police repression.
{snip}
(Posted on May 23, 2008)
Comments
I work in actual logic, facts, and science. I take major exception to this bias magazine using any kind of unbiased scientific term in their naming. I’d prefer them to use something such as “Axis of Emotional Control Issues” or “Axis of Impulse Defiency.” I could even stipulate to “Axis of Junk-Logic.”
For these socialists groups to not see a correlation between non-Whites and criminal behavior is akin to the flat-Earthers that couldn’t accept FACT, even a hundred years after the heliocentric model was discovered, and proven.
Posted by Jeremy Douglas at 6:34 PM on May 23
If these oppressed minorities really want to experience mistreatment by the police, they should simply move to a nation in which their own race is the majority:
Jamaican police shot dead 113 people last year, down from 133 the previous year. But Jamaica only has a population of 2.6 million, compared with eight million in New York City, which had around 25 fatal police shootings last year. (BBC, 14 May, 2004)
Posted by White Briton at 6:41 PM on May 23
“It is well-known that there is serious drug abuse in high-pressure professions in this city…”
Well-known to whom? A citation from a peer-reviewed publication is needed here, Kathy. The AMA Journal would be fine.
This is unsubstantiated hype masquerading as “journalism”. The laguage of “communities of color”, “progressive people”, “show solidarity”, “oppressed communities” and “struggle against police repression” marks Durkin out as the Marxist propaganda hack she is.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 6:42 PM on May 23
This is propaganda 101.
BTW.. has anyone noticed that crime has gone down in NYC?
Just a coincidence I guess.
Posted by Lucas M at 7:05 PM on May 23
“In the last two years, nearly 1 million New Yorkers were harassed by police in this manner—90 percent of them people of color.”
That sounds about right. Last time I was in Manhattan, about 90 percent of the locals seemed to be “people of color.”
Oh, and by the way, how does the author define “harassed?” Does that include those poor folks who were questioned after hanging out drinking on their doorsteps and shouting epithets at passersby? Harassment only goes one way, I guess.
Posted by at 7:11 PM on May 23
More racial profiling nonsense courtesy of the cultural marxists at the ACLU.
As a long-time resident of NYC, almost universally when I have been exposed to an individual smoking pot IN PUBLIC it is a minority committing the offense. Stupidity not racism explains the higher arrest rates for minorities. If Whites are not being caught it is because they have the better judgement to keep it inside away from the sight and smell of the NYPD.
Posted by at 7:18 PM on May 23
Hey! Hang on a second. I agree with the statement about “All progressive people need to show solidarity with the oppressed communities” but we need to determine accurately who are the oppressed? Law abiding citizens or who? Criminals and those who conform to the typical criminal type with their attitudes to society and their need to have have every expectation of being suspects. If 13% of the population are sadly the ones proven correctly using actual records to be the “usual suspects”, who can deny that the police who are sworn to “serve and protect” are doing a good job to the best of their abilities, especially for the tax payers who pay their salaries. So what are the complaints about? If I was a black and was upset about being stopped, I would assist the police by secretly informing on the ones that are causing my grief as well as bringing my race into disrepute (and encourage others to also do the same). But then I was brought up as a Christian by loving and attentive parents who taught my brother and I the difference between right and wrong, even when we were being bombed by the Nazis.
Posted by Brian Deller at 7:23 PM on May 23
Oh my, it’s this kind of excuse-the-criminal caterwauling that has handcuffed the police and courts, skyrocketed crime since the 1960’s and turned our cities into unlivable pestholes.
It is well known that there is serious drug abuse in many high-pressure professions in this city, yet the police don’t occupy financial centers or carry out random searches in wealthy neighborhoods. “They don’t go after people on Wall Street,” he said, “where there’s a daily snowstorm” of cocaine use.
Hmmm, we keep hearing this throughout this article, and yet, it’s the inner cities that are crumbling, not the wealthy neighborhoods or Wall Street, which you would certainly expect if that’s where the drug abuse was so rampant.
It’s another case of “Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”
Posted by Tim in Indiana at 7:52 PM on May 23
Gee, let me think for a minute. Stop using and selling drugs, stop all my other criminal activities and the problem will go away. What a concept!!!
Posted by at 8:08 PM on May 23
Is this writer for real? Kathy Durkin says stopping and searching of black and Latin youth is “unfair,” but gives no reason as to why it is. She says the NYPD’s own records show evidence of discrimination — but then contradicts herself by saying the NYPD refuses to release said records demanded by the New York Civil Liberties Union.
She says that more than 1 million “innocent” people in the last two years have been placed in the police database — but gives no details on just WHAT about them has been placed in the database, or on how this squares with the NYPD’s alleged adamant refusal to provide such records to the NYCLU. Just how much data would be collected on someone who is not arrested? Do the police have just oodles of time to collect voluminous information about these “youths,” then send them on their way, then clutter up the police database with all this information not connected to any arrest?
Kathy Durkin, my first supervisor in a U.S. Army information office when I was 18 years old would have given me a tongue-lashing like you wouldn’t believe if I had turned in such an opinionated, unsubstantiated piece of tripe as this as one of my assignments. And you call yourself a reporter!
And in closing, as to the phrase you seem so fond of that you used it several times: “oppressed youth” — HA! Double HA!
Posted by Wayne Engle at 8:30 PM on May 23
The police do harass “People of Color”. They harass them because of their behavior and their likely hood of violence.
Posted by Howard in Las Vegas at 9:10 PM on May 23
“All progressive people need to show solidarity with the oppressed communities, especially the youth, in this struggle against police repression.”
Let me make a wild guess here, Kathy Durkin, the author of this article, is a White female and childless. She is well off and lives in an area devoid of these “oppressed communities”. She hasn’t experienced the “joys of diversity” yet, because if she DID, she wouldn’t be making a statement like that above…she’d be writing for AmRen instead.
Posted by at 9:21 PM on May 23
>>Going to the grocery store, visiting a friend and walking home from work or school are all ordinary, everyday occurrences. But not so for hundreds of thousands of people, mostly from African-American and **Latino** communities, who are stopped, questioned, asked for their I.D., searched and often arrested here in New York—and around the country. It happens to many youth and even to children.
I know in NYC oftentimes Latin people in the past hitched a ride to the grievance bandwagon which was led by Afro agitators. I wonder how true this is today. That is with their population now exceeding blacks in the US do they really bond with the blacks in a spirit of multicultural anti-white unity? They are a distinct community. I’ve met many Latin (or Hispanic, whatever term you want to use) people who are fairly conservative and are appalled by Afro pathologies.
This just stood out to me in the opening paragraph. I’ll continue reading, I’m sure the rest is a hoot.
Posted by S & GS at 9:29 PM on May 23
You mean the police stop and question criminals? Now there’s a novel idea. Cops don’t stop old white ladies because they are not engaging in crime. Cops stop criminals. If blacks are committing more crimes (every study tells us they do), they should be stopped more. Period!
Posted by WIA at 9:29 PM on May 23
The idea that there is a “daily snowstorm” of cocaine use in Wall Street is a ridiculous myth. The work environments there are highly competitive, and everyone’s actions and appearance are closely observered by coworkers. Drug abuse during the work day is the rare exception.
In the meantime, let’s thank the NYPD for doing its job on the streets.
Posted by Reader-1 at 10:07 PM on May 23
The majority of crime, according to DOJ statistics, is commited by minorities. Hence, they should be questioned/searched at a much greater rate than whites. There is no other way to fight crime than the way they are doing it. We must work on preventive measures, not reactionary measures.
Posted by at 10:07 PM on May 23
Title of this article: Police Make Life Hell for Youth of Color
Real truth of the matter: Youth of Color Make Life Hell for Police
Posted by Question Diversity at 10:08 PM on May 23
Would these “youths of color” Durkin pities so abjectly be anything like the ones who broke into the apartment rented by Kelly McGillis in 1982 and her roommate and raped them?
Life must truly be “hell on earth” if “police repression” means “youths of color” in New York City can’t rape attractive, blond Juliard students anymore.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 12:38 AM on May 24
My husband, white, Polish, was walking home from the train in Streamwood, Illinois. The police stopped him and asked him for his i.d., he asked why? They wanted to check if he had any outstanding warrants. He did not, but this is just the tip of the iceberg in Streamwood where the 4th amendment is nothing but a note on a ‘piece of paper’, to quote our president….fast forward a couple of years…I have an altercation with a woman in a parking lot of walmart. She calls the police, I see the show up, go out to give my side of the story and amd immediately arrested. Don’t you want to hear my side of the story? After being told 3 times to ‘put my hands on the car’, the tell me if I don’t, they will ‘take me down’. The woman (a hispanic, probably illegal) told them I tried to hit her with my car and called her a racial slur…no evidence to back this up… I didn’t find out until I was at the station that this was what she said…I told them to look at the surveillance tape from w-m, which would totally disprove I EVER tried to hit her and then make the rest of her story suspect (aside from the fact that she had no witnesses, it was only her word, an illegal immigrants word against a U.S. Citizen’s word. They sided with the ‘immigrant’)….SORRY…not interested….Make life hell for youth of color??? These bastards are making life hell for people of non-color (what else do you call caucasians?) I have contacted the ACLU to report the civil rights violations the Streamwood Illinois Police Department have been perpetrating for the past however many years. I don’t hold out much hope for resolution…I’m not a minority, I’m not an illegal…Damn, I’m just an American CITIZEN….
Posted by Kathleen at 1:21 AM on May 24
Maybe they should stop committing crime at such an alarming rate.
Posted by at 7:05 AM on May 24
This entire article is a compilation of “weasel words”, there is no “axis of logic” at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_words
Posted by Cliff Yablonski at 7:12 AM on May 24
Police of color “questioning” people of color.
Good!
Posted by at 7:47 AM on May 24
Thank God the police are stopping and questioning blacks and Mexicans. Most likely these feral males are committing crimes, and the police are doing their jobs in investigating them. It makes me feel MUCH safer knowing that the police are on top of their activities and are protecting decent society.
George Manuelian
Atherton, CA
Posted by George Manuelian at 12:36 PM on May 24
Kathleen,
I’m familiar with Streamwood, and unfortunately I’m not surprised to hear that you and your husband have been subject to far greater police scrutiny than the hordes of illegals who’ve descended upon the area.
Posted by Cassiodorus at 12:36 PM on May 24
This article is nothing but fiction and propaganda. I doubt the author could back up anything she says with real facts and figures. Just make it up as you go along like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright does so you can provoke even more hate, chaos, rioting, and crime from minorities and then bitch about racism and discrimination when they are targeted by the police. It’s this kind of garbage writing that keeps the racial divide in this country alive and well and is in fact like dumping gasoline on the fire. There is just no responsibility in journalism these days. It’s very clear that the object of this article is to provoke “HATE”.
Posted by Gerry at 2:26 PM on May 24
“It is well known that there is serious drug abuse in many high-pressure professions in this city, yet the police don’t occupy financial centers or carry out random searches in wealthy neighborhoods. “They don’t go after people on Wall Street,” he said, “where there’s a daily snowstorm” of cocaine use.”
She is so right. On my last trip to Manhattan my wife and I were walking on Wall Street when we were accosted by a gang of Investment Brokers and Day Traders. They approached us with the characteristic Wall Street swagger, their eyes with that characteristic blankness associated with cocaine. The first thing we heard were those dreaded words. “where y’all from muthaf—-ahs”? They forced us at gunpoint to invest every dollar in our pockets that we had earned at the expense of millions of people of color by virtue of our privileged status. They groped my wife and some even groped me (not that there’s any thing wrong with that). At this point I cursed myself for not having had the courage to take my double action .357 Magnum with me. I prayed that they would lose interest which eventually they did and moved on to prey on some other unsuspecting individuals.
Let me say that I had never been so afraid for my safety since I was unfortunate enough several years ago to walking on Philadelphia’s Broad street AKA The Avenue of the Arts in Center City when the attendees of the Opera Tosca by Puccini, went on a rampage of assaulting passersby and looting of stores along Broad Street and Walnut Street.
I still wake up screaming at night!!!
Posted by Taurus689 at 6:51 PM on May 24
If you have nothing to hide from the Police, why worry about being stopped by them?
Posted by Kellie at 8:17 AM on May 25
First, this article is from “Worker’s World” (byline, “Workers and oppressed people of the world nite”) obviously a communist propaganda rag, so its credibility is questionable at best.
“In the first quarter of this year, New York City police, by their own report, stopped, questioned and/or searched 145,098 people, more than half of them African Americans. At this alarming rate, a record 600,000 people will be stopped this year.”
To me, this statement glaringly omits any statistic on how many of these stops resulted in an arrest, a true meter of how successful these actions are.
Posted by Superman at 2:37 PM on May 25
“Police Make Life Hell for Youth of Color”
They do? This could be said in the reverse too.
Posted by voter at 7:30 PM on May 25
We have nothing to fear from honest cops, but many departments are under the boot of our enemies. The word is passed down to give the foreigners and Blacks a break, and thuggish cops will do as they are told. Of course, many non-White cops don’t need to be told that whites are the criminals.
Posted by Schoolteacher at 9:08 PM on May 25
I agree this profiling by the NYC cops must stop. Last year I was driving into Queens, a mistake I will never repeat, to pick up an old Navy buddy of mine to take him trout fishing north of Albany. I was driving my RV a Road Track with Florida plates.
I was stopped by the cops for speeding, something I never do.They told me I was going 35 in a 25 mph zone. I smelled a rat when I saw the second cop with his hand on his pistol. I got out of the van with insurance papers, liscence, and registration..
After keeping me there for 35 minutes while they checked me out with everybody but interpol, up came the car with the dope dog smelling out the window. The beast walked around the van and the cops told me the dog reacted and they wanted to search my van. I told them no and get a warrant.They started in on me asking what I had to hide and told me if they had to get a warrant I would be there all night. I smiled and said get a warrant.
At last they told me to get the hell out of Queens. I told them that was no problem. They followed me to my friend`s house and tried to hassle him.
What they wanted was to find my 357 in the glove box. They knew that I was from Florida and in an RV so I most likely had a gun and by the way they were black and brown and I am white. If I had let them search I would have done a year in jail for protecting myself.
Charles B. Tiffany
Kissimmee, Florida
Posted by Charles B. Tiffany at 11:45 PM on May 25
Minorities whine about wrong-way stop sign profiling:
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/may/25/wrong-way-walking-stops-stir-profiling-worries/?news&imw=Y
Posted by at 12:16 AM on May 26
Kellie wrote:
“If you have nothing to hide from the Police, why worry about being stopped by them?”
You sure seem to have a lot of faith in the police and in the laws of the U.S. Kelly. Being stopped by the police is no fun even if you have done nothing wrong. Secondly, there are many things that are harmless but still could cause you grief - for example a small amount of marijuana. Read Kathleen’s post above for other examples of how a police stop can be unpleasant even if you’ve done nothing wrong. At least some of the people in Guantanamo have done nothing wrong (otherwise, why are they being released?). With your mentality, Kellie, it’s smooth going down the path of tyranny and a police state.
Posted by jewamongyou at 12:57 AM on May 26
What this socialist author fails to realize is that these black and hispanic subjects are “harassed” in disproportionate numbers because they meake themselves available to police more so than any other ethnic or racial groups. For no logical reason, blacks and hispanics will loiter in areas known for narcotics violations and roam the streets at all hours of the day and night. I know this because I have lived in such areas myself, and I worked in these neighborhoods as a law enforcement officer. So, why aren’t whites confronted in similar fashion by police? Is it a racist conspiracy? Are the cops out to get minorities? Of course not; it’s because you don’t have the same tell-tale signs of criminal activity in “white” neighborhoods in the same frequency. This does not mean that there is not drug activity in affluent areas- on the contrary- it’s that persons living in such areas do their dirt indoors. If kids were loitering on street corners in the suburbs, you could bet that the cops would get called, regardless of the race of the subjects.
Posted by JH at 2:17 AM on May 26
Stupid leftists. Here is their logic: When the Constitution allows private ownership of guns it must be protested and ignored. When the Constitution allows free speech they disagree with the speaker must be sanction or jailed. When the Constitution prohibits unreasonable search and siezure it needs to be upheld. Must be a tough job being a leftist keeping all these moral correct opinions straight.
Posted by Amsterdamsky at 6:27 AM on May 26
Kellie,
Your question is the same one that was used by government agencies in order to justify setting up video surveillance cameras in public places. Sorry to disagree, but the ”If you are not doing anything wrong…” justification is no justification at all in a supposed free society.
Kathleen,
Why did the cops have to tell you ”3 times” (your words) to put your hands on the car? Just curious. The tone of your commentary seems very anti-police and maybe the defiance that you projected at the scene, such as not placing your hands on the car when ordered to do so, gave the impression that you were not some innocent citizen being falsely accused. I wasn’t there, of course, but if what you say is true, I suspect that the failure to put your hands on the car when told to do so was not your first act of defiance during the officers investigation. Furthermore, what do you think happens in ”the hood” when someone doesn’t immediately put their hands on the car when told to do so. Most on AmRen that have been around awhile know that I worked in the Gang Unit for several years and am a straight up guy. I can tell you that you got two more chances than those that I and my squad dealt with. I’m not saying it was right or wrong regarding your arrest. What I am saying is that the place to challenge the officers is not in a Walmart parking lot. Take them AND THE CITY to civil court if you felt you were wronged. Just make sure that the Walmart video that you mentioned shows you in a positive light. Remember, the tape will show EVERYTHING, including YOUR actions as well.
Posted by Cop at 8:14 PM on May 26
Jew Among You and Charles Tiffany are correct:
The fact is that none of us should condone police misconduct. We could become the victim of it.
Posted by Jack at 3:16 AM on May 27
“What they wanted was to find my 357 in the glove box. They knew that I was from Florida and in an RV so I most likely had a gun and by the way they were black and brown and I am white. If I had let them search I would have done a year in jail for protecting myself.”
Hmm, isn’t that BIGOTRY on part of the Queens’ constabulary? I knew a Black guy at Lucent who said that one time a cop just went up to him and patted him, apparently looking for a conceal weapon.
Posted by at 11:13 AM on May 27
That claim of police ‘harasssing’ Afro-American and/or Hispanic youths would not have any connection with the REALITY members both racial groups (adults AND non-adults together) commit about 90% of the crime in America today?
Given that truth, why would police ‘harass’ Whites knowing full well Blacks and Hispanics are the criminals running loose?
Posted by Fed Up at 1:12 PM on May 27
“Charles Tiffany [is] correct:
The fact is that none of us should condone police misconduct. We could become the victim of it.”
Posted by Jack
—————————————
To the contrary, in this case, C. Tiffany was the one breaking the law - as he himself acknowledged. The police were doing their job and they were behaving within the law, which Tiffany was NOT. They were also onto something, and Tiffany admitted they were correct.
Tiffany, as an attorney, should certainly know, if anyone, that you do not have the option of breaking whatever laws you don’t like. If he doesn’t want to comply with New York law, then he should stay out of New York. But if you break the law, then take the consequences; don’t whine and blame the police for doing their job. They have no choice about what law is in effect; they are just there to enforce it. That is what police do.
There is, of course, such a thing as police misconduct. This was not an instance of it. Nowhere did Tiffany even allege any improper conduct. In his case, the illegal conduct was on his part. He was lucky to have avoided arrest. By the fact that he stated he “would have done a year in jail”, he reveals that he knew exactly what the law was and that he was violating it deliberately. His post, coming from an attorney, a profession committed to upholding the law, one who doubtless prosecuted many others, was a disgrace.
Posted by beenthere at 1:40 PM on May 27
>>>Jew Among You and Charles Tiffany are correct:
The fact is that none of us should condone police misconduct.
While I can’t argue the logic here, I noted Tiffany’s comment that the cops here were Blacks and Hispanics… WHITE cops are far less likely to abuse their power. Sure, it does happen, but not nearly as often as misconduct by Non-White police officers.
Posted by Fed Up at 1:57 PM on May 27
Guess what. The U.S Supreme Court couldn’t care less about such frivolous stops as long as any law at all was broken. Pretty logical unless the Court declares some laws can be enforced and others cannot. In which case the Supremes would be pretty darn busy sorting out which is which.
Posted by MikeH at 4:57 PM on May 27
This “harassement” is exactly why the crime rate has gone so much in NY. Remember what trying to live in Brooklyn, the Bronx or Queens was 20 years ago? Remember when taking the subway after dark was a nightmare of fear and intimadation due to black and hispanic thugs?
And with affirmative action most of the police are black and hispanic, so there can be no racism in their riding herd on the deviant and criminal members of their own communities.
Keep it up!!!!! Go NYPD, even if most of you are affirmative action hires.
Posted by at 10:07 PM on May 27
“His post, coming from an attorney, a profession committed to upholding the law, one who doubtless prosecuted many others, was a disgrace.”
On the other hand, why do people on the juries continually support anti-gun laws? Why don’t they finally say NO with jury nullification that they are sick, SICK of the police and their gun control? Remember even COPPERS like Massab Ayoob carried handguns ILLEGALLY when OUTSIDE of their jurisdiction.
I say those in anti-gun jurisdictions respond affirmatively to jury summons; YOU may be lucky enough to get a case where you can tell the government and police to stick their gun control where the sun don’t shine!
Posted by at 10:26 PM on May 27
I was once pulled over for speeding at about 95 in a 75 zone in Arizona. The state trooper merely asked me where my guns were. I told him I had a .45” in the glove compartment and an AK-47 in the trunk. All he said was “slow down a bit.”
I did.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 4:37 AM on May 28
“I say those in anti-gun jurisdictions respond affirmatively to jury summons; YOU may be lucky enough to get a case where you can tell the government and police to stick their gun control where the sun don’t shine!”
Posted by at 10:26 PM on May 27
You’re mistaken in telling the police it’s “their gun control”.
They’re just doing a job, which is what cops are paid to do.
It’s the politician’s gun control. If you don’t like the law, then put the blame where it belongs. Tell it to the politicians. The cops take too much abuse for doing other people’s work. They don’t pass the laws, they’re just paid to enforce them.
Posted by at 12:11 PM on May 28
So harrassment is the new word for breaking the law? I get it.
Posted by at 1:14 PM on May 28
“You’re mistaken in telling the police it’s “their gun control”.
They’re just doing a job, which is what cops are paid to do. “
No, I’m not. Why did President Clinton ALWAYS surround himself with coppers whenever pushing for assault weapon bans and other gun control? Why do police chiefs regularly regurgitate all sorts of gun control like “being outgunned” by assault weapons in the streets? It’s because the police WANT more gun control.
“It’s the politician’s gun control. If you don’t like the law, then put the blame where it belongs. Tell it to the politicians. The cops take too much abuse for doing other people’s work. They don’t pass the laws, they’re just paid to enforce them.”
Well, you must think I’m stupid. Why does New Jersey have all the gun laws that they have? It’s because the police back up ALL the anti-gun proposals whenever there are legislative debates. In Illinois, we have a running joke about how the Illinois State Rifle Association is basically an arm of the police; it’s why we still have the FOID card. The police want it. Why do now have laws against the mail-order purchase of high powered air guns that also requires showing an IL FOID card? How does such a “concern” even get on the legislative agenda? “Police concerns?” One town’s police chief even pushed for and got a GUN REGISTRATION law. Why did Massad Ayoob carry a handgun ILLEGALLY when outside of his jurisdiction?
Because he was relying on “professional courtesy” if he was ever caught to get him out of hot water. Yes, he was relying on “police descretion.” So when you state the police are just enforcing the law, I laugh.
Posted by at 8:35 AM on May 29
The police are people like the rest of us. They are not robots, and so they have the aility to refuse to enforce unjust or anti-constitutional laws.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 9:18 AM on May 29