Let's disarm our police officers to solve the crime problem. Now THERE'S a BAD idea! This "brilliant" idea has sprung from the mind of a Burlington, Vermont's city council, Perri Freeman at a recent city council meeting whose IQ, I'm sure, isn't quite approaching double figures but she's somehow become an elected official. I probably don't have to tell you she's a progressive Democrat and we're talking about Vermont--the California of the east coast. Freeman (shouldn't that be "Freeperson?") says she knows it's unrealistic right now--at least she has that much sense--but she says it's a topic for dialogue about police training and expectations of their officers. Freeman made the point that a lot of countries don't arm their police officers including the U-K, Ireland and Iceland--and we know how crime-ridden Iceland is. Freeman is quoted on WCAX saying, "I started thinking (and I use the term loosely) critically about what is the next step in terms of policing practices, whether that's having more sophisticated training for officers, having a different expectation."
Question for you: what the heck is "more sophisticated training?" What the heck are "different expectation(s)?": I've heard politicians say really stupid stuff, especially since the Democretins have 40 or 50 candidates running for president and there's still Up-Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pulousy with a constant stream of stupidity. But this takes the proverbial cake. As you might imagine the head of Burlington's police officers union Dan Gilligan thinks the woman has lost her feeble mind. Remember six Philadelphia police officers got shot trying to serve a warrant. So let's make police work more dangerous. Freeman does agree that there are times when police do need a gun like those mass shootings but her attitude is, "the day in and day out of police work is not engaging with that." And which "day" will they need one, Ms. Freeman? My dad was in the billboard biz back in the 60s and shortly after seat belts became standard equipment in autos the industry came out with a PSA poster that went up all over the country showing a driver in a car seat buckled up asking the question: "You man need your seatbelt only once...but which 'once?'" A cop may need his gun only once during his entire career but which day and time would that be? Case-in-point, one of our iconic law enforcement officers, the late-great Al St. Lawrence served us for over 40 years starting as a Chatham County Police officer, rose to become the chief, then became our sheriff for years more before retiring. He never had to draw his sidearm while a fellow officer he attended the academy with had to use deadly force on a bad guy his first month on the job...you never know.
Any cop will tell you their most dangerous moments are traffic stops--you don't know what to expect from the stranger you've pulled over sometimes in the dark of night and in the middle of nowhere--and domestic calls. Two Beaufort County deputies were shot and killed on a domestic call a few years back. Freeman doesn't seem to get the concept of when a cop needs a gun. And by the way, police in the U-K are begging to start carrying sidearms with the huge spike in violent crime there. Some of our police departments here have been sending their U-K counterparts used protective vests trying to help them out. Freeman says it's just something for debate in the city and state that launched Bernie Sanders' political career. Vermont seems to be in another universe, the home of left-wing ice cream, Ben & Jerry's. These two guys seemed to think that corporate executives really do make too much money and $50,000 was a fair salary. So when they retired they tried to hire someone at that figure. It was a total failure and they finally had to cough up a realistic salary to fill the post. Just another reason I don't spend $7.50 for a pint of Ben & Jerry's when Leopold's is much better for about $2 less and at the store, I can get a half-gallon of Blue Belle for about the same price and, at times, Publix and Kroger have it on sale for about $5.
So I guess the police cry in Burlington could be: "Hey Mr. Bad Guy, HALT while I go back to the precinct and go in my locker to get my gun, then stop by the vault to get the magazine and the ammo vault to get the bullets and I'll be back within the hour--don't go 'way!" RIGHT! Add some more time for the officer to fill out the paperwork too. One reader solved the drain on the law enforcement budget for Burlington--get rid of the police force all together to solve that budgetary burden. Wonder how she feels about our military carrying guns? The "Un-Armed Forces" has a nice ring to it does it not?
The irony? We used to laugh at these "useful idiots" as Lenin labeled them. 'Tain't funny anymore...these people have been voted into power. It brings back the warning to us call that echos down through the ions: "Those who do not participate in the political process will, sooner or later, find themselves ruled by their inferiors." Plato. Not a "new" concept!