In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, the top cops of Washington, D.C. and New York City suggested that citizens should take action to defend themselves if faced with a similar attack. These statements make sense to many gun owners, some of whom may already carry concealed, but what makes this astounding is that both of these police chiefs are viewed as two of the most anti-gun in the country.

On Sunday’s 60 Minutes, Washington D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier told Anderson Cooper, “Your options are run, hide, or fight. I always say, if you can get out, getting out is your first option, your best option. If you’re in a position to try and take the gunman down, to take the gunman out, it’s the best option for saving lives before police can get there. And that’s, you know, that’s kind of counterintuitive to what cops always tell people, right? We always tell people don’t, you know, don’t take action. Call 911. Don’t intervene in the robbery. We’ve never told people: take action. This is a different scenario.”

This is perplexing considering Chief Lanier’s history. The District has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, many of which are the subject of regular legal battles. As the Washington Free Beacon [http://nssf.it/1OeZpVC] points out, even though a judge ruled [http://nssf.it/1P6YSpY] the city must offer CCW permits, “her office continues to deny most applications for gun carry permits under the law’s ‘good reason’ clause which gives Lanier discretion in deciding who is issued a permit. Currently the Metropolitan Police Department has approved 48 of the 298 permit applications, MPD spokesperson Lt. Sean Conboy told the Washington Free Beacon. That represents an approval rate of 16 percent.”

Earlier that morning, New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton agreed with Chief Lanier when pressed by Chuck Todd on Meet the Press [http://nssf.it/1YsBJzW], “There’s nothing new about that, that if somebody is armed and in one of those scenarios and has the potential, but the reality is somebody with a handgun up against somebody with an AK-47 is going to be outgunned and putting themselves at serious risk. But at the same time, if the scenario allows for that, then certainly we would support that.”

We don’t need to list how anti-gun New York City and its politicians are, from Michael Bloomberg to Bill de Blasio. Like Washington, New York City has some of the strictest anti-gun laws in the country. In fact, Bratton went on to endorse the current agenda of anti-gun Members of Congress.

Chief Lanier and Commissioner Bratton, how are citizens supposed to stop an attack when you actively deny them the right to defend themselves?

We can only hope that the actions of these top cops views will evolve with their sentiments, and become more in line with that of former Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble [http://nssf.it/1P6ZiNd], an American and former undersecretary of the treasury who oversaw the Secret Service and ATF. Noble stated back in 2013 after the deadly terrorist attack on the mall in Kenya, “Ask yourself: If that was Denver, Col., if that was Texas, would those guys have been able to spend hours, days, shooting people randomly? What I’m saying is it makes police around the world question their views on gun control. It makes citizens question their views on gun control. You have to ask yourself, ‘Is an armed citizenry more necessary now than it was in the past with an evolving threat of terrorism?’ This is something that has to be discussed.”

Noble, by the way, was a major cog in the Clinton gun control machine when he served in that administration. Perhaps Bratton and Lanier can learn from one of those who have gone before them.