When I was very young, many of my family's trips out of town revolved around my father's involvement in a professional organization. He was knee-deep in the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), including serving as president of the local lodge and being active at the state level.
That was many moons ago, though, and I'm just sorry to see where that organization is today.
In case you've missed it, the FOP and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) are against national reciprocity, and honestly, the fact that they want to be able to carry in all 50 states while the rest of us can't is problematic.
That's right, police can carry everywhere, and while the FOP and IACP favored that, well...
Everywhere. In Everytown. And they got theirs through the Law Enforcement Officer’s Safety Act (LEOSA). But now, having their seat at the table, they intend to make sure that we who are taxed to pay them are forever pressed outside the banquet hall looking in.
That’s the all-too-familiar “Only Ones” elitism, a term coined when DEA Agent Lee Paige told a classroom full of school children he was “the only one professional enough” to carry a gun and then shot himself in the foot while holstering it. Keep in mind that credible evidence confirms that police have higher suicide rates than the general public, and per the Crime Prevention Research Center, "permit holders are convicted of misdemeanors and felonies at less than a sixth of the rate for police officers.”
Not only are FOP’s and IACP’s presumptions unfounded, but they’re also arrogant and reverse the relationship between citizen and “public servants” envisioned by the Founders of this nation.
As Continental Congress delegate Tench Coxe argued, “What should we think of a gentleman, who, upon hiring a waiting-man, should say to him—'my friend, please to take notice, before we come together, that I shall always claim the liberty of eating when and what I please, of fishing and hunting upon my own ground, of keeping as many horses and hounds as I can maintain, and of speaking and writing my sentiments upon all subjects.' A servant must be a fool, who would not suppose such a master to be a madman... Let these truths sink deep into our hearts: that the people are the masters of their rulers and that rulers are the servants of the people..."
I'm kind of glad that this piece mentioned Paige, who went viral after the incident and killed any career he was likely to have as an undercover agent.
See, while most of the people in the room were children, there were adults as well. Paige just assumed that because of his career, he was the only one "professional enough" to carry that .40-caliber Glock. For all anyone else knew, one of the other adults in the room was a retired Navy SEAL or Green Beret. Maybe someone was a former police officer or former infantry.
Or hell, maybe that someone was just a firearm enthusiast who spends as much time on the range training with the best trainers they can find.
Paige didn't even blink about any of those possibilities because he was a federal law enforcement agent, and that's all that mattered.
Shooting himself in the foot is probably the best metaphor for that kind of attitude possible.
And yet, despite that, groups like the FOP seem to still think that what we need is a case of "rules for thee, but not for me" when it comes to carrying firearms.
Look, I don't see an issue with an officer's badge serving as a carry permit. I can even understand the potential need for an officer to carry in places that are off-limits to the rest of us, legally speaking. They arrest people in their community, and they make enemies that most of us don't. I don't think there should be off-limits places, mind you, but I'm not getting upset at police getting that little slice of liberty we don't under the circumstances.
But, do tell me why a police officer will need that exception in Los Angeles when they're from Blue Hill, Maine or something? Why do law enforcement officers warrant essentially national reciprocity for their badge-as-permit while the rest of us are not only left out in the cold, but are left out because of the actions of law enforcement organizations?
Paige proved that police aren't wizards of gun safety. He not only shot himself, but he did it on video right after preening about his superiority.
The FOP and IACP's anti-gun efforts are more than a little tiresome.
While the FOP was a huge chunk of my early life, their conventions were places where we took multi-family vacations, where I got to hang out with all of my friends, I don't feel nearly enough nostalgia to give them a pass for this crap.
