Thursday, July 15, 2010



Tried and failed

In the wake of Tuesday's incident in which two police officers were shot and a police dog killed, police have been pushing for greater access to firearms, with a demand for guns in every car. This, apparently, would have ensured that Tuesday's shooting had never happened (or would have resulted in a death of a person rather than just a dog). But there's a small problem:

A police dog handler had a firearm in his truck but chose not to pick it up before going into a house where he and another officer were shot.
So, these police were already effectively under the policy the police want to impose nationwide. It didn't help. So much for more guns being the solution.

But then, its clear that the policy change isn't just aimed at increasing access to firearms - its aimed at increasing their use, making the police comfortable with using them whenever they feel like it, and making us comfortable with that. And we shouldn't accept that. The police work for us. We should be dictating the boundaries to them, not the other way around.