I am a firm supporter of the law enforcement community. These are people who run towards danger when everyone else runs away. They have a difficult job to do, and one that is dangerous in ways others of us can't even imagine.
With the recent increase in restrictions to firearms and accessories taking place in many jurisdiction, some manufactures and suppliers have decided that they will not sell restricted items even to law enforcement in those areas as long as the everyday law abiding citizen can not have them. Others have decided that law enforcement duties require exceptional resources, regardless of what may be commonly available to the general populous. It can make for a heated debate, and is in fact a very complex topic that brings a lot of attention in to sharp focus.
Here is my opinion on the subject. Is is just my opinion, and it is certainly not perfect because of the range of issues involved.
Police officers put themselves in harms way as a part of their every day employment, and I certainly wouldn't begrudge them the very best equipment to help preserve their lives and those they protect. But that is precisely it; it is a part of the JOB. If they have access to better tools to do this job, it should be restricted to use ON THE JOB. If the general population can not own a specific style of rifle, or a certain sized magazine, then the off duty police office should not be able to have them either.
In fact, why not even say that in Illinois, because no one can have a concealed carry permit, that they even have to leave all their firearms at the station. I'm originally from the Chicago area, and I know a good many off-duty cops moonlight doing security. Often the security has to do with safeguarding the political elite. What if these elite suddenly had to face the fact that their bodyguards can no longer carry firearms, just like the rest of the population. Suddenly, things might seem a little different to them.
As great as I think law enforcement is, their lives and the lives of those they love ARE NOT more important than mine. If a jurisdiction has decided that myself or another citizen can not have a tool to protect our lives, then just because another citizen has a different job (LEO) does not mean they should have special privileges. To allow otherwise is in essence saying that certain peoples lives are more valuable than others.
If a LEO works in NY and needs an AR for their patrol vehicle, they should have it. But when they go off shift, that rifle should be secured within their offices and not taken out by off duty officers. If they have 15 round magazines for their duty weapons, they should remove those and replace them with appropriately sized civilian legal magazines prior to leaving.
My point here is not that LEO do not deserve having these very useful tools, but that if there is a reason LEO need them then there is also a reason civilians need them as well. My life as a civilian concealed carry holder is just as precious as that off duty LEO.
Many will make the comments that the street officer does not impose the laws or restrictions on society, so why should they suffer because of political hubris. Or that in many cases officers don't agree with the laws. I appreciate those feelings, and I thank these brave men and women for their support of my 2nd Amendment rights. The problem is I don't get an exemption from the law just because I don't agree with it. If the law is unfair, it is unfair for everyone. If the law puts LEO in danger (just as it puts ordinary citizens in danger) then they need to be a part of the solution that fixes these laws. Having a badge should not be a free pass to do something ordinary citizens can not.
What is important here is that we don't start having 2 classes of citizens, for whom the law is enforced differently. It is illegal for the common citizen to steal. It is also illegal for LEO to steal. So laws do apply to everyone.
Let's take it one giant step further. In the course of their work, officers are sometimes called upon to shoot and kill bad guys. But killing someone is always homicide, and is against the law even if you are a cop. That is why there is always an investigation. What happens is a judgment is made on justifiable homicide, based on the concept that it was reasonable to believe that the offending party posed an imminent threat to the life or wellbeing of another. Just like what happens in a civilian self defense case. So again, the police agent is not given any different treatment than a civilian, even though the actual mechanics of it may look different. The law applies equally.
As I said, I don't want to withhold tools from cops. I want them to have the best of everything to do their jobs. But I want that to be available for everyone. By saying that one class of person has more of a right to their life and safety than another goes against everything we believe in here in this country.
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