Prosecutor blames legal carry for increased police shootings

[hirundo82]

There is an article in today's Houston Chronicle on an increase in the number of police shootings over last year. The number of fatalities has also increased (which may just mean police are getting more range time).

A number of theories are proposed, including the economy, residual effects from the crime wave following Hurricane Katrina, and simply random year-to-year variation.

However, Donna Hawkins, "prosecutor and spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office," has a different theory:

“I don't want to blame the Legislature, but the laws have become quite a bit more flexible about a person's ability to carry a weapon,” she said. “If more people have the access and it becomes easier to carry them, there tends to be more shooting and more situations involving police officers.”

Her wording is vague, so it is hard to tell if she is blaming CHL holders in paricular or if she thinks the Motorist Protection Act is to blame.
Either way, it is insulting that she thinks more people carrying legally is to blame for more people being shot by police--we all know the statistics on CHL holders being far more law-abiding than the general population.

[Mithras61]

Her wording is vague, so it is hard to tell if she is blaming CHL holders in paricular or if she thinks the Motorist Protection Act is to blame. Either way, it is insulting that she thinks more people carrying legally is to blame for more people being shot by police--we all know the statistics on CHL holders being far more law-abiding than the general population.

But allowing so many people legal access to firearms is to blame if you teach your officers that you shoot anyone that has anything resembling a handgun. You must be one of them gun nuts! /sarcasm

I notice that this doesn't seem to be a problem in most other parts of the state, though.

[dicion]

Someone should remind her that using a weapon in the commission of a crime is NOT Legally carrying a weapon.

[casingpoint]

Hawkins is speculating at best, and the Houston Chomical is buying it.

[TDDude]

If an officer gives an order, you have two choices: Obey or dis-obey.

Not following the order will ultimately get you tazed or shot. It's that simple. Following the order will at least not get you tazed or shot.

I like the line where they say New Orleans crime is down 400%. I remember when the Houston murder rate for NW Houston went up 400% after Katrina. I still have the 500 rounds of JHP that I purchased at Academy the week following the storm for $10 per box. I didn't need to use any but it turned out to be a pretty good investment eh??

[Dexdahex]

Someone should remind her that using a weapon in the commission of a crime is NOT Legally carrying a weapon.

[LostInAustin]

"prosecutor and spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office"

???...How embarassing for Houston!

[mblud]

Of those 44 shootings, I wonder:

How many were CHL holders?

Or how many were legally able to carry a firearm?

I bet not very many.

[Keith B]

I think she is referring to the MPA. This is my speculation of her speculation, but I think she is theorizing if more people have guns in their car, even legally, then the more likely the officers will be to end up shooting someone because they have a gun pulled on them during traffic stops. Whether that happens or not is yet to be seen.

[Reloader]

how many carrying were felons? Duh!

[hirundo82]

I think she is referring to the MPA. This is my speculation of her speculation, but I think she is theorizing if more people have guns in their car, even legally, then the more likely the officers will be to end up shooting someone because they have a gun pulled on them during traffic stops. Whether that happens or not is yet to be seen.

I agree that the most plausible interpretations is that she is blaming the MPA for the increase. It's not that the Harris County DA's office is pro-CHL, but there are enough data out there about CHL and crime rates that it is nearly impossible to blame them for crime.

I would, however, disagree with her assumption that the MPA has caused a large increase in the number of people carrying. There seem to be two types of people who carry under the MPA--those waiting for their CHL to be processed and those who don't want to carry all the time, so they don't want to go through the hassle of getting a CHL, but do want to keep a handgun in their car.

The number in the first group has probably increased since MPA passed, but I think the second group has stayed the same. I've been told that even pre-CHL there was a large group of otherwise law-abiding citizens who kept handguns in their car and, as long as they were "the right kind of people" police generally didn't bother them about it. If there has been an increase in carry under the MPA of the second group, I would wager much of it has been people switching from a long gun to a handgun in the car.

[Y2bad4u]

If an officer gives an order, you have two choices: Obey or dis-obey.

Not following the order will ultimately get you tazed or shot. It's that simple. Following the order will at least not get you tazed or shot.

I like the line where they say New Orleans crime is down 400%. I remember when the Houston murder rate for NW Houston went up 400% after Katrina. I still have the 500 rounds of JHP that I purchased at Academy the week following the storm for $10 per box. I didn't need to use any but it turned out to be a pretty good investment eh??

Go read the thread about the AZ guy who had a bad guy running from the cops, break into his home and holds him there at gunpoint till cops show up and shoot the homeowner. Obeying isn't a guarantee.

[wford]

I dont want to blame xyz really means you are blaming xyz right ?

[srothstein]

The obvious question to ask her would be when the study was done and how many of the people involved in police shootings were legally carrying at the time (well until just before the incident)? I can see someone who is legally carrying getting involved in a police shooting by doing something stupid, say legally carrying under the MPA and then getting involved in a road rage incident. So, how many of the police shootings were of criminals and how many were of people who were other wise legally carrying? Without that information, she is just blowing smoke and the paper is spreading it further.

[hirundo82]

"I don't want to blame the Legislature, but..." means that she is trying to soften the blow while blaming someone who can hurt the county where it really counts (the pocketbook).