Posted on 01/25/2013 2:47:47 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
MARION, Iowa - A plan to arm every Marion patrol officer with an assault rifle is certainly getting lots of attention a day after a city council decision.
Marion’s chief, Harry Daugherty, told members of the city council Thursday night that he feared criminals could out gun police in certain situations. And patrol officers were even willing to pay for the $2,000 AR-15 rifles out of their own pockets.
The council agreed with the purchase plan and police in Marion should have 25 more semi-automatic rifles on hand in about 60 days. The total price tag, with accessories, will run about $50,000. But the question of whether the city will ask officers to pay isn’t settled yet.
Chief Daugherty said the reason the request got so much attention is pretty obvious. It came after the recent school shooting in Connecticut and the current national debate about assault rifles. But it’s actually an idea police in Marion had talked about for some time.
The chief said his department already has a number of AR-15 rifles, which is the civilian version of the military’s M-16. However, only special response officers routinely had access to such weapons. The idea is to put them in every Marion patrol car so the first office on the scene of an active shooter could respond.
“It’s strictly to make sure my people are as armed as the assailant they’re trying to take down if it’s an active shooter,” Daugherty said.
Marion officers like Lieutenant Mark Merta believed strongly in the need for more firepower. Ninety percent of Marion patrol officers voted to have the purchase price deducted from paychecks over 18 months. Paying for service weapons is actually the norm in Marion and officers already buy their own handguns.
The city council approved the purchase Thursday night but will have another meeting February 21st to decide who actually pays.
“It really won’t make a difference either way for the officers because officers want the rifles. So if the city did pay for it, that would make them happy, yes,” Lt. Merta said.
If officers do pay, they’d actually own the weapon customized for them and could take it if they left the job.
Regardless of the financing, one gun dealer applauded the decision.
Ernie Traugh, owner of Cedar Valley Outfitters, said “it’s easier to shoot, it’s more precise and that lessens their liability and they’ll have a better chance of stopping the bad guy.”
Marion’s plan to put assault rifles in patrol cars is not a radical policing idea. In fact, both the Cedar Rapids Police Department and the Linn County Sheriff’s Office did that years ago.
But Marion’s chief said the stir caused by the news might have one benefit. Friday morning, he received offers from two people to pay for the assault rifles so officers wouldn’t have to.
This is an untroubled suburb of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Are they expecting an alien invasion? An uprising of citizens angry over stoplight camera tickets?
They should be armed with comfy pillows, binkies & snacks teenage hookers like.
Marion Keystones are famous for napping on duty and giving rides to bars.
It was a local Tea Partier who snapped a photo of an on duty Keystone dozing away in his cruiser. Guess who got into trouble with the locals: hint - it wasn’t Sleeping Beauty.
Will post a link soon...
What out Fido. They are giving Barney Fife Child killing atuomatic weapons that according to the left wingers will lead to mass shootings. God help the children and pets of Marion. Let’s hope for the sake of the children they are limited to mags that hold less than 7.
First...we’ve got to stop calling them assault rifles, or assault weapons. Letting the libs control the terms used in the debate is what gives them the first advantage.
These are sporting rifles, or defensive firearms, or ergonomically designed firearms, or family protectors, or anti-tyranny weapons.
ANYTHING but ‘assault weapons’...
My nephew just let me take a crash course in shooting his this weekend and I loved it. I told my husband that I want one of my own, he told me that I already have one, he just never told me before because he didn’t think I’d be too interested. Well I am!
Officer Friendly is a long-time-gone memory. Not sure what he’s been replaced by but the acronym JBT comes to mind.
Here is a YouTube interview with Harry Daugherty, police chief of Marion, Iowa, by a member of (Bloomberg’s group) Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsO8CZpefag
And the bigger the city and the more political the chief of police, the worse it gets.
In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Plan to Arm Marion Police Officers with AR-15s Getting Plenty of Attention, PubliusMM wrote:
First...we’ve got to stop calling them assault rifles, or assault weapons. Letting the libs control the terms used in the debate is what gives them the first advantage.
These are sporting rifles,
For police work I don’t like them because you may need a multi-round clip to stop a perp. When one 35.7, 38,45, or 30 cal round will do it in a heartbeat or a Magnum will kill a car.
Not radical at all. In my little town of Pflugerville, TX the cops all have S.U.R.'s in their car trunks.
About 15 years ago, the police went to a gun shop to buy the “assault rifles” they needed to bring to a halt the BOA bank robbery in California. Los Angeles?
You’re absolutely right about the “assault” tag. I just wrote a dissertaion on the word on another thread.
That’s just ridiculous. Everyone knows by now that it should only take 2-4 shots to take down a robber....
If it’s good enough for the donut munchers in Marion, it ought to be good enough for the proles out here in hicksville. After all, if the cops call for armed backup, it usually arrives within three minutes of so. If we call 911, we are lucky if help arrives within 15.
To liberals, “assault weapons” have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people, which is why the police need them to kill large numbers of people…for some reason.
Good enough for police..........
Good enough for “government officials”...........
Then it is good enough for ME!
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