So far this year 93 police officers have died. Florida leads with 11. Why?

Here is a link to the information http://www.odmp.org/

Even though you do not want to hear it, the reason there have been 90+ police officer shootings is that there is private ownership of handguns allowed in the USA. How in the world can a former law enforcement officer agree that handguns should be legal in the US? It makes no sense whatsoever.

Sure, the arguement is that the bad guys have guns therefore the general public needs to be armed to take care of the bad guys with the guns. Balderdash.

Look at England. Murder by shooting is very rare. Japan is the same way.

Law enforcement officers should be armed. I support rifles and shotguns for target shooting and hunting.

Originally Posted by Figmo Bohica

So far this year 93 police officers have died. Florida leads with 11. Why?

Here is a link to the information http://www.odmp.org/

Duh!

TBugs, Only 38 are from gun fire. That leave a bunch that is not caused by firearms. BTW, have you read the 2d Amendment? There is nothing in the 2D A that says "Only for Sporting or Hunting."

ijstluvit, Duh, that's a real intelligent comment. Did you read the article?

Living in NM which is a very western, independent minded state, with lots of gun ownership and very rural and only a couple large cities, why would a state with 3 (I think) times the population of NM have more violance.

Didn't the murder and crime rate go way up in Australia when they banned guns?

More people are killed by automobiles or buses or train or airplanes. So should we ban autos buses trains or planes? I don't own a gun nor do I have a desire to do so. However, I want the right to own a gun should I choose to do so.

Originally Posted by rubicon

More people are killed by automobiles or buses or train or airplanes. So should we ban autos buses trains or planes? I don't own a gun nor do I have a desire to do so. However, I want the right to own a gun should I choose to do so.

Very sensible response. The truth is that the bad guys will always find a way to access handguns, even if they are banned. I doubt very many law abiding citizens with guns are killing police.

Figmo,

The number, according to your link, were 38 police officers killed by gunfire and the next highest number was 20 killed in car accidents. Basically twice as many by guns as in car accidents.

Your first post asked why 93 officers killed. I cited 38 killed by guns. That is the most significant number. If you want to ignore that, okay by me - but that number is still about twice as high as the next highest number.

If you want to say the 2nd Amendment does not specify handguns, okay by me. I think it is downright stupid to own handguns. That is my opinion. You are entitled to yours. I am not going to argue with you.

Why do so many people get emotional about the issue of gun ownership? why don't these individuals sit back with a furrowing brow and ask why some gun owners are very responsible citizens while others are flagrant and reckless.

As American I take umbrage at people who wax poetically regarding gangsters as some sort of Robin Hoods. I was saddened with Hollywood's paternal characterization of the Godfather. The character was a murder. He did bad things...And so these romantics depictions of gangsters and gangs
only serves to establish poor role models for our kids. And the result is obvious as noted in all the school killings, rapes, etc.

We gone from being punished as kids for chewing gum in schools (1950's) to having metal detectors in our schools today. This is not about guns. this is about people who are not prepared or do no have the desire to accept their responsbiities and worse yet can get away with it.

So the next time you are surfing your television and run across a reality show such as " bad girls doing........whatever.... you might want to take note of the channel and their advertisers and write a letter expressing your disgust.
God please bring back the Legion of Decency for we are becoming barbarians

and perhaps why so many police officers deaths

You can always tell the anti-gun people. Lock up guns, not criminals.

The police need support from the public. Not more pay but the public ratting out the bad guy rather than supporting him through silence.

Originally Posted by rubicon

Why do so many people get emotional about the issue of gun ownership? why don't these individuals sit back with a furrowing brow and ask why some gun owners are very responsible citizens while others are flagrant and reckless.

As American I take umbrage at people who wax poetically regarding gangsters as some sort of Robin Hoods. I was saddened with Hollywood's paternal characterization of the Godfather. The character was a murder. He did bad things...And so these romantics depictions of gangsters and gangs
only serves to establish poor role models for our kids. And the result is obvious as noted in all the school killings, rapes, etc.

We gone from being punished as kids for chewing gum in schools (1950's) to having metal detectors in our schools today. This is not about guns. this is about people who are not prepared or do no have the desire to accept their responsbiities and worse yet can get away with it.

So the next time you are surfing your television and run across a reality show such as " bad girls doing........whatever.... you might want to take note of the channel and their advertisers and write a letter expressing your disgust.
God please bring back the Legion of Decency for we are becoming barbarians

and perhaps why so many police officers deaths

The lack of individuals accepting responsibility for their actions is completely out of hand. The things people will do to avoid accountability is unbelieveable.
I used to run clinics and I remember overhearing one of the staff saying that she was such a good liar she would never be caught at anything. Well...she did get caught because the people who witnessed her unprofessional behavior would not lie FOR her, as she had counted on.

Anyway, that is off topic. A funny story: our neighbor up the hill is pretty anti gun, even though her hubby does shoot. One day he was gone and she calls me in a panic..GET YOUR HUSBAND UP HERE RIGHT NOW and tell him to bring a gun. I was shocked and asked why??? She said there was a rattler right outside her door. I kind of chuckled and sent him up there, with a gun. Funny, when you need some protection, you really WANT someone with a gun around. As it turned out, it was just a big old bull snake, which are harmless. Hubby just moved him into the brush...the eat mice and rats and other nasties so they are good to have around.

Ladydoc,

Cute story about the snake and happy that Loren did not shoot a bull snake. Very rare that you would encounter a rattlesnake in The Villages. Remotely possible you would see an alligator close up but they are protected by law.

Hope to meet the two of you soon.

Can you imagine that?



Shootings are gang-related events both here and around the world. London now has a handgun problem and it is getting worse. The police state it is specifically gang related and in one article compares it to the war between the Crips and the Bloods here in the United States.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...n-gun-crime.do

Like you, I have never chosen to own a handgun, particularly in a place such as The Villages. If I lived in Detroit or St. Louis, I might reconsider.

In his book “America Now” Marvin Harris, who was head of the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University and later at the University of Florida, shows a clear tie between violence and single parent households as well as minority gangs.

If we are going to deal with gun violence, we must look at the real underlying causes. Legal, private gun ownership is not one of them. The societal causes are much more complicated than that.

BBQMan, and I have to disagree with you. Without the tired agruement of "If guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns", legal owners of handguns are more likely to kill a family member or someone accidently than killing someone during the commission of a crime where it would be justified. That is a fact.

A legal owner of a handgun also may just fly off the handle and shoot a family member in a sudden fit of rage. This also is a fact. Do you recall about 18 months ago when the woman shot her husband while he was taking a shower in the Village of Glenbrook? I understand the man was a real jerk but that does not mean he deserved to be shot by his wife.

I am not going to start any movement to declare handguns illegal. I will be the first to turn in someone who is carrying a handgun if I see them in a bar having a drink or flashing it to intimidate someone (or me).

If anyone wants to carry a handgun legally, fine with me. It will not be in my house, my car, or in a bar while having a drink, or so that I will feel endangered by it, though.

If you are carrying concealed no one will know you are carrying. So TBug's will never know who is or is not carrying. If you are frightened of inanimate obects, are you also afrid of your hammer, toaster or knife,ie., steak knife.

Did you know that FL just passed an open carry lite law. Read up on it. It just makes small changes in the carry law for FL.