Only-the-Police-Should-Have- Guns File: One-Week Roundup
July 10, 2005

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

From time to time in Gun Week we feature items that show the fallacy of the “only-the-police-should-have-guns” argument of the anti-gun extremists—maybe I should call them firearms fascists.

We usually run these brief stories gleaned from newspapers, the wire services and the Internet in our “Weekly Bullet” section, which has always featured the more ironic and curious news items.

Over the many years that we have been publishing Gun Week, there have been all sorts of stories that illustrate the absurdity of the anti-gun position. Not only do local, state and federal law enforcement lose guns, they also have a lot of them stolen. I can recall a story of some years ago in which enterprising robbers—perhaps unwilling to go to a licensed firearms dealer and be subjected to a background check—raided an unattended New York State Police outpost in the Adirondack Mountains and made off with a variety of firearms as well as tear gas and even one marked State Police cruiser.

In other reports over the years, FBI, DEA and even ATF agents have been the victims of criminals who took guns from cars and committed crimes against the public being served and protected.

However, in one week in June, there were so many of these stories that we would have filled up a whole “Weekly Bullet” column, so I thought I should round them up in my Hindsight column—this one.

Needless to say, since this is my column and not just a news item, I suppose I’m free to dedicate it to all the folks at the Brady Campaign, the Violence Policy Center and especially that sophomoric crowd at gunguys.com.

On June 14, Associated Press (AP) reported on the Broome County, NY, Sheriff’s department corrections officer who was red-faced and in hot water after leaving her gun in a Binghamton courthouse bathroom.

The officer removed her .40 S&W Glock pistol while using the facilities. But she left the pistol behind when she left the rest room. The gun was found by a citizen who alerted a courthouse security officer.

Sheriff David Harder told a Binghamton radio station the corrections officer was without her sidearm for “less than five minutes.”

Harder said an investigation into the incident is being conducted. In the meantime, the officer has been taken off the courthouse detail and assigned to jail duty. The sheriff said he’ll review the case before deciding what other disciplinary action is appropriate. He said the officer was “very upset” over the gun blunder.

Then on June 16, WGALChannel.com in Newberry Township, PA, reported that thieves who have been breaking into cars in York County have stolen a parole officer’s badge and a handgun in two separate thefts.

Police in the township were reported worried that the badge and the gun might be used together by somebody to impersonate an officer, and they want police across the area to be alert.

Police said the badge was left in the parole officer’s unlocked car at his home in the Etters area of Newberry Township. It was attached to a wallet containing the officer’s ID, which was thrown away, since the thief obviously didn’t want to impersonate that particular officer.

“It is an official badge with ‘State Parole’ printed on it,” said Sgt. Richard Rocco.

About a mile away, a loaded gun was stolen from another unlocked car. It had six cartridges in it.

Both thefts occurred on the same night, and although police aren’t sure, they suspect the same person may have the gun and the badge, the TV station said.

But Pennsylvania wasn’t the only place were a thief pulled a fast one on a law enforcement officer.

About a thousand miles away but also on June 16, The Omahachannel.com reported that a Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) trooper was looking for his badge and his sidearm after someone broke into his Lincoln home.

The State Patrol said that early on June 15 someone got into the trooper’s home and took his lieutenant’s State Patrol badge, NSP ID and wallet, and a personally owned Glock 27 in .40 S&W caliber. A Dell laptop computer, and a Dell handheld computer were also taken, which suggested that the officer’s software and computer files also went bye-bye.

Anyone with any information about the crime that might help investigators was urged to call the statewide Crime Stoppers number at: 800-422-1494, anonymously and possibly become eligible for a cash reward.

Thefts from Chiefs
The week for these stories ended on June 20 with an AP story reminiscent of the recent tale involving Seattle, WA, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowski having his service pistol stolen from his unattended and unlocked city vehicle.

In the latest case, reported by AP, District of Columbia Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey gained some first-hand insight into Washington’s car theft problem. The chief learned on the morning of June 19 that his unmarked black 1999 Ford Crown Victoria was stolen not far from his home.

“When he went to go to the car to go to church, he discovered that it was missing,” said Sgt. Joe Gentile, a DC Metropolitan Police Department spokesman, according to AP.

The vehicle had been parked near Ramsey’s home by another officer the previous Friday evening while the chief was out of town. Investigators believe it could have been taken anytime between Friday night and Sunday morning, AP reported.

Some police equipment, including a riot helmet and some clothing were in the car, but there were no weapons, Gentile said.

As might be expected, the Metropolitan Police Department is hoping a tip will lead to the vehicle’s return.

Over the years there have been plenty of similar stories, but these were all packed into one week in June, and we may not have collected all of them.

Anti-Suicide Policy
Here’s another look at the “only-police-should-have-guns” theme of the anti-gunners. This story missed the one-week of the others, but only by two days.

While police suicides are always a concern anywhere, in Belgium—another one of those European countries American social engineers want us to copy—the battered reputation of Belgium’s security forces suffered a fresh blow on June 24 when it was learned that police officers have been banned from taking guns home after a spate of suicides involving service pistols.

According to The Telegraph in Great Britain, the ban is part of a pattern. Belgium’s internal security service, the “Sfreté de l’État,” disarmed almost all its field agents in April after one drunkenly tried to shoot a colleague in the head.

Now, however, uniformed police officers have been told to leave their guns in police stations at the end of their shifts, a spokesman for the Interior Minister confirmed to The Telegraph.

The minister, Patrick Dewael, acted after learning that the suicide rate among policemen was twice the national average. So far this year 11 local policemen and two federal officers have killed themselves.

In a parliamentary reply, Dewael said a temporary order had been issued on June 21, banning federal police from taking guns home. He said a similar order would follow for local police. Police forces in Belgium—which houses the headquarters of both the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—lost the confidence of the public after their bungling and rivalry allowed Marc Dutroux, a murderer and pedophile, to imprison young girls. He killed four before being caught in 1996.

Dutroux later escaped custody briefly by stealing an officer’s gun, causing the resignations of two government ministers and the head of the gendarmerie.

Enough said!that encourages volunteerism, but just not their kind.
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