New York Police Benevolent Association President Mike O’Meara may have cracked a code Tuesday during impassioned remarks at a press event in which he defended rank-and-file police officers and declared that the fired Minneapolis cop now charged in the death of George Floyd “killed someone, we didn’t.”
Yet, he observed, all police are now painted with the proverbial broad brush.
Perhaps at some small rural gun range or maybe an urban gun store, some gun owner in New York or Washington, California or New Jersey is muttering, “Welcome to the party.”
Law-abiding gun owners have faced the same type of “shaming”—perhaps from some of the same legislators and members of the media—now being applied to police and sheriff’s deputies across the map in the wake of the Minneapolis incident.
———————————————-
BULLETIN: The National Rifle Association has announced it will hold its annual members’ meeting—as required by association bylaws—in Springfield, Missouri at the Springfield Expo Center on Saturday, Sept. 5, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
That is the Labor Day weekend.
The newspaper quoted Dana Maugans, director of sales with the Springfield Visitors and Convention Bureau, who said NRA has reserved a large space (Halls A, B and C) to allow for social distancing. The meeting is expected to attract anywhere from 1,000 to 1,250 people, the newspaper said.
———————————————-
Lawmakers are considering more restraints on police because of the Floyd case. To gun owners, such a reaction is typical in the aftermath of a highly-publicized shooting. Every gun owner is held responsible by the gun prohibition lobby.
O’Meara, holding up his badge, said it “still shines.” Translation: there is no tarnish on it.
Owners of modern sporting rifles, for example, could point to their firearms and declare there is no blood on them, either.
Days ago in cities around the Northwest—at least three in Washington and one in Idaho—armed citizens turned out to discourage violent protests and protect their business communities. Not surprisingly, none of these communities experienced any violence.
As reported Tuesday at Conservative Firing Line, there is now a backlash against these armed citizens.
Backlash against police now includes cancellation of the long-running (33 years) program “COPS” by the Paramount Network. According to Deadline.com, the series was “pulled last week in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death” and “will not be coming back.”
Likewise, A&E has reportedly pulled episodes of its hit “docuseries” titled “LivePD.”
By some estimates, more than 100 million U.S. citizens own firearms. Annually, less than 15,000 guns are involved in homicides, according to recent annual FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
Yet when some individual commits a horrendous act, every gun owner gets penalized. More red tape may be added to the purchasing process. There may be an effort to register and eventually ban the guns they legally purchased and now own. In essence the blame is spread around.
Peaceful protesters have been insisting their demonstrations have been hijacked by troublemakers. All protesters, they contend, should not be considered responsible for vandalism, looting and property destruction.
If only they would apply that same logic to police officers and gun owners.
