“Do you want law enforcement people that will say ‘I will do this because I’m told to do it, even if I know it’s wrong?'” Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard in New York’s Gun Control Law Gets Even More Controversial [at npr.org]

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33 COMMENTS

  1. Of course they do. Storm troopers who don’t do as they are told are not very useful. They are paid to follow orders and if a candidate is too smart to follow bad orders they arent hired, New London.

    • It rather depends on whom he is asking.

      Bloomberg and Cuomo do, whereas you, I and his constituents do not.

      Sheriff is an elected office; he has constituents, and apparently respects them.

  2. At least SOMEONE is standing up to the insanity there. Is there a way for me to send this guy money?

    We need more LEOs who understand that selfless service to the citizen is the most important aspect of being a cop.

  5. “Do you want law enforcement people that will say ‘I will do this because I’m told to do it, even if I know it’s wrong?”

    Well, yeah, actually I do: Constitution first, then work your way down.

  6. “New York adopted one of the toughest gun control laws in the U.S. — banning the sale of assault rifles and banana clips.”

    I’d ask them to clearly define “assault rifle.” Better yet… “banana clip!” I guess that means all magazines that are “straight” are OK.

    Idiots.

    • Took the words outta my mouth…

      Is this sort of uneducated journalism really acceptable in other areas? In health care, if a reporter learns that someone suffered a cardiac arrest and writes that “their heart went kablooie”, is that okay?

    • So that means that if I’m at the supermarket and pick up a “clip” of eight bananas I could be arrested? What if I’m walking to my car with only a clip of seven and one in my mouth?

  7. Next question: when the New York State Police intend to arrest someone in Erie County with 8 rounds in a magazine, will the good Sheriff dispatch deputies to tell the State Police to leave the citizen alone?

    • um… no.

      There’s a big difference between deciding not to enforce a duly-passed law you personally believe to be wrong and trying to stop others from enforcing it…

      • Hannibal,

        I appreciate your honest thoughts on the topic and please don’t take my comments as bashing you or anyone else. My intention is not to bash, but to sound the alarm.

        We really have to address the mindset of law enforcement officers. Hannibal’s statement, and our common experience, tell us that law enforcement officers will usually enforce “duly passed laws” even if they know that law is morally wrong. And even if they will not personally enforce a “duly passed law” that they know is morally wrong, they will certainly not interfere with some other law enforcement officer enforcing a “duly passed law” that they know to be wrong.

        The entire point of government, and especially police, is to protect citizens’ rights. It doesn’t matter if the attacker is a scumbag criminal, an elected representative, or a “law enforcement officer”.

  8. There are two NY’s, There is Upstate and Western NY above Albany, there is a grey area between Albany and NYC and there is NYC and Long Island. Liberals rule NYC ad Long Island and would be happy if they broke off into their own state if they did not need the taxes from the rest of the state to fund their social programs.

    Good for Upstate NY and hope they can some day take back the entire state and tell NYC to FOAD.

    • Much of my family lives in St. Lawrence County and I am sure that they would be more than happy to see NYC form their own state and leave the rest of NY alone…

      • I’m sorry to have to say it, but that would not be good enough – just another 8-10 fools of a congressional delagation to infect D.C. with. NYC and Long Island need to be delimited from the rest of the US, with its own borders, government and made to stew in its own cesspool of its own making. That is all.

        Tom

        • Actually, congressional representation (based on population numbers) would remain the same, BUT, New New York WOULD get to ad two liberal senators. THAT would suck.

        • Not quite; they’d keep their Statist Senators — or elect new douches from within their own border — and the rest of New York would get a couple new and sensible Senators.

          The Statist percentage in the Senate would actually decrease.

  9. There may come a time in America when “I was just following orders” will not be a valid defense. Yes, I know that the claim has only been invalidated for defeated enemy nations. I hope that we are not so cynical that we’ll have two rules, one for everyone else and one for us.

  10. To answer the question, no I want oath keepers. People with a brain, those who will say this order violates rights, and thus is not legal. I do not want robots.

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