Posted on 08/16/2011 7:00:40 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Young children attending a festival in Santa Rosa's South Park neighborhood Saturday were allowed to handle weapons used by the city's SWAT team, causing some to question the appropriateness of such a display at a family event promoting safe communities.
Photos taken at the event show a Santa Rosa police officer talking with a group of youths as a young boy holds a fully-automatic assault rifle while looking through its sniper scope. Another shows a boy perhaps as young as 5 years old grabbing the grip of a riot gun on a table covered with gear beside the city's SWAT command vehicle.
The images, which were circulated by email among a group of concerned citizens, were forwarded to Santa Rosa City Councilwoman Marsha Vas Dupre, who said she was “alarmed and devastated” by the display and questioned the judgment shown by police.
Attila Nagy, who snapped the photos and circulated them, said he's in favor of community outreach by the police, but thinks they'd get a better response if they left their military-grade arsenal at home.
“What are young people learning from this?” Nagy asked. “No matter how you justify it, no matter how you twist it, it's the promotion of violence.”
But police and event organizers defended the display as a successful community outreach effort that is in line with the department's efforts to demystify law enforcement generally and its SWAT team in particular.
“We encourage our cops to get out of the car and interact with the community,” Police Chief Tom Schwedhelm said.
The South Park Day and Night Festival is put on by the Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County, a social service agency that works to improve the lives of low-income families. The South Park neighborhood adjacent to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds is one of the city's poorest. The event in Martin Luther King Jr. Park, which is in its third year, included music, activities for kids, booths about health resources, and an evening movie.
The SWAT display included the SWAT command vehicle, several police officers with SWAT training, and a military-style personnel carrier the public was allowed to enter. Officers also had a police dog on hand.
The fully-automatic rifle is a variant of an M-16. The weapon on the table in the photo is called a sage gun that fires “less-than-lethal” rounds, Schwedhelm said. Both were unloaded. Other gear on display included a bulletproof shield, helmet, gas mask and pry bar.
The department has participated in the event for three years, and the community response has been positive, Schwedhelm said. One officer who patrols the area used the opportunity to play soccer with kids. Children and adults got to pet a police dog. And the SWAT display included the weapons they use.
“Whether you like it or not, our police have guns,” Schwedhelm said.
Elaine Holtz said she was shocked to see children encouraged to play with deadly weapons at the event.
Holtz is a member of the city's Community Advisory Board who was staffing its booth when she wandered down to the SWAT area. At first she saw children playing in what she called the “tank” and didn't have any problem with that.
“Then I turned around here's this child holding a semi-automatic rifle,” Holtz said. “That's when the grandmother and the mother in me really thought ‘Wait a minute.'”
Holtz said she asked the officer, Perry Plattus, what the goal of the display was, and he responded that it was for “gun control,” Holtz recalled.
But for young people already exposed to violent video games and gun violence in their own neighborhood, Holtz said she doesn't see how letting children handle real-life weapons fosters gun control.
“Why even put that kind of fantasy into a young person's mind?” she said.
Just like a K-9 demonstration showing the swift attack of a police dog can help educate people not to run from them, a display of SWAT firepower can have a way of teaching people that “this is not a weapon to be messed around with,” Schwedhelm said.
“Why do you think the police have weapons like this? It's because that's what's needed to make the community safer,” he said.
The police presence was welcomed by residents, some of whom were concerned about attending an evening event in their park, said Oscar Chavez, executive director of Community Action Partnership.
“It was because they knew that there was going to be a strong police presence that we had such a good turnout,” Chavez said.
Really? Send this idiot reporter to a weapons class!
The fully-automatic rifle is a variant of an M-16. The weapon on the table in the photo is called a sage gun that fires “less-than-lethal” rounds, Schwedhelm said. Both were unloaded.
There's your problem! They're not really effective when they're not loaded! Load em and let the little shavers send a few rounds down range!
Where, in the depths of a diseased mind, does this shiite come from?
If kids knew more about proper firearms handling and safety, as well as marksmanship and ownership, THE COMMUNITIES WOULD ALREADY BE SAFE!
This is a proven technique. It's the way things USED to be.
When I was in High School, US Army soldiers brought an RPG launcher, an M16, and other assorted hardware for us to handle. =) It was a great day and no one complained.
It sounds like they are learning the mere sight of an object can cause some people to mess their pants.
Maybe that a well-armed police force can put down rioters so we don't have English-style mayhem on our shores?
Attila? Attila???!!!
Could it possibly be that Attila is the heir to a pair of commie lib hippie dopers...???
Most probably haven't read Heinlein and don't get the quote.
But it puts you on top of my prayer list for 'something especially good'(tm) to happen to you.
Thanks for the post.
/johnny
Luv Heinlein
It’s not like the guns were loaded were they? I’d rather my kid know and understand the differences between real guns and toy guns. Hopefully seeing that law enforcement uses them shows that they are serious things and not to play with..
Not long ago I attended a WWII “live” exhibit at a local museum. Soldiers were dressed in GI and Wehrmacht uniforms from WWII with authentic M1s, Mausers, assorted machine guns, personnel carriers and other original equipment. These guys had gone to a lot of trouble to obtain the real stuff.
I asked one German soldier if I could hold his Mauser, to which he readily agreed. Then a small boy asked to see it, whereupon the fellow works the bolt action and hands the kid the rifle. I saw the cartridge slam home as he secured the bolt. Somewhat shocked, I asked the guy, “You do know that rifle is loaded, don’t you?” He did reassure me that the cartridges were fake. I like the idea of kids learning to use firearms properly but I couldn’t believe someone would hand a kid a loaded rifle without knowing that he had been trained on its use.
Ahhhh... the way things used to be. When I was in Boy Scouts years ago, we had an annual camp out dubbed the “Shoot Out.” A number of parents in the troop were active or retired LEOs, and even more were hunters. The parents brought their firearms (and bows), and us kids learned proper handling and operation... shot skeet, fired handguns, shotguns, rifles and witnessed some pretty cool demonstrations with collectors pieces from the 30s. I remember being impressed that the rifles could penetrate a sizeable oak tree and split rocks behind it. The goal each year was to bring down the tree with the rifle target by the end of the weekend. Of course, the camp outs at Ft Riley were pretty damned impressive too... MUCH bigger guns out there :)
Nagy is a well-known Hungarian surname. Attila is a common name across eastern Europe, the Balkans, Turkey and eastward.
Imre Nagy tried to lead Hungary out of the Communist Bloc in 1956 and was later executed. Ladislav Nagy was a skilled and productive player for nine years in the NHL. Charles Nagy was the ace of the Cleveland Indians in the 1990s.
Attila (Father) Nagy (great). Great Father. Kemosabe.
Any questions?
And then there is John Gnagy, a television art instructor of the 1940s and 1950s. “Learn to Draw with John Gnagy” drawing kits (with charcoal, erasers, and book) used to be sold in the hobby section of some toy stores.
The pitcher pronounced it Naggy. But, as I recall, the Imre was Nawge (rhymes with garage).
This particular Attila could be of Hungarian heritage. But, given the area, I'm not giving up on the commie lib hippie doper parents, either.
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