SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Would civilians be safer if we stripped guns from cops?

Apr 11, 2018, 8:50 AM

Seattle handgun...

(File, Associated Press)

(File, Associated Press)

The Left seldom uses the same logic on gun control that it applies to incidents of police shootings of unarmed civilians. Not even the most doctrinaire progressive suggests we should make civilians safer from police gunfire by taking guns away from all cops.

Most Americans recognize that guns are a necessary tool for the great majority of police officers, though a few irresponsible operators may deserve to lose both gun and badge. Civilian gun-owners should get the same approach: it makes no sense—practically or ethically—to strip guns from law-abiding, good citizens who want their weapons for self-defense.

Instead, we should concentrate on the few criminals, gang members and mentally disturbed individuals who deserve no weapons of any kind. For civilians, as well as for cops, it’s the human being wielding the weapon, not the weapon itself, that provides the real threat to our safety.

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Would civilians be safer if we stripped guns from cops?