One scenario that concerns me is someone trying to carjack me when my kids are in the car. Cars are insured, after all, and since the bad guy has the drop on me already, it’s probably going to be easy to give him the car. But if my kids are in the car, things change and I’m going to use my firearm to protect my family.

But the police director of Memphis, Tennessee doesn’t seem to think that’s a problem. In fact, he thinks that guns in cars should be outright banned.

The Shelby County Legislative Delegation heard from Memphis Police Director Mike Rallings loud and clear.

The group was holding their annual meeting where officials talk about legislation they’d like to see approved in Nashville next year.
Director Rallings says he doesn’t want any laws passed that would make it easier for people to carry guns.

Yes, he talked about crime, how violent crime is dropping, but not nearly enough for his liking.
Yes, he has no troubles with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation looking into all Memphis Police-involved shootings.

And when it was over, he still had something to say.
“Oh, I told them,” he said, “… don’t pass, you know, anything related to guns. I asked them to repeal guns in cars.”

Perhaps Rallings hasn’t gotten the memo just yet, but the people he and his officers need to worry about are the very people who aren’t going to be dissuaded by new laws. They were carrying guns in cars long before it was legal. They carried them into Tennessee bars before it was legal. They carry them anywhere they want, regardless of the law.

Reversing those laws, however, won’t change a thing with regard to public safety.

At least, not for the better.

The downside would be that criminals would know that the law-abiding citizens who they want to target are disarmed. The only people who will be safer with guns being banned in cars will be the criminals, the very people who don’t deserve safety. After all, their job requires them taking away other people’s safety, so why should they have any?

It’s important to note, though, that Rallings is a political appointee. As such, he espouses opinions that are more in keeping with an urban center’s political leadership than facts on the ground. In other words, his opposition to guns in cars shouldn’t be surprising. He has to voice the right opinions, so his overlords in city government stay happy with him.

Such is the nature of taking the opinions of chief law enforcement officers over the officer on the street who often knows how little a ban would positively impact crime.

Rallings can stand there and call for anything he wants, but thankfully, he hasn’t got the pull to make it happen. The lawmakers he spoke to said as much, noting that the legislature is essentially the same body that legalized guns in cars. Why would they change it?

But it’s telling that someone like Rallings still wants to roll things back to the bad old days.