Why are anti-gun activists so violent?
WLRN:
The Florida Sheriffs Association would not comment Thursday. But Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, a staunch opponent of open carry, said the four amendments wouldn’t make the bill acceptable to him — or safe for people who openly display their guns.
For instance, he said, if an officer arrives at the scene of a crime and sees someone with a weapon, “At a minimum, they’re going to be thrown down on the ground with a gun pointed at them — or worse.”
And if good citizen with a concealed weapon walks into, say, a bank during an armed robbery, Gualtieri added, “he’s going to take one in the chest because he’s a threat.“
I’m not a police officer and have never been one. But isn’t one aspect of police work doing actual, you know, police work. Seems to me that it wouldn’t be too difficult to determine if someone is or isn’t a threat before you go shooting them.
December 14th, 2015 at 7:41 pm
Maybe the Sheriff needs one bullet in his pocket, like Barney Fife. Keep the citizens safe in his jurisdiction and all.
December 14th, 2015 at 7:51 pm
And if good citizen with a concealed weapon walks into, say, a bank during an armed robbery, Gualtieri added, “he’s going to take one in the chest because he’s a threat.“
If he has a concealed weapon, how’s Gualtieri going to know, and think he’s a threat?
I mean, if he has X-Ray vision, he’s not a cop, he’s Superman.
Now, if the guy who walks in pulls it out and waves it around while the police are rushing in, I can understand the belief that he’s One Of The Armed Robbers, sure…
(Also, on arriving at a crime scene and “at minimum” being thrown on the ground?
I hope that doesn’t happen when it’s to a report of a citizen holding someone at gunpoint who was committing a felony.
Because “throw the guy who reported the crime down or maybe shoot them” is not the sort of automatic reaction that we want from our cops, so much, given that they’d be told that the person who called for them is holding someone at gunpoint.
I’m pretty sure they elect their Sheriffs down there, like everywhere else, so maybe he should think about it before the next election?)
December 14th, 2015 at 7:52 pm
It sounds like this Sheriff is more of a threat to honest people than any crook would ever be.
December 14th, 2015 at 7:54 pm
Dear Uncle,
Sounds like he needs a new job.
Peace, SYK
December 14th, 2015 at 8:14 pm
Bet that gets quoted in the next lawsuit…
December 14th, 2015 at 8:57 pm
It will be kinda hard to pay off the lawsuits if he gets jailed for assault and kidnapping. Any deputy who obeys his orders is a fool.
December 14th, 2015 at 9:13 pm
Unc,
I’m a cop and have been for 40 years. If a member of the agency I work for treated a lawful gun owner the way he advocates, he’d be fired. I know Pinellas is on the left coast of Florida, but there is a Sheriff I doubt gets reelected.
December 14th, 2015 at 10:03 pm
Scary-Black-Gun Carrying Lives Matter!
December 14th, 2015 at 11:20 pm
At best a Sheriff is a representative of the people who elect him.
At worst he’s nothing more than a political hack with a badge.
This one seems much worse than that.
December 15th, 2015 at 5:58 am
Well, Florida does attract the crazies, and they seem to get worse there. Something about all the heat baking the brain, I’m guessing, so maybe elected sheriffs should go back to wearing hats.
I wonder if Gualtieri realizes he’s initiated the process of placing cops – not just his deputies, but all LEOs – into the same threat category as armed criminals. If Deputy Joe poses the same lethal threat as Bad Bart why would Citizens John and Jane not resolve that threat in the same manner?
And, if LEOs actually do pose that kind of threat, to what level will citizen non-support of law enforcement rise?
December 15th, 2015 at 8:54 am
That idiot sheriff needs to be voted out of office.
December 15th, 2015 at 9:36 am
As Mike V. says upthread, it is the left coast of FLA. Surrounded by the relative conservatism of the electorate and media in Hillsborough/Tampa, Pinellas is literally an island of liberalism, as a side by side reading/review/comparison of the St. Pete Times and the Tampa Tribune will reveal…it’s as if they are reporting on different worlds entirely, and in many ways they are. St. Pete/Pinellas is to Central Fla. as D.C. is to Virginia, Chitown is to Illinois, and San Fran to northern Cali. I don’t go there.
December 15th, 2015 at 10:36 am
This can work both ways. If a cop rushes in with gun drawn can I assume he will try to kill me, so I should shoot him first in self defense? Not that I condone violence in any way against our boys in blue.
December 15th, 2015 at 1:30 pm
I always thought the core of policing was figuring out the good guys from the bad – and protecting the good. This guys seems calibrated for work in the Stasi.
December 17th, 2015 at 7:25 pm
The higher up the ladder of law enforcement they are, the more political they are, and the more they talk out their ass.
Now, street cops can be miserable thugs, I am not saying that the lower they are the better, but anyone who has the word “chief” in his job title, is a de facto politician.
December 17th, 2015 at 7:44 pm
And you can count on that.