“All [Coolidge Police Officer Alan] Scott Urkov did was drop his daughter off at Entz Elementary School. Little did he know that what he was wearing that day would lead to a call from the principal,” myfoxphoenix.com reports. “‘There were some parents who were concerned about that fact that there was a fully armed officer on campus and they spoke to the principal about it,’ said Helen Hollands, spokesperson for Mesa Unified School District (the City’s largest employer). She says the principal spoke with Officer Urkov and asked him not to wear his uniform and gun to school anymore.” True story, from a city 20 miles east of Phoenix in “gun friendly” Arizona. “Mesa Unified School District officials say they didn’t realize they had upset or offended the officer by asking him not to wear his uniform here on campus . . .
“We apologize that he took the discussion the wrong way perhaps, that was not the intent of the principal to offend him,” said Hollands.
Nothing like a half apology to make everyone feel better. Well, the person making the apology anyway. The story doesn’t say whether or not the Officer will wear his uniform and heater when dropping off his daughter from now on or not.
Officer Urkov told me he was advised by his department not to comment on this story, and to “just let it be.”
Meanwhile, while school officials’ initial reaction was to ask the officer not to wear his gun and uniform to school, they are now saying they want to turn this incident into “a teachable moment.”
Speaking of teachable moments, now would be a good time for some right-thinking Mesa parents to exercise their right to open carry at the school gates, mindful of the fact that Arizona does not enforce Bush the Elder’s unconscionable Gun Free School Zones Act (1000 foot exclusionary zone around public schools).
mindful of the fact that Arizona does not enforce Bush the Elder’s unconscionable Gun Free School Zones Act (1000 foot exclusionary zone around public schools)
YOU CAN DO THIS!?! come on PA get on board
We have to remember that this is all about changing the perception and creating the idea that guns are taboo, this is exactly the game plan as Eric Holder mentions here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQhwJkv3Kt8
We have to counter this with our own PR…
Eric “Brainwash Americans About Guns” Holder.
My kids are past school age now, but I was always glad to see the SRO or any other LEO in their schools.
When will this stuff stop?
It won’t stop until decent, good citizens who respect individual rights smack down the hysterical gun grabbers. The smack down will have to happen in all three areas: the soap box, ballot box, and jury box. Let’s hope we don’t have to resort to the final option, the ammo box … although it is getting harder and harder to imagine how we will be able to secure our rights otherwise.
And so many say California and NY are lost causes. You need to attack the cancer before it spreads, not ignore it so it can kill you. More and more articles about antis in “free states”. Heads up people.
Agreed. That is exactly why we should keep fighting in places like California and NY, because pro gunners need to keep the fight where it should stay, in the anti’s front yards.
Agree 100%.
I lived in Mesa, AZ for 30 years and watched it and the entire Phoenix area grow into a huge spread out city. Lots of those know nothings came came from California and have tried to infect my home state with their “progressive” ideas and stupid ideas about gun control. Thankfully the State Legislature has been able to keep the gun laws Second Amendment friendly, thanks to conservative old timers and the Legislators from the rural parts of the state. This stupid principal was way out of line and should have told the objecting parents that a policeman in uniform is a good thing and to have the parents teach their children that cops are their friend when they need help.
Eventually maybe people will wake up and realize that anti-2A isn’t a state-by-state thing, but rather it is more big city vs. suburban/rural. It appears to be a difference in states only because some states are run by their massive urban sprawl areas and others aren’t.
That is certainly true here in CA.
That isn’t nessecarily the case here in AZ. For example, the Mesa area in the above article is a Phoenix suburb (but are urban in their own right), as is Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Fountain Hills, Apache Junction, Cave Creek, Awatukee and Paradise Valley (all on the east side of PHX). There are more suburbs on the west side. Most of the east valley leans conservative. Parts of the west valley do as well. Meanwhile, you can go up to Sedona or Flagstaff and have a very politically ‘progressive’ group of people that live in much less of a traditionally large urban area. There are a lot of other examples in AZ where urban v rural does not play out in the way you mention. The conservative Greater Phoenix Area generally dictates state policy and laws over the more liberal areas of the state.
“The conservative Greater Phoenix Area generally dictates state policy and laws over the more liberal areas of the state.”
Much to the chagrin of our strange little brothers down in Tucson.
This is true of virtually all political issues, not just gun control.
Though it should be noted that urban/rural is also a symptom, not the cause. Ultimately, you’re simply talking about different groups of people having different interests (sometimes perceived interests, not real ones). Those people usually also differ in their lifestyle, which can serve as a reasonably reliable indicator in most cases.
Yep, the California cancer spreads. Helped by the MAIGS the MDAs and the very supportive main stream media. Anybody that’s still deluding themselves into thinking 2a is an issue for individual states is setting themselves up for a crushing defeat.
The goal is for everyone to be equal. We want everyone to have the choice to arm themselves if they feel it’s necessary. They want everyone to be barred from owning firearms. Which is it going to be? Right now it’s in our favor, most states are pro-gun, or at least allow carry and free choice of whatever you want. That means we need to push for equality, they will keep pushing to make us all victims.
“Speaking of teachable moments, now would be a good time for some right-thinking Mesa parents to exercise their right to open carry at the school gates”
Because this worked so well with Starbucks…..
As an Arizonan I gotta say were catching the libtard flu it seems…….
It’s in large part due to liberal transplants from other states. They ruin their home state with their ridiculous policies then come here and want to do the same thing.
A little known fact for others outside the state is it’s harder than hell to find a native Arizonan like me. Chances are high the panty-filler that complained about the cop is a transplant.
Well you have another native Zonie here APBTFan. In fact my family goes back several generations and we farmed the land in eastern Arizona well before statehood. I like to think that the new wave of transplants are coming hoping to escape their previous home unlike the previous migrations.
So one or more hoplophobic types runs to a probably sympathetic principal and the school nearly goes into lockdown…because a fully uniformed and armed LEO is dropping his kid off.
I thought AZ was a very pro gun, free state.
My point: I guess nowhere is truly safe from the anti gunners.
So WHERE is it we should move to, you say?
Spend some time here and you will see very clearly that this was a case of a school trying to pacify a few whiners and not representative of the community as a whole.
The correct response to those parents should have been “eat a bag of d@cks”
I am in CA and am looking at Chandler for my escape to a like minded place to live ‘down the road’.
The problem is that this anti gun cr4p spreads along with the mobility of this nation’s population. A few years of liberal elite transplants later, and you’ve got a full blown cottage industry of liberal progressives invading your local city council and legislature.
The condescending tone of the Mesa School administrations response to the officer in question regarding their actions is clear indication to me that, at least with that school, there is already someone in power with an anti gun bias. If that is a trend that gains more traction or not will only be answered with the passage of time.
I seriously believe it was simply a case of a school district trying to pacify a tiny minority. I also believe it will come back to haunt them as these things tend to do around here.
Chandler is a great town. With the exception of downtown Chandler the crime rate is very low. I think you will find that contrary to what the liberal media tells you, gun friendly Phoenix proper does not have an abnormally high violent crime rate. What we do have plenty of is property crime. But much like other places that really depends upon where you live. If you have kids Chandler has the best school district in the state. If it is in your budget I would also look at Scottsdale a little further north. Once again great schools and much more to do on a Friday or Saturday night. Scottsdale also has the nation’s largest indoor shooting range. In the northwest valley you will find the massive Ben Avery outdoor range which is the largest shooting range in the country. Keep in mind that Ben Avery is owned and operated by the state of Arizona. Don’t let stories of idiocy like this one paint an improper picture of the good people here.
That is what has caused a decline in the U.S., a handful of whiners etc.
Any state that does not have significant urban growth or prospects thereof. A simple rough way to determine that: sort the states by average or median income, and look at the bottom third of the list. This is not a universal rule (e.g. Wyoming is in top 15 but is also very conservative and will be for a long time to be), but for the most part, it works.
I like the term “fully armed”. I can only assume that means his magazine holds more than 7 bullets.
“now witness the firepower of this Fully armed and operational Cop!”
It’s a TRAP.
LOL
“Drop the weapon. You have 10 seconds to comply.”
So when some madman starts to shoot up their Gun Free Zone school the local police are not allowed to respond armed and in uniform? What the Hell is wrong with these people?
If an actual cop, in his uniform, carrying his sidearm, cannot even approach a school where his own children are students? Whoever initially raised this concern/complaint needs to be judged “mentally defective.”
Actually, the police department should make a statement that they will not let any police in uniform or with a weapon come to the school. FOR ANY REASON. That way the parents will know the children and teachers are safe from any legally armed people.
From the article it sounds like those that complained were in the extreme minority and that the majority of parents were actually quite upset by the school’s position. I know the way these schools and districts operate all too well. If one person complains about something that they find offensive the district will always bend over backwards to side with the whiners. The parents have been given way too much power. Those in education should be able to tell certain people to pound sand. However, being that this is in a Phoenix suburb, this will not be the end of the story. Mesa Public Schools will be shamed into admitting their stupidity in due time.
So now not even cops can be armed? How much lower can they sink? I mean they were just worshipping them yesterday! Will they call the police on the police or something? Mind boggling.
Imagine if the officer had also been wearing an NRA T-shirt like that poor Canyon High School student. Every hoplophobe in Arizona would have had a coronary.
Whoa. Did I just come up with the solution?
It’s worth a shot…errr, try.
If you watch the video over at mfoxphoenix, the attitude of “we’re sorry, but he took it the wrong way” is abundantly clear. They are apologizing because they have to, not because they feel they did anything wrong. They are clearly trying to blame the cop for the parents and the school going full retard.
Right–it’s the cop’s failing for “taking it the wrong way.” I wonder what other way Hollands imagined he should have taken it. Hollands needs to point one ear toward the ground while someone slaps the pixie dust out of her skull.
“Mesa Unified School District officials say they didn’t realize they had upset or offended the officer by asking him not to wear his uniform here on campus…” The stupid is strong in these, young Jedi. But I shall correct them through reckless driving and parking violations, and resisting arrest charges. Behold the power…
I wonder if they’d want him to wear his uniform and gun if some madman invaded their hallways?
Liberalism is a mental disease.
The people who complained don’t represent all liberals any more than the “sovereign citizens” represent conservatives. They’re morons.
Idiots — but just clever enough to know that they can get their way by appealing to fellow morons who have risen to the top in a system that rewards ideological purity above all else.
No, don’t open carry near a school just to show that you can. If you’re wondering what will happen, super uptight people will get their panties in a bunch and you will no longer be able to open carry.
Exactly. If you open carry, which I completely support, open carry while going about your normal daily lives. If the point of OC is to make others see average people, doing average things while carrying a gun, then be an average person, doing average things while carrying a gun. Intentionally changing your habits when you OC is playing into the other side’s narrative that “when you strap on a gun, you become a different person” BS.
They didn’t realize it would offend him? Really? “Gee Officer, it would be really swell if you wouldn’t display any outward appearance of your chosen profession. Wouldn’t do for parents to think that anyone who has ever been within 1000 feet of the school had ever been within reaching distance of a gun at any time in their life.”
What unbelievable malarky. So goes the fetishization of guns by people who know nothing about them.
I would like to point out that, oddly, in CA CCW holders (as rare as they are, only a few tens of thousands) can carry in schools and for that matter we are allowed to have some pocket knives in schools.
Maybe, just maybe, if even CAallows that, AZ should follow suit? That was my only real issue with AZ law when I was considering a job there….all the school zones and no exception under state law.
Attention all of you who are critical of open carry activists: I hope this incident finally makes my point clear to you. The masses are getting to the point that they cannot even handle police officers in uniform carrying openly. This is the level of hysteria of people who protest visible firearms. There is nothing that we can ever do to avoid “offending them” or “making them uncomfortable” short of total disarmament.
I want to stress that the civilian disarmament advocates who decry visible firearms are, indeed, hysterical. We cannot accommodate hysteria and certainly should never give up our rights to the hysterical demands of hysterical people.
What we can do is reach the people who are simply uninformed. Dress nicely, have your family at your side, and carry openly as you go to a restaurant, park, or even for a bicycle ride or walk in your neighborhood. Show them that good, responsible people with families have firearms. Show them that firearms do not turn you into a seething cauldron of rage about to explode at the slightest provocation. Show them calmness, a polite attitude, and friendly smiles.
And while you’re showing them your finer qualities, also show them your piece.
BINGO!
SMH. I don’t even know what to say. Speechless.
This is how the Gun Disarmament Complex works. First, they say guns should be limited to military and law enforcement personnel. Then, if they can get away with it, they’ll go after the police, too.
Absolutely ridiculous. I took DARE classes twice as a kid, once in sixth grade and again in eighth. Each time, I was taught by a local law enforcement official in full uniform who was packing heat. It was NEVER an issue. And each time, the officer in question was happy to answer our questions about their sidearm, whether it was in class or during a lunch hour. It wasn’t at all uncommon for one of their colleagues to drop off their kids at school dressed for work, too.
The troubling part is that these hysterical, spineless dopes are negatively conditioning (or dare I say it – brainwashing) the children in their alleged “carer.”
We have whipped everyone up to a frenzy to the point that nobody can just use common sense any longer. This is what all the agitprop on the news has done. We have made everyone scared of their own shadows. The constant “See something, say something” at least the Northeast does not help.
I guess the media and the Civilian Disarmament Complex have done their job. Every little incident is a point of concern. They are causing a different kind of anxiety and fear that will lead to people with a nervous breakdown.
I believe this is ridiculous. So now an officer cannot go on campus without someone freaking out!
Perhaps maybe we should start ignoring these idiots for once. If we pander to every single person who gets afraid or offended that line will never ever end.
What a joke we are becoming as a nation.
“They are causing a different kind of anxiety and fear that will lead to people with a nervous breakdown.”
Exactly! See DC yesterday.
Remember folks we live in a country where everyone gets a trophy no one has to sacrifice and if you whine enough you can make everyone do what you want them too yes this is appeasement at its finest.
I live in Chicagoland, and we had an armed police officer patrolling our hallways for the 4 years I was in high school. We never had a mass shooting occur.
Having said that, I find it amusing that people flip out about armed police officers in schools outside of the Chicago area.
As a southern AZ resident and gun owner, I would like to apologize to Officer Urkov for the untypical treatment he endured. Even here in Free America, we have more than our share of hoplophobic douchenozzles and whiners. The only appropriate response is to politely tell them to STFU and FOAD.
So, I guess he won’t be invited to career day?
“Do you ask any other child’s parent to make a special trip to drop off their kids rather than doing so on their way to work?”
“No.”
“Then why do you see fit to discriminate against my profession?”
The real blame lies with the schools district. It may have started with nutbag parents, but the school district should have never given their hoplophobia credence.
Having been a public school teacher I can tell you that districts bend over backwards to satisfy or placate the most asinine people.
You wanna know why the public schools have gone off kilter? It’s because parents have way too much power to disrupt and destroy the learning environment because their needs and their little boopies have to placated all the time. The majority of time and effort is spent on the losers and scumbags in schools that will never make anything of themselves even with all the extra “help.” Meanwhile good kids are sitting there waiting for their teacher to calm down some autistic retard, criminal released from juvie or some kid who can’t put their damn phone away.
rammerjammer,
Don’t hold back … please feel free to fully express your thoughts. ; )
Nevertheless, the truth is what the truth is. I wish more school teachers had your way of thinking.
Most schools don’t have a learning environment. They have a stupidity environment.
I agree with you that schools tolerate incorrigible brats at the expense of well behaved kids. Ignoring a problem is easier than dealing with it. We didn’t have children so we never had to cope with school officials unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. It’s just as well since, at that age, I hadn’t thought through a proper reaction and could not have dealt with them effectively. Today, I would tell them, “It’s your responsibility to maintain a safe and orderly school so that our child, and others, can learn. If our child misbehaves, we expect you to administer appropriate punishment and notify us so that we can support you at home. At the same time, you need to understand that we will not tolerate your coddling troublemakers at our child’s expense. How you control the troublemakers is your prerogative. But if you can’t or won’t we are prepared to take action against them and you in the form of assault charges, protection orders, court orders and anything else our lawyer advises.”
that is a surprisingly moderate response from the PD. Imagine though if it had been an obedience school instead.
Why aren’t the police unions protesting the school district?
They don’t want to step on the teachers’ union’s toes?
The only thing that stops a good guy with a gun is a sissy liberal…
Every time I see or hear of crap like this, I am reminded of the farside comic where cows are getting in line for the slaughter and one says to the other, “hey, no cutting!”
Hey, look at the bright side, at least the school didn’t go into “full lockdown” mode ’cause an armed cop was sighted on campus!
Better put this in context, RF. Mesa police have a less-than-stellar reputation for shoot first, question later. There have been record levels of shootings by police officers this year. Last year another east Valley city, Scottsdale, retired a 36-year-old officer on full disability benefits after his seventh shooting of individuals, most of whom died. The disability claim was for mental duress for this young officer. By media accounts, the police have itchy fingers around the greater Phoenix area. Of course, that may be due to the large percentage of illegal aliens brazenly committing crimes, record numbers of hit-and-runs, etc. But the media here seems to shelter the illegal alien problem and highlight the shootings by police, so that may be why it’s on the forefront of parents’ minds.
So this is the media’s fault… I see now. Yeh.
At least he didn’t have a gun aimed at his face, be disarmed, made to lay face down in the street while a thug kneels into your back… as happens to law-abiding people who don’t have a shiny badge while lawfully open-carrying.
It’s not often people see what it’s like to live on the other side of the fence. He only got a tiny taste of it and is rightfully pissed off. I hope he takes from this experience and learns something.
Cops should have to play by the same rules as everybody else. If I can’t carry on a school’s grounds, neither should the cops.
Aaand, there’s the response I have come to expect here. I’m just surprised RF didn’t make the point himself.
So the correct response (after 80 some posts). I’ll be interested in police “rights” when the natural rights of free citizens recognize. Until then a billy club and a funny helmet are sufficient equipment.
Deal with it.
Gun free zone law should apply to everyone. That’s how laws are supposed to work. Is it ridiculous? Of course it is, but so is not allowing American citizens the right to carry on school grounds while picking up their children.
In Ohio you can concealed carry when picking up or dropping off a student, so long as you don’t exit the vehicle.
Lemme get this straight, they objected to a uniformed LEO with a gun? We have to stop listening to the holophobes, it’s definitionally an ‘irrational’ fear. Since when do we act on the input of the irrational?
The key to a successful protest is to keep it legal, polite, and professional. I would organize a small to medium militia (10-100) of parents, hopefully some moms, and cops. Have everyone in “uniform” ie matching shirts pants (maybe I heart cops), side arm, and non-scary long arm. An hour or so before school starts, space out along the school property line or drop of zone. Have everyone stand at attention till the first bell rings. Then fall out and leave. Have one or two patient, well spoken members available to answer questions and speak to press. The key is not to be douchebags. Be professional, but don’t act like you have a constitution up your butt. The goal is to make a statement not force feed our views.
I wonder what the whiny parents that complained to the principal and the principal have to hide from LEO? Are they abusing children? Smuggling Drugs? What? That is what the PR guys from the PD should be asking. That should set their hair on fire.
Fag (British cigarettes) school.
I once did a presentation at a private kindergarten. The teacher asked if I could leave the gun in the car. I called my on-duty supervisor, who advised me that the firearm and other accoutrements were part of the uniform. If I removed my weapon, I would be considered out of uniform, and therefore out of policy. The gun stayed and the class went just fine. We’re literally required to carry a gun while in uniform or when driving a patrol car. That’s fine with me.
My first CCW instructor was the range master for one of the local PD’s in the greater Phoenix area and he once said that if the gun wasn’t part of the uniform, there were a select few on the department that wouldn’t wear it… ever. He followed up with a few choice words about “those types” of police officers.
About time for some sensible parents with children in that school district to write letters to the school board in which they castigate the principal for lack of common sense. I do agree with the school officials that this is a teachable moment. They and the principal are the ones needing to be taught.
“…Mesa parents to exercise their right to open carry at the school gates, mindful of the fact that Arizona does not enforce Bush the Elder’s unconscionable Gun Free School Zones Act (1000 foot exclusionary zone around public schools).”
The local and state police might not enforce it, but any federal law enforcement can and probably would enforce it (i.e. ATF). Like it or not, that is the law of the land. Your representatives in government enacted it.
If you are willing to do the time and willing to forfeit your rights to *ever* legally possess a firearm, then so be it. It could be your Adam Kokesh moment.
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