John Cardillo (courtesy americasright,org)

“This is when and where my pro-Second Amendment evolution began – about a year into my time on the street, seeing victim upon victim. All unarmed. All defenseless. I began to realize things would have been different had they been armed, because the very few legal NYC gun owners I came across had won their confrontations with criminals.” – Former NYPD officer John J. Cardillo, I Used To Come For Your Guns – Now I Support Your Right to Defend Yourself [via theblaze.com]

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46 COMMENTS

    • I have spoken with John, who now lives in Florida. We usually wind up talking for an hour or more, yeah we get along.
      He is pretty realistic in his views on life, and contributes a lot to the Blaze. He does other things as well. Needless to say I consider him a friend and he is in the trenches with us fighting for our rights.

  2. Purifying the glass of sewage water one drop of clean water at a time… its good to read stuff like this.

    Ever notice how you rarely read of someone pro gun going the other direction? Leads me to believe there is hope.

    • There are only two causes for a pro-gun guy to go anti-gun. A serious head injury is one and a vagina is the other.

      • A guy who could be persuaded to give up his guns by a “vagina” is not a “real” man!

        • Clarification: he’s not “a real man” in the sense that he’s looking for approval from his SO. Most likely the case.

  5. Notice this quote is from FORMER New York Police Department officer John J. Cardillo … no doubt because the department would surely railroad him if he made such a statement while still under their employ.

    I wonder what he does now and whether he is a “legal” or “illegal” concealed carrier in New York city?

      • Yes … I read the source article and he lives in Florida now. Thus he can acquire a concealed carry license. Depending on whether he retired from the New York City Police Department, he might also be able carry under LEOSA — Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act.

    • Probably a big part of the reason he is no longer a NYC cop is that he stopped toeing the line on gun control. He mentioned in the article he was admonished by a supervisor for telling an elderly robbery victim to drive upstate and buy a shotgun.

    • When the Manhattan incident occurred where the NYPD stupidly shot bystanders in an attempt to stop a murderer, an NYPD cop wrote on reddit the department’s rather pathetic training regimen. Could the reddit poster be him?

      Daniel Silverman can you verify?

  6. This is why we should keep our discourse civil on this subject.
    There are many folks who are undecided or see the inherent contradictions among “gun control”, freedom, and reality.
    They CAN be won over.

  7. Some years ago in NYC my wife and I were confronted by a would be attacker/mugger. It ended well for all concerned. He loudly demanded wallet and purse, I quietly suggested he might be better served by running away. After 2-3 seconds, he took my recommendation. Apparently he thought I was armed. He was correct.

  8. Seems like kind of a sell-out to me. Ok, he bought into the pro-gun side for the moment but I’m not so sure he did it for the good of 2A or liberty and justice – but probably the American way. I only speculate and offer no proof but…

    As a cop he saw good, disarmed people killed.

    As a former cop he’s changed his mind and joins Glenn’s bandwagon.

    This doesn’t seem so different than Liberal politicians distancing themselves from Obama, gun control and Universal Health Care right before an election then going right back at it after they get re-elected.

    I think we are too softhearted and forgetful. He was a NYC cop. A member of one of the most oppressive regimes in the nation. Cautious welcome to the right.

    • Kevin,

      I do not see Mr. Cardillo being a “fair weather friend” to gun rights. His statements — especially in the full source article — would be very hard to retract at this point. And if he tried, he would have zero credibility.

      I liken Mr. Cardillo to Detroit Police Chief James Craig. Chief Craig started his police career 20+ years ago in California and was 110% on-board with California’s culture of extreme gun control. While Chief Craig’s conversion took a long time, he is unequivocally in our camp now. If you have not already read Chief Craig’s public statements, I strongly encourage you to do so … you will be astounded.

      Which brings me back to my point. The strength of and obvious truths in Chief Craig’s and Mr. Cardillo’s statements indicate they are here to stay on our side for liberty.

      • Hi Uncommon. I understand what you are saying. I’ll remain cautiously welcoming and will have no problem admitting I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong.

    • Not because he was a policeman, because he was a cog in an infernal machine that destroys liberty by eating freedom and defecating tyranny. He was part of a force so corrupt, controlled by a government so bent on totalitarianism and enforcing such hateful laws that it boggles the mind of any who’ve ever read the constitution. That his enforcement of these policies by application of his club and pistol got people killed by unlawfully and immorally restricting their natural rights finally got to him means that deep down it’s possible for him to redeem himself in the eyes of honest men, but it also means he gets no free pass. What he has done is to support that which is treasonous to the constitution and counter to any sane system of morality. That most people would have realized this before ever joining the NYPD suggests that we should not trust this mans motives or judgment until he’s proven that he really has gotten it, and is making amends to the people he stripped of their rights and in some cases their lives.

  10. The usurping of A2 amounts to a transition of both the right and the responsibility for personal safety to the dependency upon and the discrimination of the state’s definition of protection. When the UN/Bloomberg (Funny, both from the same city) experiment fails only the citizen subjects will bear the costs. It’s great John J. Cardillo had his come to Jesus moment, but we’d all be better off if he had avoided the from the devil ideas.

  12. Thankfully many of the people I work with are pro-gun at my police station. I have been counseled a few times for talking about politics at work. I despise statism, and I don’t support gun control like many of our California politicians do. So I’ll meet people in the LA and OC area and I’m realistic to them about the benefits of a firearm for self defense. If they say they can’t get a concealed carry permit because their “may-issue” sheriff won’t sign off, I tell them the benefits still exist even though CA has chosen to infringe upon their rights. Perhaps they also should join the movement of individuals who are working I restore our rights to self defense.

  13. One of those rare times I agree with Paul. Just cuz you’re a cop doesn’t make you bad. Apart from the fact that their views can change, there’s no way to just look at a cop and say if he’s good or bad.

    Like what state was that where the sheriffs said they would not enforce any new gun control measures? Some people just do the best they can within the bounds of the job.

    There are cops out there that aren’t power tripping assholes and who try to avoid harassing citizens for stupid reasons. But depending on what city/state they work in, they might have to be careful before they lose their job. If they speak out too much they can get fired and replaced by another asshole and that doesn’t help anything.

    It’s not so much the individual officers that have turned policing into the crap it is today but more the politics of it involving the chiefs and the mayors etc… So please try not to be so harsh on the individuals unless they really merit it. Like not just hating someone for being a cop and nothing else.

    • “Like what state was that where the sheriffs said they would not enforce any new gun control measures?”

      That would be Utah and Colorado for sure.

      And there are a lot of Sheriff departments in many other states who have the same official position.

    • A lot of upstate NY sheriffs (who are locally elected and thus somewhat accountable) claimed from the jump that they wouldn’t enforce the SAFE Act and still don’t. The State Troopers on the other hand have officially gone with the Nuremburg defense.

  15. Knowing how work place politics function, I would imagine that even if LEOs are pro-gun for ordinary citizens, the Head Political Honchos will pretty much carry the tone and message of the Government of said Community. It all starts at the top because the dominant political party puts those people in the key positions. It all sort of gets back to the mass of voters in one way or another providing these politicos the votes they need to dominate the political and government scene.

  16. Haha, this guy is a double anomaly. The vast overwhelming majority of street cops are pro gun most are NRA members and staunch conservatives. The antis constantly lament this fact.

    Nice to see he switched, better late than never I guess. But this is not representative in any way of the profession or a changing of the tides. Nothing to change on the beat cops end. He was an odd man out to begin with. If he shared his feelings with his colleges, he must have endured unimaginable ass busting from them.

    The Chiefs and commissioners of large cities are mostly antigun because they are politicians of the first order. And liberal dems or working for the same.

  17. Like we had this problem in Canada with the gun registry. The chiefs of police all supported it but the regular cops realized it didn’t really help. But guess which opinion makes it into the newspaper…

  18. Hey – glad he turned. Now, why not give us some good info for our pysops campaign, namely, how many bodyguards does Bloomy have, what do they carry, how large are their mags, what type of training do they have, how often do they train, how many have been in trouble but got it swept under the rug? How much do they make? Etc. Help us bring down the Dark Emperor!!

    • Since they left the NYPD to guard His Imperial Shortness, I assume they will do what many former LEOs in the private sector bodyguard do:

      Put on 30 pounds from beer, never practice because they’re so HSLD, and “liaise” with the local gendarmerie for actual protection when their boss lowers the drawbridge and ventures out of his protected enclave. Which is patrolled on the the outside perimeter by dedicated members of the local gendarmerie.

  19. It’s a powerful article by a guy who gets it. NYC, its cops, politicians and denizens have been so well indoctrinated for so long (since 1911) that it’s refreshing when a New Yorker figures out that he was hornswaggled. Kudos.

  20. Fine with me. I don’t know why it needs to be written up here. At least he has an open mind…

  21. My simple question is this, when was the tipping point? When did the police go from serving and protecting the people, to feeding and exploiting the system? It scares me that I can’t in good conscious tell my children that the police are here to help us, because in most cases they are not. They seem to be there to only enforce absurd laws that extort money from the citizens and nothing more.

  22. In 25 years ,at my 2000 man police dept, I have met only 2 anti-2nd Amendment cops and only 1 that would restrict everything but rifles and shotguns. 99.9% of police officers support the right to carry and the 2nd Amendment, contrary to what some pro-gunners (the ones living in their parent’s basement) claim.

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