Thursday, September 07, 2006

Seattle Police: Defend Yourself With Firearms

Or at least that's the impression one would get after reading about the Seattle Police guild trying advertising for tips into a recent scuffle involving an off duty, non-uniformed police officer who drew his revolver and fired at his assailants, injuring one in the abdomen. This gives me hope that some members of Seattle's police force won't be so radically hip to the notion of gun control. From the statement made by the Seattle Police Guild:

"Our conclusion was that Officer Dornay was the victim of a crime and he had the right to defend himself in that attack," Satterberg said. "There is insufficient evidence at this time to identify his attackers and to describe the extent of involvement of Mr. Walker."

I have no personal position as to who was at fault in this situation. I think that probably, both parties hold some blame. Drunk people coming out of bars and restaurants, coupled with potentially hot-headed police officers who overstep their authority. The reason, in fact, that prosecutors didn't have enough evidence is that the situation basically came down to a he-said-she-said situation. The incident consists of normally law abiding people walking through a Seattle alleyway (an attorney and some of his co-workers) after an evening in a restaurant, and an off-duty police officer driving his motorcyle through said alleyway end up in a scuffle.
There's certainly no doubt that the Police Guild will defend their own, but it's an interesting statement, especially considering that police chief Gil Kerlikowske is a notorious gun control advocate. He has received honors from Washington CeaseFire for his efforts on gun control. This is the same police chief who lost his firearm when his car was stolen. Kerlikowske is also a bit of a political opportunist by tying any tragedy involving guns to the needed increase for gun control:

With orange spray paint, [Kyle Huff] wrote "now" on at least three concrete steps at homes near the party. As he approached the house, he opened fire with a pistol-grip shotgun, a weapon Kerlikowske said was designed "for hunting people." [emphasis mine]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Most police officers are required to cary a gun while off duty. Besides cops want the public unarmed, the job takes less thought that way.