Stolen guns leading cause of officer murder?

http://planetmoron.typepad.com/planet_moron/

"The Washington Post dedicated a team of reporters to a yearlong investigation into the sources of guns used in the killings of police officers.* The Post presumably focused on police officers as there were not enough data available for a more sympathetic demographic, say, nuns, or orphans, or small fuzzy bunnies, or small fuzzy orphan nun bunnies.

Unfortunately, once they compiled all the data, it turns out that not only were 100% of these heinous crimes traced back to the act of an individual and not the spontaneous act of the firearm itself, but also that the vast majority of firearms used by these criminals had been obtained illegally, as has long been the argument of activists who support the legal ownership of firearms."

Has anybody noticed the huge underlying error hanging out there: Why are police officers the focus?

Why not all citizens? Total homicides due to guns--each of which was a justification for the deceased to be armed in self-defense.

All it takes to disassemble the Washington Compost [strike]article[/strike] public opinion campaign is to point out that the Bureau of Labor statistics for (2008?) show police were not even in the top ten percent of dangerous professions. Roofers, cab drivers, professional aircraft pilots, fishermen--all were in the top ten.

It looks like 234 of the guns listed were illegally obtained somehow, compared to 107 legally obtained. Talk about false reporting. The kicker is that only 3 of them were obtained in the non-existent gun show loophole.

Almost every cop that has been shot or shot at in NC in the last year was shot with a stolen handgun, or a handgun that was illegally in the hands of a felon.

In NC, over 70% of handguns reported stolen are stolen from automobiles.

In NC, law-abiding citizens can't carry in banks, government buildings, establishments that serve alcohol, establishments that charge admission, colleges and universities, or during parades, funerals, or protests on government property.

Any correlation? Ya think?

Laws that establish "prohibited places" force lawful gun owners to leave their firearms unattended in their cars a LOT of the time if they are out and about, doing things normal people do.

Laws that establish "prohibited places" are DIRECTLY responsible for putting guns in the hands of criminals, and need to be overturned, removed from Statutes, and wiped form the book.

Any politician that says they are a good idea is ACTIVELY engaging in arming criminals, and needs to be PUBLICLY called out for their complicity in these criminal acts as being "friends of criminals", and "enemies of the People".

Dreamer said:

Almost every cop that has been shot or shot at in NC in the last year was shot with a stolen handgun, or a handgun that was illegally in the hands of a felon.

In NC, over 70% of handguns reported stolen are stolen from automobiles.

In NC, law-abiding citizens can't carry in banks, government buildings, establishments that serve alcohol, establishments that charge admission, colleges and universities, or during parades, funerals, or protests on government property.

Any correlation? Ya think?

Laws that establish "prohibited places" force lawful gun owners to leave their firearms unattended in their cars a LOT of the time if they are out and about, doing things normal people do.

Laws that establish "prohibited places" are DIRECTLY responsible for putting guns in the hands of criminals, and need to be overturned, removed from Statutes, and wiped form the book.

Any politician that says they are a good idea is ACTIVELY engaging in arming criminals, and needs to be PUBLICLY called out for their complicity in these criminal acts as being "friends of criminals", and "enemies of the People".

Click to expand...

Therein lies the direct problem. I'm a firm believer that any municipality or State that enacts legislation that forces lawful carriers to disarm themselves and leave their firearms unprotected in a vehicle should be fully responsible for any and all damages from the theft of such a firearm. Of course, the indirect problem is LEO firearms training. The FBI statistics from documented shootings illustrated that LEOs miss 7 out of 10 shots at just 21 feet. Of course, we all know that LEO training is only partly to blame. There are circumstances that obviously come into play like moving to cover, trying to keep from being shot, and trying to call for backup during a gun fight that is likely to last just a few seconds.

Of course, I'm also a firm believer in holding municipalities and States that enact legislation not allowing lawful carry in either form (OC or CCW, though I'd prefer both) should also be held fully responsible for creating a victim. An example would be someone from Missouri or another CCW State going to Illinois and being forced to separate themselves from their firearm and unload it. It's the "if I had access to my firearm I could have defended myself and/or protected my loved ones." The State law thus forces the individual to become a victim since criminals don't obey signs, laws, rules, or anything else.

The fact that the study targets LEOs should tell you one of two things. Either the entity requesting the research didn't care about the civilian death toll related to the subject or it was specifically meant to study LEOs to raise funding for anti-gun legislation...aka stricter gun laws that clearly do not work.

Here's an excellent example of stupid government thinking from Illinois: Sign posted up home that says "Keep Illinois Clean" as an anti-littering campaign. It cost more money and created more pollution to build, transport, and put up than that sign and others throughout the State are going to prevent...that and it makes a fine target for litter-bugs to take aim at. (duh)