SFPD Chief Greg Suhr(courtesy sfbayview.com)

“San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr called for a nationwide gun registry at an American Bar Association meeting in the city Friday,” nbcbayarea.com reports. “‘There needs to be some form of national gun registry so we know who has them, so we know that everyone who has them is cleared, checked, responsible,’ Suhr said during a panel discussion on strategies to prevent gun violence. ‘It gives law enforcement the best chance to keep everybody safe,’ he said.” Because the police are what keeps people safe, not  armed citizens. Obvs. [/sarc] Calguns’ Chairman Gene Hoffman slammed the Chief’s assertion, but agreed that background checks are a good thing, not a bad thing. Guess whose opinion more closely reflects that of the ABA? Hint: in 2011 the Standing Committee on Gun Violence [sic] resolved that . . .

The American Bar Association opposes federal legislation that would force states to recognize permits or licenses to carry concealed weapons issued in other states.

Because . . . civilian gun owners hip is bad. M’kay?

No matter who “won” the Lawyers, Guns and Money conference, the ABA’s 2013 resolution re: firearm should be equally antagonistic to American’s natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. As one participant [should have] said, “How was I to know they were with the Russian too?”

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145 COMMENTS

    • Whatever happened to that gun-banning public figure of the 1990’s, “Smokin'” Joe McNamara, onetime police chief of San Jose, CA? Anyone know where that prick ended up?

      Anyone remember him AT ALL?

    • As someone who once lived in San Francisco I can assure you that statements like this will only further his career. Over there getting elected isn’t based on if you are liberal but rather on how liberal you are.

    • FL officer calls a thug a thug on FB, he’s fired. This guy doesn’t understand the oath he took and asks for an illegal registry… and he’ll probably get a raise.

  3. I’m confused. A number of court cases have stated that cops have no obligation to protect the individual. But this guy says it’s the cops that keep the citizens safe, not the citizens.

    We need cops. I support honest cops doing their jobs. But to tell me that armed citizens are not their own protection is a cop that’s not being honest or doing his job.

    • An honest cop investigating a crime is good for the community. On the other hand you find this sort of thing, in San Franciso. Imagine:

      In 2011, the FBI opened an investigation into alleged police misconduct. Public Defender Jeff Adachi released video footage from security cameras that showed different cases of SFPD officers entering apartments without warrants, plain-clothed officers not displaying badges, and officers removing belongings that were never accounted for in police reports and other court documents. The misconduct lead to dismissal of 57 criminal cases.

      • It is not just the SFPD, the problem is pervasive and can be found in any state, city or town across the USA. Look up the story of “Julio Comacho” in Hartford. That department has had long history of police abuse. There are towns here whom had to fire most all of the department due to abuse.

        There are no doubt that there are good cops, but abuse is pervasive and you just cannot trust the police to be there and do their job as they should. The bad cops just make life harder for the good cops.

    • JWM, do we really need cops? There was a time in this country when there were no cops and the crime rate was lower. I’ll leave you to investigate for yourself.
      Best Regards.

      • David, there was a time in America when everybody new their neighbers and lived and died with in a small circle of space near their birthplace. Not all, but most. In those days every able bodied male was a member of the militia and could be called out in a moment to deal with any disturbances.

        It may have escaped your notice, but America ain’t like that anymore. We need cops. And road maintenance people. Park personnel. Need I continue? What we also need is better civil oversight of these activities so that we taxpayers get our money’s worth.

    • Maybe in having power over the unarmed for so long in SF, he desires more. Maybe it’s political.

      Either way, it’s not rational if you subscribe to the idea we’re responsible for our immediate defense and safety.

  4. All guns? I doubt the criminals will be registering theirs.

    Speaking of registries and criminals, how about we start with a national database of all felons. I’ve long said I’d support that as a form of background check. But then I get told felons have rights to privacy. Fraked up world we live in.

      • I think we need a national registry of reporters and media people. So I slightly disagree.

        Once they all step up and register, we can talk about a national gun registry.

    • How about BG checks on ALL elected officials AND government employees and contractors, with the complete, unredacted results posted on-line for full, easy, on-demand public access? Government is by far the most dangerous type of organization ever created by humans. Thus, it is far more urgent that government be surveilled than those they presume to rule.

      • +1
        That would have eliminated the current WH occupant right off the bat. I’ve argued with people who complain that they’ll give a CCH license to anybody. I tell them BS, I’ve had more background checks than our current president, and BTW, he most likely WOULDN’T have qualified.

    • ,,, BG checks are fine, but ONLY if they can be done without putting a list of individually identified gun owners into the hands of our lawless government — or ANY government for that matter. There is no group of fallible, corruptible people on earth who can be trusted either with exclusive access to firearms OR with a list of all private gun owners — PERIOD!

      • What do you think happens to all of the info the gun dealers call in when they do a NICS check on a purchaser? What happens if they called in the check with a Verizon phone over the last 7 years? What happens to all of the multiple sale reports by the FFL? What happens to the books of the FFL when they go out of business? What stops the ATF from copying the records of the FFL during an “inspection” or “investigation”?

        Thanks to the NRA, SAF, CalGuns, Brady Campaign, and all of the anti-gun “2A advocates” all of that data is recorded and stored. Thanks to them background checks will never go away.

        • @Leonard: You’re right, the guys who brought you Heller, McDonald, Ezel, Moore, and every other significant 2A court win in the past 100 years are “anti-gun”.

          Dogmatic idiocy like that is the reason it took until 2005 to get the 2A recognized as a fundamental individual right in the courts. All the mindless “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!!! 1!!!” crap is what got us into this hole in the first place.

          Now there’s plenty of room in the 2A tent to debate best strategies and methods, but calling the people who’ve done more than anyone else for the 2A “anti gun” just makes you look like a loon.

        • I see this topic come up a lot, and wanted to ask: what information you think goes into a background check call? This is an honest question, many people don’t really know and automatically assume it’s some invasive all-encompassing process.

          The answer is: your driver’s license/photo ID number. Nothing else via the PICS system in Pennsylvania at least which does use NICS through the PA State Police. If I get an operator flag, the questions are: height and weight, hair and eye, answer to question #14? Sometimes place of birth. Very little is transmitted during a background check call.

          Now, the REAL issue becomes the presence of data elsewhere and how it is interconnected into other systems. I’m given the last four digits of your social security number whether you provided it or not on the 4473 form. This is because the DMV has all these records, and hooks into the PICS system. I think it’s a good point for discussion and a very valid concern. I just wanted to de-mystify the NICS/PICS (or other state point of contact) system a bit because people seem to think a lot more goes on during that call than in reality, and it becomes the focal point of the discussion when the background check itself is not necessarily the problem.

      • What you propose is impossible. And I’m sure that was your point. Recent revelations have shown that all data is accessible by domestic spy and surveillance agencies. The NSA has been caught sending information to local law enforcement agencies. They figure out you have a little weed plot in your flower yard, they tell the local cops or sheriff’s department.

        I’m not sure what the reciprocation would be, but does it really matter?

        • It is NOT impossible. All it has to do is report whether Joe Blow is a felon, nut case, or otherwise barred from having a gun. Recording those queries says nothing about what guns are owned, and I would in fact call it in on random strangers or seed it with everyone in the phone book.

          I’d rather guns were treated like most other property — books, washing machines, clothes, food: nobody’s business. But failing that, all a background check has to do is report whether someone is a no-good-nik.

  6. And this is why I stopped being an ABA member. For the record, their membership has been on the decline for years as their leadership has grown increasingly left wing . . . Coincidence?? Think not.

  9. Law enforcement’s primary responsibility is to enforce the law by apprehending law breakers so that judicial due process may be exercised….not keep us safe by oppressing our rights. Citizen safety is the responsibility of the citizenry. SCOTUS has ruled the police have no constitutional duty to protect citizens. LE officials who claim they are legally responsible for the safety of citizens are lying.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28scotus.html?_r=0

  11. This is what did not pass in April in the Senate,the Universal background check would have led to registration.This bearucrat,is just following orders from his antigun Boss the Mayor of S F by trying to push the communist agenda,it appears that Kalifornia is ripe with communists as to the amount of gun control that keeps going on.Back before the April vote in the Senate,Sheriff Clarke of Milwaukee County Wisconsin told it like it would br,he said that if the gun bill would have been passed it would probably cause a Second Revolution,I believe this.Also if this bill comes up again and is passed I believe that his prediction will come true,due to the fact that so much unconstitutional goings on have been happening in D C anyway,there is too much tyranny going on now,and it keeps building everyday.Be prepared and ready.Keep your powder dry.

  13. The police, for all their good work, are second responders at best; we are our own first line of defense. That said, I don’t need some megalomaniacal tw@ putting my name and my guns on a list!

  15. We need a national database of cops, because I want to know which people in my neighborhood I really need to worry about.

    • We need a data base of the communist punks like this punk and the Punks Bloomer and Rhamnbutt have working for them.

    • No kidding Ralph. The hypocrisy is it’s illegal to take photos or videos of them in many places yet they video, monitor, and eavesdrop on law-abiding folks ad nauseam.

        • As if Greg Suhr is the only problem. The head of the SF Sheriff’s Department is an interesting character, Sheriff Mirkarimi. Aside from being the first sheriff to propose both legalizing pot but banning tobacco smoking from public parks, he has some violence issues:

          From Wikipedia: “As a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Mirkarimi fought against pro-gun advocates who were challenging San Francisco’s attempt to tighten gun control laws.[33] This issue has caused many pro-gun advocates to accuse Mirkarimi of hypocrisy, when it was reported that he himself was a gun owner even before he was elected Sheriff. He has since had to surrender his firearms due to the pending domestic violence allegations.” “On January 13, 2012, Mirkarimi was charged with domestic violence battery, child endangerment, and dissuading a witness in connection with a New Year’s Eve altercation he had with his wife. While jury selection was underway, Mirkarimi entered into a plea agreement with the district attorney, pleading guilty to one count of misdemeanor false imprisonment.”

        • That’s an interesting question. If a California LEO is accused/convicted of an offense or hit with a court order that requires gun surrender, do they go on unarmed desk duty or just ignore the whole thing?

  16. Little problem here.

    Soooo, if the National Gun Registry is supposed to check and verify registered guns, aren’t you only going to find legally owned firearms? Because people with felonies, mental illness, aren’t supposed to be able to purchase firearms… so the registry will do nothing to lower or stop crimes from happening.

    Criminals don’t generally buy their guns legally nor do they register them. That would be counter-productive when they commit crimes with weapons that trace back to them, m’kay?

    That’s like trying to find all the drunk drivers by verifying everyone has a valid driver’s license. Oh wait.

    The license nor the car is the issue. Is drunk driving. In the case of criminals committing crimes with firearms, it’s the criminal that is the problem, not the firearm.

    If firearms were to blame for crime, it would be logical to conclude that the military promotes war and that the police perpetuate crimes just by using firearms…

    Derp!

  17. Yawn… Coming from the SF police Chief, not surprising…
    We already have universal background checks in California. We already have the ability to cross reference mental records with gun ownership records, which no other state can do. We already have 10 round magazine limits, magazine locks, magazine safeties for pistols, registered list for hand guns, micro stamping.
    Oh but that pesky FOPA… Who needs it…

  19. This chief seems to forget that, by case law, only the law-abiding need register their guns if there were such a registry.

    I refer people who think otherwise to the US Supreme Court case Haynes v. U.S., 390 U.S. 85 (1968):

    http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/390/85/

    Felons don’t have to register firearms, because doing so violates their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

    • dyspeptic, well, according to the book, “Three Felonies a Day,” we’re all unwitting felons.

      Just how amusing would it be for gun owners to invoke the Fifth if a gun registry were created?

      • “Amusing”? The Fifth Amendment is the Fifth Amendment. There’s not a single amusing thing about it, or the ignoring of the Fifth Amendment.

        Just because a despot or coterie of despot-enablers finds it situationally-inconvenient doesn’t mean it’s not the law of the land.

  20. “There needs to be some form of national gun registry so we know who has them”
    Yeah so they can confiscate them like hitler did to the jews.

    • He didn’t simply confiscate the Jews’ guns; he then went on to “confiscate” the Jews themselves!

    • Yeah, this guy is such an idiot he’s the highest paid PD Chief in the US. No, he’s not an idiot. He’s politician toadying to the SF City Council. You know, the same one DiFi used to run:

      “The SFPD has also been criticized for the high salaries received by staff. Due to the high cost of living in the Bay Area, SFPD officers starting salary is the highest in the country at $88,842 to $114,164. Greg Suhr, is the highest paid police chief in the country, at $321,577. ” -Wiki

  24. They must just handle out that police chief title in the peoples republik to just about anyone.

  25. Police chief of a sanctuary city wants to keep tabs on law abiding citizens while literally protecting criminals.

  26. This guy is a couple of tools short in the tool box. The chief it seems is being sued for firing a lawyer who was investigating him for misconduct.
    I need to get one of those Endo Apparel shirts with the California flag.
    “No right to bear arms”!

  27. Exactly why, for the last decade, when I get cold-called by the ABA, the call goes something like this:

    Me: Good morning, Louis Bonham.
    ABA: Hi, this is XYZ with the American Bar Association. We’d like to offer you a discounted membership . . .
    Me: Wait. Let me save you some time. I wouldn’t join the ABA if you paid ME to do so.
    ABA: Why is that?
    Me: Let’s see . . . Judicial “evaluations” that routinely rated conservatives as “not qualified” while rating liberal academics “well qualified” . . . Standing ABA resolutions supporting gun control . . . Demands on law schools to institute de facto affirmative action quotas for students *and* faculty . . . Need I go on?
    ABA: Well . . . Are you sure you’re not interested?

    Totally clueless. Not even worth their three initials.

    LKB
    Austin, Tx.

  28. Hell, it happened here in Canada. Legally purchased firearms were (sometimes years after purchase) determined to be “prohibited” and were subject to seizure by the federal police. And they could do it because they had a list of who owned them and where they lived. We specialize up here in created “paper criminals”; things that were legal one day are made illegal the next.

  29. The fool is following the same path as HITLER. The no good NAZI/COMMIES in COMMIEFORNIA are coming for all our guns.

    • You know… if you really, sincerely believe that we are just a few short years from gun owners being rounded up and sent to death camps for termination, I’d suggest you find another country to live in. It’s not too late to save yourself.

      But I doubt you really believe that… just internet chatter. Designed to be as alarming as possible… I bet you just wanted to write Hitler’s name in all caps.

  33. It’s shocking the way so many people seem to believe that they know better than anyone else, what is best for “we the people.” In too many cases, they’re in direct opposition to the Constitution. As a few have stated, we don’t need a national data base for firearms, we need a national data base for people who think like this. It’s getting so much harder these days, to see any difference between a democrat gun confiscator and a communist gun confiscator, that maybe we should drop the democrat label and just call all of them communists?
    The CPUSA thinks Obama and his policies are just what this country needs.
    What comrade Suhrstakovich needs is a constitutional bitch-slap.

  34. Gun registries will not reduce crime one bit. What they will do is send good people to jail for administrative errors and inconsistencies in a flawed database. The full weight of this kind of law will be used to abuse those of us who are not violent criminals because we are easier to get than a real criminal.

  35. If civilians are required to have a registry…

    Would that mean police are on it too?

    Hey, if I can know all of the cops around me since they’d be on the registry, I’d fully support it.

  39. As a law enforcement officer I’m embarrassed. However, let’s consider the source…San Francisco. Support your constitution respecting sheriffs. After all , when seconds count…the police are minutes away.

  40. Looks like a jarhead that didn’t make the cut. If he thinks the police protect people then he’s clearly never left his cozy office.

    • I’ve noticed over the years that guys with no hair and fingerless gloves seem to think with their fists and have a perpetual beef with everyone.

      • Based upon these personal observations you’ve made, do you reckon it’s the bald pate? Or is it the gloves? Or, pray tell, is it both?

  41. I tried to think of a literate, well composed reply to this clown. But really, as far as I’m concerned, the best thing I can say is he should go pound sand. Period.

  42. Chief looks like he’d give a poop and two pennies to ensure my (or anyone else’s) safety and well being. Rather, he and his comrades would prefer to kick down doors and confiscate personal property in the name of common senselessness and oppression.

  43. Now if you were in Law Enforcement in a city’s that already overrun with illegal alien criminals, drug and human smugglers, barrio bangers, gangs and cartel mules…and knew the reps to fedgov were bound and determined to turn them all into instant Citizens making it LEGAL for them to buy and own GUNS —
    ( and had to be politically correct about whatever it is you said ) —
    what new GUN CONTROL laws would you be pushing for?
    Just asking.

    • Your argument makes no sense. All your examples will have guns regardless. Gun control penalizes the law abiding period.

  44. Stupid media for quoting a mindless jackboot. The Gun registry debate is not the job of the COP, however, teaching peace officer subordinates to not abuse and execute law abiding citizens is.

  45. Edit: “city’s” to “city”.

    Open to correction as always, but vaguely recall something about duties specified in the Constitution U.S. for those in the Federal government ‘to provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.’
    And ‘To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.’ With regard to the latter, and of course disregarding the fact that we’re all Global Citizens and all which that implies…there is at least some cause to wonder how many millions of people entering and residing in the United States illegally would be considered an ‘Invasion’?
    Once again, just asking.

    • It fools lots of people. Those aren’t stars. Those are cake-decorator icing squeeze medallions. They’ll even stick on the half-baked.

  47. Hey Chief, You need to stick to your silly little SF world, and leave National issues to the adults!

    • Most chiefs are cops who made it to the top — albeit frequently in another city.

      Commissioners are the pols.

  51. Whenever I see any cop/TSA “agent”/screener with the shaved head I know he’s a wannabe . If they think they are so damn macho,join the real military .

    • Actually, many firemen and cops shave for good reason: better effectiveness of hazmat gear and less for a bad guy to grab.

      There’s plenty to dislike about this dirtball without making stuff up.

  52. ““‘There needs to be some form of national gun registry so we know who has them, so we know that everyone who has them is cleared, checked, responsible,’” OH…??? The criminals are going to register their guns…??? Since when…???

    Okay, lets have a national gun registry, and then there can be a national HIV+ registry, etc, etc…Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn is of the same opinion, too many leftist/liberals in LE, what are they afraid of, criminals with guns, OR law abiding gun owners…what a buffoon…

  54. “The police keep people safe, not armed citizens” Except when the police are shooting citizens (and their dogs).

    A local-level politician thinks he can dictate national policy. Unfortunately, talk like this means he’s got a lifetime career in San Fran.

  55. This is just stupid. A national registry would only work if you went door to door and checked to make sure people were in possession of every gun they own, trampling on peoples 2nd and 4th amendment rights. Then 20 years down the road, some trajedy will happen and they’ll go around confiscating everything but bolt actions and revolvers. Then 50 years from then, they’ll confiscate everything and say you can just hunt with a bow and a muzzle loader.

    You know junkies are just going to go buy them and sell them to their drug dealers in exchange for drugs. The drug dealers then sell them to criminals. Nothing will change except creating more hassle and potentially criminalizing good people.

  56. Yah the registry worked so good up here in Canada we finally got ride of it. Well some of it…

    When will people ever learn from history, The German registry worked well too, for the Nazi’s

  57. So, basically, it’s “We need a registry of all conscientious, law-abiding gun owners so we can make sure all gun owners are conscientious and law-abiding.”

  58. This moron just proves that ..IT IS IN THE WATER IN SF….pelosi,fienstein……..and by the way the POLICE will NEVER keep you safe…they are part of the ‘police state’ problem…LEO need to remove the scumbags from their ranks…and stand down and get back to Constitutional Law…and protect citizens RIGHTS…not abuse and trash them as they have been doing….imho

  60. “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, once it’s known that they’re cleared, checked, and responsible.” What? THAT’S not what it says!

  61. “‘There needs to be some form of national gun registry so we know who has them, so we know that everyone who has them is cleared, checked, responsible,’”

    OK, Chiefy, let’s have you and your department lead the way:

    I want to see a PUBLIC, on-line registry of the name, home address, photo, and list of all guns owned and stored in the homes of EVERY SFPD cop and civilian employee, starting with the Chieferroo himself. You go, guy! Then we will expand this to every LEO and civilian employee of every local, state and federal law enforcement agency (and armed employees of the EPA, etc.) in the US. Hey, it’s just to make sure that their neighbors know they may have some of those eeevil guns in their homes! After all, they only NEED to have guns when on official duty, right?

    Let’s see how that works for about ten years, then we can talk about expanding it to the rest of the gun owners in the country.

  62. Hello, Greg

    Keep your dumbass veiws to yourself…stay in California and go smoke some pole with all the Liberal anti-gun _hitheads! You don’t need to speek for this tax paying American and remember people like me pay your salary!

  65. What a dip. Got to have more stars on his collar than a third world dictator just to remind himself that he thinks he’s important.

  66. He is an idiot. Police keep no one safe these days. They only protect society at large and no individual can hold them accountable when they don’t. Police kill civilians left right and center these days and walk away having committed murder. The police need to be accountable…not the citizens….

    • How does attacking and maltreating individuals “protect society at large”? Maybe you mean something other than what you said?

  67. Consider where this muffin is from. The queers on the left coast can’t handle much of anything without screaming for help.

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