New York City (courtesy naacpldf.org)

Statement of NAACP Legal Defense Fund & 
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Today’s fatal shooting of two police officers in New York is shocking and tragic. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law extend their condolences to the families and colleagues of both officers, and we stand with the residents of New York City in mourning this senseless loss of life. In addition, we extend our sympathies to the Baltimore victim who was seriously injured by the same assailant . . .

These two killings and the life-threatening injury, like so many other unfortunate incidences of gun violence, provide a stark example of the need for sensible gun control measures, and the need to thoughtfully address untreated mental illness.

While some may suggest a causal link between these killings and the recent protests and activism focused on the serious issue of police violence against unarmed African Americans, we caution against escalating an already tense national state through rumor and conjecture. Whatever motivation lay in the apparently troubled mind of the now deceased shooter of these officers, there is no connection between the peaceful protests of thousands of people of all races all over the country and, indeed, around the world, and this hideous act of violence.

As stewards of civil and human rights, we continue to seek a productive and open dialogue about ways to improve relations between communities of color and law enforcement and remain unwavering in our demand for accountability when any innocent lives are taken. For now, we pause in respectful sympathy with the families of the two officers who lost their lives today in this senseless act of violence and extend our wishes for the speedy recovery of the surviving victim.

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91 COMMENTS

  2. Anyone imagining the wizard of Oz while reading that?

    “It’s the guns I say! Pay no attention to the race baiting and anti police hatred! These peaceful protests have nothing to do with this murder. It’s about GUNS!”

    • Totally. But I have to say, I think they overplayed their hand here. People aren’t even curious about the putz behind the curtain, much less what they have to say.

  3. These two killings and the life-threatening injury, like so many other unfortunate incidences of gun violence, provide a stark example of the need for sensible gun control measures…

    Absolutely! The law against murder didn’t stop the murders. The law against possessing a firearm in New York didn’t stop the possession. The law against loading more than seven rounds in a magazine didn’t prevent the full magazine. The law against buying a gun without a background check in Maryland didn’t stop the purchase. The federal law against selling a firearm to a convicted felon didn’t stop the sale.
    But I’m positive a new law banning the sale of AR-15s would have prevented it all!

      • Yep, the perp brought the gun in from out-of-state. There must be a way to STOP this. Perhaps we could FRISK everyone coming into the city from outside; yeah, that’s it! We could STOP and FRISK everyone!

        I’m sure the NAACP would support this, right? To get rid of all the criminals and the evil guns they carry to commit crimes and hurt people, right?

        Right?

        • “Yep, the perp brought the gun in from out-of-state. ”

          I heard the NRA personally found that guy and put the murder weapon in in his felonious hands…

        • I guess I’m just iggorunt, but I somehow missed the fact yesterday that he carried that violent offending nasty bad gun from MD to NYC on a freakin’ BUS! Public transportation! How can this be, think of the children! It’s a miracle that everyone in 5 states wasn’t murdered.

    • Not only that, you also need to get finger printed and a license to purchase in MD. MD also bans magazines above 10 rounds and also banned “Assault rifles”.

      I’m going to assume this guy got his firearm illegally since there is no way someone with a past criminal record could have gotten a gun legally under Maryland’s draconian laws considering that law abiding citizens are barely able to get guns there.

      • Well being a former Marylander there are some holes in what you said about Maryland law.

        For one mags over 10 rounds are still legal to purchase and possess as long as you get them from out of state.

        Two, “assault weapons” are not completely banned. AR’s with pencil and government profile barrels are the only one’s banned. AK pistols, SBR’s, and AK’s in their stock import configuration still legal. All the new stuff out like SCAR’s, AR-10’s, Tavor’s, etc. still legal.

  4. “… and the need to thoughtfully address untreated mental illness.” Absolutely, starting with racial baiting and provocations by Obama, Holder, Sharpton and Co.

  5. “While some may suggest a causal link between these killings and the recent protests and activism focused on the serious issue of police violence against unarmed African Americans, we caution against escalating an already tense national state through rumor and conjecture. Whatever motivation lay in the apparently troubled mind of the now deceased shooter of these officers, there is no connection between the peaceful protests of thousands of people of all races all over the country and, indeed, around the world, and this hideous act of violence.”

    Tell me again how many businesses were destroyed in Ferguson by those “peaceful protests”?

  6. I’m just waiting for this one to get thrown back in their faces. The whole sordid tale takes place under their recommended laws, and yet they didn’t stop anything. There has to be some talking head out there who’s getting ready to skewer some anti-gun guest over this.

  7. I agree about this shooting showing the need for sensible gun laws. Get rid of the inane and unenforceable draconian gun control laws and enact sensible regulations that crack down not only on those who use guns to commit or further other crimes, but also on those who knowingly sell guns to violent criminals who are definitely going to use ther in crimes. We also should redefine those automatically banned from possessing or controling firearms to only those convicted for crimes involving violence.

  8. Gun control? Mental illness? What a carload of crap. If reports are true, the cop killer was a member of one of the Black Guerrilla Family, one of the most vicious black gangs on the planet. Founded by the NAACP’s favorite thug and mass murderer, George Jackson.

    If the NAACP wasn’t committed to pushing its agenda of blaming everyone except the people who actually do the crimes, it would focus on urban gangs and the disease of drugs that has infected black communities all over America. But that would be too much to ask.

    • ***SARCASM ALERT! WARNING: The following statement is made using satirical language. The statement is designed to provide satirical wit or an ironic utterance and may not reflect actual truth in events, places, ideas, people, and/or products and sold goods. By continuing to read this post, you accept:

      1) The statement may not bear truth in reality.
      2) The statement should be taken in humor.
      3) You will not hold this writer responsible for any misuse of the statement.
      4) This statement may or may not reflect the actual views of the writer.

      Reader discretion advised!***

      Ralph, you must be a racist . . .

        • Hey man, how you been? Yeah, it’s me. I was just trying to infiltrate all these gun-a-toatin racists, and I must have blown my cover.

          Now for the rest of you’all that weren’t supposed to realize who I actually am: I spread a message of peace (if you’re not white, since that isn’t people of “color”) and love. We must band together and spread tolerance (as long as you are not white, of “color” [African-American], and agree with me). This is about the children (unless they are not black) and we need to stop the gun violence by disarming everyone (except for street thugs, gangs, the Secret Service [unless a Republican wins the next election], or my entourage of body guards).

          Spread peace (unless you are white, a white police officer, or a person of “color” that isn’t African-American)!

  10. “That stuff back there, that was all about race. This stuff right here, it has nothing to do with race. We should make defending yourself against people even harder so the state can control you easier.”

    That about cover it?

  13. Gee how would sensible gun control disarm a violent thug who couldn’t legally have a gun? Did he steal his shiny Taurus or buy it ? 15 felonies? Yeah I know it’s racist that so many of our young black mens(sic) are bein’ locked up. And the naacp hates cops too…the doubleminded man(or woman) is unstable in all his ways…from the OFWG married to a beautiful black woman( whose kids look like the NYC mayor’s son).

  14. When you remind them that the existing laws didn’t work, the response is always “You didn’t let us go far enough last time, it’s the NRA that blocked us, just a little more this time and we’ll get it done.” Right….

    • Oh, and let’s not forget the old Chicago favorite: lax gun laws elsewhere are why we have a gun problem.

  15. In other words, the only disagreement between these groups is which amendment we need to erase – freedom of speech, assembly, or self defense. They are all in complete agreement minorities are emotional children incapable of personal responsibility. Does anyone in these neighborhoods know what it feels like to be responsible for their own protection and not “need” the police? Close your eyes and imagine not actually being afraid…

  16. This is just a cynical attempt to deflect blame from their support of “kill the cops” rhetoric.

    The NAACP is a major player in the race hustler-gangbanger coalition that has culminated in the the death of the two NYPD officers. Perhaps if they spent more time and effort trying to fix the social dysfunction in the black community instead of standing up for thugs and gangbangers fewer black teenagers would be dying in gang violence and in confrontations with the police.

    Don’t play into their hands. Keep the conversation fixed on the NAACP’s support for thugs like Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin.

    • Well, said. Far be it for the NAACP to ever admit that its overt support of burning, looting, and crowds of protestors calling for dead cops had anything at all to do with these or other cop killings in NYC. It’s just gotta’ be about the guns . . .

  17. Protests calling for dead cops had nothing to do with this, despite the obvious. Don’t rush to judgement, like the ACLU, SPLC, and NAACP do,
    Nope let them rush out and call for more gun laws, despite the obvious.
    Stop thinking, it makes believing them more difficult.

  18. ” . . .These two killings and the life-threatening injury, like so many other unfortunate incidences of gun violence, provide a stark example of the need for sensible gun control measures . . .”

    “Sensible gun control measures” equals more control over the individual by the state. Yeah, that’s the ticket! All this bad stuff is happening because society is just too damn free. The reason people do bad things is that their lives are just not well enough controlled by the state. We just need a re-alignment, a new balance of control, one that further restricts and directs the choices individuals make. Once we do that, with the right kind of sensible control measures we’ll be able to make sure everyone’s mind is right. The future’s so bright I gotta’ wear shades . . .

  19. >”These two killings and the life-threatening injury, like so many other unfortunate incidences of gun violence, provide a stark example of the need for sensible gun control measures, and the need to thoughtfully address untreated mental illness…
    >”…we caution against escalating an already tense national state through rumor and conjecture.”

    I see what you did there. /sarc

  20. Umm, Robert? I just got a pop-up that told me i couldn’t edit my comment because it was spam. How do I get un-spammed?

  23. They aren’t big on personal responsibility. Their entire platform rests on being perpetual victims of forces beyond their control. No surprise they passed the buck here.

  25. So with the one hand they espouse civil rights and human rights and with the other they attempt to destroy my civil and human rights. I’ve never shot at a cop or looted a store. How is common sense curtailing of my rights going to make the nation safer?

    • Because you owning guns interferes with a subset of their constituencies right to burn, loot and rob. Common sense ya see. The needs of the many and all that.

  27. what the naacp doesn’t realize is that the laws they wanted and passed previously did not stop this.

  28. If I brainwashed a kid into thinking he was the perpetual victim of society, and reinforced that lie at every opportunity, such that he reflexively blamed others for his failings, and then told him that the police have no right to arrest him, and that he had the human right to assault and rob people, justified by his family’s impoverishment, would I be guilty of the crimes he will inevitably commit against the people he believes to be his oppressors? Sort of, yeah. Looking at you, actors/rappers/politicians/hipsters/random douchebags.

  29. “While some may suggest a causal link between these killings and the recent protests and activism focused on the serious issue of police violence against unarmed African Americans, we caution against escalating an already tense national state through rumor and conjecture.”

    I’m… just… speechless. Now what is the NAACP supposed to do? It wasn’t the militant, revenge-seeking black Muslim that killed the cops, it was the gun’s fault?

  31. It’s telling that their first response is to try and push the blame off to something else. Need to push back in social media on this one. THEY need to accept and own the rhetoric that lead to this cop killer acting.

  32. “..While some may suggest a causal link between these killings and the recent protests. …”

    …….Brinsley, 28, wrote on his Instagram account: “I’m putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours, let’s take 2 of theirs,”

    ………He used the hashtags Shootthepolice RIPErivGardner (sic) RIPMikeBrown.

    Can’t be any more “casual” than that huh?

  33. So the new definition of thoughtful and sensible include pathetic knee jerk anti gun delusions.

    Who knew?

  34. Notice how all the usual cockroaches come scurrying out to profit politically from the actions they have been exhorting their followers to take. And the media facilitates all of it quite willingly, yet again. Still.

  35. How about making it illegal to do something illegal?
    I’m up to mid-6 figure $’s a year in tax, and result seems to be more leeches of every color, who seem to keep having more kids that we pay for, and become leeches themselves, and use guns illegally to prey on all of us. Stiffer penalties for violent gun crime and more prisons, and reasonable lifetime limits on free govt. money with my money please….

    • nice to know some of us contribute half a million dollars a year in taxes (i’m assuming federal). thanks for greasing the wheel.

      • My pleasure…wish it all went to good use to help us all, not some twisted black hole that seems to spit out more and more criminals each year. Personal responsibility and parent taught morals quickly seem to be leaving this great country.

  37. Yea, more gun control, that’s the answer. If only NYC had strict gun control laws, violent criminals wouldn’t dare obtain firearms and use them to assassinate police officers

    And what about the Federal Government, there ought to be a law in this country that makes it a federal felony with mandatory minimum sentences of 5 to 10 years if a felon is caught in possession of a firearm.

    New York City should move to enact some of the most punitive gun control measures in the U.S. that make it difficult for anyone to even own a firearm and make it a felony with mandatory jail time to possess or carry a firearm without a permit.

    Lax gun control laws in NYC and the rampant lawful possession and lawful carrying of firearms by law abiding citizens in the Big Apple is to blame for the deaths of Officer Liu and Officer Ramos.

  39. And this attack on two NYPD police officers happened on the same day as that upon two French police officers by a deranged, blade-wielding Muslim. Those officers, in critical condition, have so far survived; but is that really the silver lining the antis are looking for? Attempted murder and officers clinging to life?

    Hell, even the very next day, another deranged Muslim terrorist smashed his car into a French crowd, injuring at last report some eleven people.

    It’s not about the implements, my friends. It’s about the monsters in our midst, how best to detect them and how best to protect ourselves.

  40. I read they were involved in a drill, how many times have we heard this? If true anyone else see a pattern?

  41. Sensible gun control

    1. Treat all firearms as if they were loaded.
    2. Keep muzzle pointed in a safe direction at all times.
    3. Keep finger off trigger until ready to fire.
    4. Know your target and what is behind it.

  42. “extend their condolences to the families and colleagues of both officers, and we stand with the residents of New York City in mourning this senseless loss of life”.

    Senseless loss of Eric Garners’ life being attacked by NY finest for not charging tax selling single cigs’. Then absolving the officer of any crime, when video evidence shows one committed, while Eric pleads to breathe. There you have it…fail to submit to uniform thugs or be murdered.

    • Garner was massive and he was resisting arrest. The coroner’s report also listed his obesity and asthma and general lack of good health as contributing factors in his death. Do you think that was the first time these officers heard a criminal say “I can’t breathe” when they were resisting arrest and hoped the police would release them? Who are you to put yourself in an officer’s place when they have been in this situation many times and you never have. Had he been lying (which I’m sure most criminals do from time to time), they could have released him, just to have him attack them once he was freed up. The bottom line, “DON’T RESIST ARREST.” Have you seen videos being posted of criminals daring police officers to touch them, to arrest them. What do you suggest they do? When a criminal does not want to be arrested, should they say “Oh, okay.” And walk away? Being arrested is not negotiable. Maybe the police should pull out of the neighborhoods that want them dead. Police yourselves. Kill each other. Rob each other. Rape each other. Those neighborhoods don’t deserve protection.

  43. Only a lawyer can put these two things together:

    These two killings and the life-threatening injury, like so many other unfortunate incidences of gun violence, provide a stark example of the need for sensible gun control measures, and the need to thoughtfully address untreated mental illness.

    While some may suggest a causal link between these killings and the recent protests and activism focused on the serious issue of police violence against unarmed African Americans, we caution against escalating an already tense national state through rumor and conjecture.

    So, our conjecture that some of the strictest gun-control measures in the country failed to stop this incident because there weren’t enough of them or they weren’t strict enough is perfectly fine. But your conjecture that the attacker acted because of a heightened environment of anti-police rhetoric is completely misplaced.

    Here’s a thought: no amount of gun control (or relaxation of gun control, for that matter) would have prevented this murder. We don’t need more gun control; we need more violent criminal control.

    The worthless bastard who committed these crimes was a multiple-time felon – like most murderous criminals are. Start keeping these violent criminals locked up, and their opportunity to murder goes away. No need for more gun control measures, however ostensibly “sensible” they may be.

    • “. . .The worthless bastard who committed these crimes was a multiple-time felon – like most murderous criminals are. . .”

      Yes, but the NAACP takes the position that he was forced into a life of crime, multiple felonies, and finally the murder of two policemen because he lived in an unequal, racist society, which denied him opportunity. Because he did not have the advantages of white privilege, society literally forced him into a life of crime and mayhem. In their view, he was simply an oppressed person for striking out against his oppressors. Just like it is with the Jihadists, it’s really all our own fault. But, since it will take a lot longer to create a truly equal society, “reasonable” gun-control laws are an acceptable and more immediate expedient.

  45. There is absolute lawlessness in the city and country right now. Criminals yelling in the face of police officers, daring them to arrest them. Walking into precincts and assaulting police officers with no fear. Punching them in the face as they attempt to keep the peace at their “peaceful” protest. The fact that there have been calls for the death of police officers and not a single response by said “politicians” and activists or any attempt to thwart the escalating violence is inconceivable. City Councilman Jumaane Williams, was positively thrilled that Bloods and Crips wished to join their “peaceful” protest. A politician welcoming gang members, drug dealers and murderers to join him. Only a completely ignorant moron would align himself with gang members in the same sentence as the so-called “peaceful protests.” I find it outrageous that William’s is not suggesting to “use this tragedy to move forward civilly.” I choose to support the side that keeps the citizens (especially in the black community) safe from those on the side of Al Sharpton and the NAACP.

  47. Always an attempt to explain behavior and tie it to more gun control.

    It goes like this: We are aware the killer had a long and violent record and clearly he was not to have a firearm. Knowing this we suggest we take firearms from non-violent people without criminal records. This will likely result in less random killings.

    The only alarming part of this irrational cognition is there are people who believe it!

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