"Only the police should have guns"

[MicaelS]

Only THEY are trained well enough to safely and properly use them. That's what the Gun Prohibitionists tell us. Case in point.. the Seattle PD.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43567848/ns/local_news-seattle_wa/

The Seattle Police Department is apologizing for an assault rifle left unattended on the back of a patrol car Monday night, and has launched an investigation into the matter.

First published by The Stranger, Nick Gonzales snapped a picture last night of the menacing-looking rifle on the trunk of a Seattle Police car. It was around 9 p.m. and the car was parked outside the Roosevelt Hotel, near Pine and 7th Avenue, with no police officers in sight, said Gonzales.

In addition, after an officer got back into the patrol car, it was driven away with the rifle still on the trunk. A woman also saw the rifle and followed the car to try to get the officer's attention.

Gonzales said he flagged down two more SPD officers on bicycles to tell them what he saw. As he described, they were "shocked as hell."

Local news http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Cops-investigate-rifle-left-on-back-of-squad-car-1444085.php

The rifle mishap isn't the first for Seattle police. In Dec. 2004, then-Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has his gun stolen from his unmarked car parked in downtown Seattle.

The rifle incident comes at a time of increasing scrutiny for the Police Department.

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Seattle police after the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups called for an investigation into a possible pattern or practice of unnecessary use of force, especially against minorities.

[Fumesucker]

1. At least he didn't go on vacation with the family dog tied to the top of the car..

Or shoot someone in the face and then make him humbly apologize for it.

I would say definite presidential material.

[Bold Lib]

2. Police: The only ones professional enough to handle guns in front of kids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ABCiPJRCyA

[Tejas]

12. I'll see your bet and raise you.....

[Bold Lib]

13. I'll see that, and rais you with this

[Tejas]

14. Don't know if this will cover your raise.........

Highspeed-operator with the new improved low-drag mag!

[Bold Lib]

15. I remember that one. Don't know if the mag or the chicken wing is worse. Another oldie

edit to add the original pic

[Tejas]

16. That chicken wing could put an eye out, but your ATF pic

is the ace of spades. Is that a 'thing-that-goes-up' at the lower right?

[damntexdem]

3. I don't say that.

I DO say that only police and military (and maybe security guards) should be allowed to carry guns in many locations. Police and others who carry guns should also receive better training and should face more-severe sanctions for misuse, abuse, or neglectful handling of guns.

And by the way, hunters (most of which hunt with guns) are important as protectors of the environment, out of self interest because they so intimately depend on environmental health to pursue their avocation.

[gejohnston]

5. we both know it is not the case

I found that the average gun owner has more training than the cop. We both know that the cops are held to a much lower standard. You might find it ironic, that New Zeland pistol owners are required twice as much range (at the gun club) time as the police, who generally don't carry guns.

Police and others who carry guns should also receive better training and should face more-severe sanctions for misuse, abuse, or neglectful handling of guns.

[MicaelS]

11. Seattle PD need more training account they are poor shots

Case in point http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Female-officer-in-International-District-shootout-1445606.php

Police say an argument outside a lounge on the edge of Seattle's International District erupted into gunfire just before midnight Tuesday.

A female Seattle police officer was in the middle of it. She opened fire on one, then a second shooter.

No one was injured.

Still, she managed to arrest the second shooter.

Since the FBI has shown most gun fights take place at 21 feet or less (feet not yards), this incident further proves some cops can't shoot worth a shit.

[provis99]

4. I don't think cops should have guns.

British police get along fine without them.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

6. I read a statistic...

...that I can't place, that said US LEOs mistakenly shoot crime victims or bystanders more than twice as often as armed civilians. :(

[Dawson Leery]

7. Would not suprise me.

[petronius]

8. If that's a raw number, it wouldn't be surprising - police actively go to situations

where such mistakes can be made. If it's a rate per shooting incident, however, that comparison indicates a problem...

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

10. I believe it is not a per incident rate.

My implication here is not that the police are necessarily being systematically careless, aggressive...
...but rather that individuals which live in the home or next door will be better prepared to know who belongs and who doesn't.

Knowledge is power and the most powerful weapon is the human mind; the same mind that gave us the Bill of Rights.

[Kennah]

9. No, that is not correct

http://www.met.police.uk/co19/armed_response.htm
http://www.met.police.uk/co19/history.htm