Nightmare, I assure you that this old man is not trying to "play James Bond". I have NO illusions about being some kind of hero with a gun. What I am is unwilling to place my own safety in the hands of someone who has no plan to offset what they've done by disarming me. You're a cop. What are the average response times in your jurisdiction? I totally understand that, in an active shooter situation, I will not be able to get a folded carbine out of a briefcase and deployed anywhere near as fast as I can my handgun - assuming I'm allowed to have my handgun on me in that location - but I'm fairly certain that I can deploy the carbine before you or your brother officers show up in response to that same active shooter situation about 99.99% of the time.bblhd672 wrote:It's comical until a deranged person walks into a location where concealed and open carry of a handgun is prohibited. I'm sure that people who have been in those situations do not find the humor in it. Former Texas state Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp who was in the Luby's in Killeen in 1991 probably would disagree with your "comical" assessment.nightmare69 wrote:Also it's much easier to just become a reserve LEO and then 06/07 signs won't apply to you. I wouldn't go as far as carrying a concealed rifle in a briefcase unless I was Jason Bourne. It's comical really.
I also realize that the protocol (for me) with any gun I have with me, is to put the gun away when I can hear the sirens nearby or see LEOs rolling up. I don't want to be taken for the active shooter. But neither do I want to be defenseless before first responders can arrive to secure the situation. FWIW, I'm NOT, for the most part, carrying the carbine with, because I usually have a handgun instead. For me, the carbine-in-a-case exists so that I can enter a Mall to shop when it is posted; or to enter a business that I have to be at, when it is posted, and I cannot carry my pistol inside.
It's condescending when, from your position as an LEO where you can carry your sidearm everywhere you go, into places that WE are barred from carrying, and then you call it "comical" and denigrate others as wannabe James Bonds because we are trying to figure out a way to remain armed, while still complying with the law. It smells of the "us versus them" attitude that some LEO have toward perfectly decent citizens who have done nothing wrong and violated no laws......and in fact, pay their salaries. Frankly, now that you can carry anywhere you want to, it comes way too easy to say stuff like that, and it comes off as arrogant.
In my previous post in this thread, I wrote that I was making the assumption that most cops are rational. For instance, I've had nothing but good encounters with LEOs here in Grapevine, who've treated me exactly as one ought to treat a good citizen. None of them have betrayed a lick of condescension yet. My advice to you is, don't be THAT guy. You haven't been LEO that long yet. It wasn't that long ago that you were just one of us. Don't forget where you came from.
Cynicism is fine. The job demands a certain amount of it if you want to be an effective cop. But disrespecting your fellow citizens is never good.....not even disrespecting people you have to lock up. Unless someone is breaking the law, you've no call to invalidate their reasons for wanting to be armed in a lawful manner.
