Irresponsible Gun Owner of the Day: Marian Brioso

Cops in New York are just like you and me, except they’re specialer. And if you’re a retired member of New York’s finest, you’re probably even more specialer if you’re also married to an NYPD captain. Which may have something to do with the fact that Marian Brioso wasn’t charged with a crime that would have had any other hapless Big Apple resident sweating it out on Riker’s Island…

nydailynews.com has the story:

A retired NYPD detective nearly caused a tragedy on Tuesday when she put a loaded pistol in her daughter’s backpack – and the girl inadvertently brought it to school.

Marian Brioso, 46, of Staten Island, put her .25-caliber Taurus handgun in her 6-year-old daughter’s book bag, planning to remove it later, police sources said.

But Brioso, who’s married to NYPD Capt. Paulino Brioso, forgot to remove the gun and her daughter unwittingly brought it to her first-grade class at the Transfiguration School in Chinatown.

“[The kid] went to school, opened up her bag and took it out. She said something, and a teacher came over,” a police source said.

Cops couldn’t say why Brioso put the gun in the bag.

Or wouldn’t say, more likely. Let’s leave aside the stupidity exhibited here for a moment. I’m sure Marian came up with some sort of convenient cock-and-bull story, at least so her former brethren in blue could complete their paperwork. No, much more conspicuous in this case is the lack of moral outrage being expressed.

Remember when Plaxico Burress shot himself in a Latin Quarter nightclub? Do you also remember the hellfire and brimstone that rained down from Hizzoner Michael Bloomberg in the aftermath? You’d have thought he opened up with a full-auto AK in Times Square.

An irate Mayor Bloomberg Monday demanded that prosecutors throw the book at Giants star Plaxico Burress for bringing a loaded handgun into a crowded midtown nightclub and accidentally shooting himself in the leg.

“I don’t think that anybody should be exempt from that,” Bloomberg said. “It would be an outrage if we don’t prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”

Nothing like poisoning the jury pool, Mike. Glad you let the legal process play out unaffected by your pontificating.

But we haven’t heard anything like that in this case. A handgun. In New York City. In a six year-old’s backpack. In a grade school. But by the deathly silence, this might as well have been a case of aggravated jaywalking.

Alright, no one was hurt – thank God – in this case. The little girl found the gun, told her teacher and all ended well. Other than the tiresome and predictable therapy visits and counseling for the rest of the kids, of course.

Does anyone really doubt, though, that if the mother in this case hadn’t been a former cop – and married to a current NYPD captain – she’d have been cuffed and frog marched in front of the entirety of the carnivorous New York City media on her way to being booked for reckless endangerment?

But again, as part of the fraternity, she’s more equal than most of the rest of her fellow eight million New Yorkers. Let it not be said, though, that TTAG treats cops – or anyone else, for that matter – any better or worse when it comes to handing out accolades. No, Marian Brioso, you won’t get any favoritism here. This one’s for you. Welcome to the prestigious IGOTD club. You’ve earned it.