imported post
I often tell some of my students that at some point they need to decide if they want to be a person who sits in the back seat of a police car or the front seat... I have a few acquaintances that, if they were not accepted as officers, would have been on the other side of the Plexiglas for sure.
Police officers are, regrettably, much like a large part of the population: very unfamiliar with firearms. I have known officers who support 2A rights... but those people are becoming a rarer creature. Most LEOS, especially in the larger metro areas, are people who have little to no experience w/ firearms and therefore see the use of weapons as purely a law enforcement prerogative. Very few of the newer recruits are experienced shooters, and I think these numbers are dwindling. In fact, my experience with the sheriff reserves is that most new officers take little interest in firearms. They often shoot as little as possible and do not see the need to carry outside of the requirements of their jobs. Therefore, the response that one gets while carrying is related to the idea that only criminals have guns; the "average" firearms owner is just a criminal in waiting, so to speak. Since we are all "criminals", if only in the mind of some leos, we are treated as such. This needs to change.
