‘American Cop’ posed this question to law enforcement in the June edition of its magazine: “WOULD YOU, personally, go out and confiscate firearms from law abiding citizens — even if it goes against your personal opinion regarding the constitutional rights of citizens — on the order of an administrative leader of your agency? Would you put your foot down and say, ‘No, that’s not legal, it’s not right, and I won’t do it’ — all the while risking being disciplined or fired? Or would you simply do your duty, as it were? ‘I was only following orders.’
“Don’t think you could never be in such a position, just look at New Orleans after the hurricane, when the city cops, following orders, did that very thing.”
Some of the responses from members of law enforcement:
“I would quit first. Unlawful orders are not to be obeyed.”
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“I would refuse. Further, I would order my officers to disobey such an order. We have no responsibility to obey unlawful orders.”
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“I don’t think it would be as simple as all that. Illegal orders are either done gradually and incrementally, or are cloaked in some distracting emergency, so they seem to have at least some legitimacy. Overlapping authority, even military involvement is not out of the question. The people who would do such a thing are nothing if not crafty. By the time you realize they are out to get you, they have got you.”
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“Absolutely I would and for several reasons.
1st. my job is on the line. I may not like it, but I will follow orders. If I don’t and someone is killed because of my inaction to follow orders, I may be left high and dry by my dept.
2nd. I have a gun. I will get to keep my gun. Nobody will take my gun home because I am the law. I will take your gun. See #1 above.
3rd. I believe in the Constitution, but it is a living document. With the way gangs and illegals are today, I want all the guns off the street. Only law enforcement should own guns. You don’t have the ability or desire to train and be proficient with a weapon. A single shot shotgun is about all you need for home defense and I’m really pushing my comfort zone to accept that.
4th. I will confiscate any weapon I find. You have a gun? You have a permit? Your gun is mine. I’ll let you spend a few thousand dollars with the judge to get your gun back if you really want it that bad. It doesn’t cost me a thing to confiscate your weapon, but it will cost you lots of time and lots of money to get it back. If need to depending on the weapon I may add charges even if I have to make them up to keep you away from the gun.
5th. I am sick of the .gov is coming after us. I know barrel jerkers like so many gun nuts are hoarding guns and ammo. Keep it up, because when we do come for them, I already know your neighbors won’t support you. Why? Because I am the law. You are guilty till the judge tells me you are not.”
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“If you think I’m going to let my wife and kids go hungry because I got fired rather than round up some redneck’s high powered assault weapons, you’re a dumba**”.
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Nope, no way. My agency made me swear an oath to the constitution when I hired on, and I seem to remember something waay back in the academy even in which the “I was only following orders” excuse was given drubbing it deserved.
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“I would recommend everyone read John Ross’ Unintended Consequences to get an idea of how to deal with ‘public servants’ who have forgotten who there masters are.”
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“Thank you all for your comments. So far, I confess they are going as I anticipated, except for the posting by “Omar Little.” If indeed he is an officer, his is the response I fear the most. The sense of entitlement I’ve noticed among some officers does not bode well for the future. “I have mine, so to hell with you” seems to be the common thread among them.
The founding fathers did, indeed, risk life and property (and many lost both) in their quest to found this country. I’m honestly not sure some (many?) of today’s LE officers are made of the same stuff. Apparently, from the tone of a few of these posts, it seems they are not.
I too think if it comes (as it is happening all the time) gun confiscation will arrive quietly in the form of taxes, garnished wages, utilities taxed until guns are turned in, ammo with 5,000 percent tax added, and who knows what else they’ll think of. I honestly doubt cops will ever try to physically confiscate guns … there would simply be too many dead cops, too fast. They’ll back-door it. But as officers, I wonder, will we watch it happening and sit idly by? Too afraid to lose our wave runner in the garage, or our paid vacations to say, ‘Hey wait, you can’t do that.’
Your thoughts?
I’ll follow-up in a future issue with some of the posted comments.“
Roy Huntington
Publisher ‘American Cop’
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Read the original article and comments HERE.
on September 30th. It must be renewed in order for the doors to stay open in Washington. The CR is the best chance we will get to withdraw funds from ObamaCare. This can be done by attaching bills by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) or Congressman Tom Graves (R-GA) to the CR, which will totally defund ObamaCare.
