Posted on 07/05/2013 1:38:26 PM PDT by Q-ManRN
I grew up in a liberal family in the northeast reading comic books. My family did not own a gun and we would have been appalled at the thought of owning one. After all, we lived in a nation of law and order with police to protect us.
Guns were an unnecessary risk unless you were a police officer. Children were accidentally killed playing with guns belonging to negligent parents. Hunters were quaint throwbacks to an age before supermarkets trying to relive an age gone by.
The police were like comic book superheroes. They were ever-watchful and everywhere swooping down on hapless criminals. The criminals never stood a chance against those superheroes. And we had an army of superheroes, not just one superhero with a geeky sidekick!
Then, things got even better! 9-1-1 appeared. Now, an average citizen could summon superheroes from their own home. There was no need to wait for someone else to send out the call for help. Superheroes could be at your house or location in minutes restoring law and order.
And the police always represented the highest ideals of law and order by adhering to the superhero’s code of conduct. The base immorality and corruption that plagued lesser men and women could not touch them. Even if the police did make a mistake, they could be excused because of their mighty deeds as the Guardians of Peace and Justice.
In contrast to police, criminals were simply misguided individuals that made poor choices. They simply needed to be shown the error of their ways. And who better to show them than the superhero police who were paragons of virtue. In the face of such virtue, criminals would be forced to reconsider their wayward ways.
And like super-villains, those criminals that continued making poor choices were doomed to a never-ending series of defeats at the hands of police. Thus, law and order, peace and justice, always prevailed with the help of the police. I felt safe and secure with them protecting me.
Having shared my point of view as a child about police being like superheroes, I want to make two very important points as an adult:
1. I have the greatest respect for the police and the demanding and dangerous job that they perform.
2. I would never suggest that our society should not have police to enforce the rule of law.
Nevertheless, I had an experience that caused me to question my perceived safety and security. More on that experience in Part II of this ten part series of posts.
Please see the first post in a series of ten posts that I am writing entitled “Confessions of an Ex-Liberal Gun Owner” in the General/Chat blog.
Ten weeks! The timeline is too long how about one a day?
C’mon, now, good writers need time to get the right words together...;^)
Obligatory Whining about blog pimping to follow soon...
>>I would never suggest that our society should not have police to enforce the rule of law.<<
Why not? In much of the Western USA the police agencies are mostly around to write reports and serve warrants...much the same as their professional ancestors (the ‘Shire Reeves’) of England. It falls to the citizens to protect themselves and it often falls to the citizens to enforce the law.
Point of fact: Many Midwest and Western counties use non-professional volunteer and part-time citizen deputies for law enforcement. Up until the advent of the professional police about 175 years ago the world did just fine without them.
Given that today you are more likely to be WRONGFULLY killed by a police officer than by a law abiding citizen then there’s an argument that our streets would be safer without squads of machine-gun toting, tank driving, grenade throwing, puppy killing, black-clad gangsters roving them and invading people’s homes without warrants.
Posse Comitatus was supposed to keep the military off of our streets and anymore the police ARE a military and what’s worse is where they investigate their own abuses they are truly unaccountable to anyone for their crimes.
Get rid of the police departments but keep the elected sheriffs who are at least held accountable to the people when they stand to election and re-election.
Agree. One a week is too long a time. People will forget what you wrote last week. One a day or one every other day would be better.
Was never much for comic books but seeing the crime waves and riots of the 1960s changed my mind about gun ownership.
Hello Megan, You make good points regarding the abuses by police and the militarization of the civilian police force. I will discuss the police more in upcoming posts.
I believe in a local civilian police force with Constitutionally limited enforcement capabilities which includes things like volunteer deputies. I was speaking in absolute terms about having no police force at all as in no sheriffs or deputies.
I would also agree that we need civilian oversight of internal investigations of the police.
Fair enough! How about a few posts a week? Next post due soon.
Howdy Gonzo! He says “Hello” back.
The evolution of urban police into a paramilitary force is disturbing. To watch the Boston cops shut down a whole city is not only alarming, it portends more martial law episodes at the drop of a hat. A few years ago we had a standoff near our house here in west Orlando and the police shut off the whole boulevard for a whole day - a major traffic feeder to the interstate and the I-Drive - Disney attractions. I am not necessarily opposed, but it gives one pause.
Our local sheriff has APC's, fully automatic weapons, helicopters, drones, etc. Our traffic is like the wild west because they have no time or money for traffic enforcement; red light-running is rampant, and people do not even slow down for stopped school buses or school zones. The police priorities have moved on elsewhere.
Around here we discussed a scandalous murder from the 70's for twenty years; now we cannot even remember who killed who a week ago. The police are faced with a growing challenge and threat... yet we cannot set aside our Constitution and our comfort for the convenience of law enforcement. Perhaps active civilian review boards are essential, with subpoena power and power for criminal referrals.
Perilous times... Hi, gonzo!!!
5.56mm
AND...please provide (as applicable) links to all previous Parts I-X
Sure thing. Thank you for your interest. So far, I have only posted parts I & II.
PART I of X http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3039507/posts
PART II of X http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3039789/posts
Thanks. That helps and I tested the links.
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