Melissa Harris-Perry, a host of a weekend show on MSNBC, seems to believe that putting more firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens has the potential to make policing for law enforcement more dangerous.
On March 28, during a segment on Stop-and-Frisk tactics, Harris-Perry referenced a Justice Department report that claimed the city of Philadelphia “averaged about one shooting a week from 2007 to 2013.”
During that same time period, “the percentage of unarmed suspects shot by the police increased from 6 percent to 20 percent,” said Harris-Perry.
She then asked the question, “Is it possible that our lack of national, common sense gun control laws leads to a situation where it is more dangerous to be a police officer and so police officers begin acting in ways that they expect everyone to be armed?”
That’s a very, very tenuous proposition. The reality is that most major cities already have draconian gun laws on the books that are on par with anything the federal government had, e.g. the Clinton-Era ban on so-called “assault weapons,” or had planned to enact, e.g. the 2013 background check bill and the renewal of the ban on so-called “assault weapons.”
Secondly, during those years crime has uniformly declined as gun rights have been expanded throughout the country, suggesting that it is actually safer now for police to do their job than it has been in previous decades which means putting more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens arguably reduces crime, not increases.
Lastly, criminals have always had access to firearms. Therefore, police were always in a position to assume that an individual may in fact be armed.
In any event, those are my quick reaction thoughts to Harris-Perry’s proposition. What do you think?
A former peace officer in a large city, I owe my life to the quick and courageous action of an armed private citizen!
That would never happen no matter what you paid for space. It is against the agenda of the liberal press. Only fox news is not run by the one world government multinational companies that would destroy or constitution and or soverenity.
Man, watching people without facts on Obama’s propaganda news channel is punishing.
I can’t take it, sorry.
let me just answer your question before my head blows up, OK?
Q – DOES LACK OF GUN CONTROL MAKE POLICING MORE DANGEROUS?
A- NO!
Was that a trick question?
I can’t help it…. Why is it that the police shooting of UNARMED SUSPECTS increased? Given that in that area there was a constant rate of shootings. There was no spike, or mention of increase in caliber, type or if fully-automatic weapons were used to necessitate a more vigorous response.
For Pete’s Sake!
It is NOT Gun Control. Gun control is properly the process of handling, aiming, loading, and discharging a firearm.
These people are talking about Firearms Regulation and Management. Gun control, as it was once claimed, “is hitting the target consistently, not how you carry it.”
Pretty sure “Gun Control” is; 2 to the center mass and 1 to the head, right?
Oh wait, it’s Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight and Squeeze.
Or does it mean using both hands?
I don’t know, but I think what we really need is Idiot control, followed by control your kids.
First Miss HP doesn\’t explain the context of the 6% to 20% increase is a result of. If the Police are responding to 100% increase in the calls for violent crimes then maybe this is lower than it should be. Liberals constantly throw around numbers that don\’t flush out in an investigation! Remember \”Hand Up Don\’t Shoot\” that was afact before the truth too.
RJW
H-P should just talk to street cops. They will tell her the opposite is true.
Gun control fallacy – that the next “common sense” gun law will have an effect–reducing gun crime–that the first 20,000 didn’t have.
These liberal types hate the police UNLESS they help promote the statist, borderline communist agenda (incidentally, the same agenda our “president” promotes). Stop doing the crime, and the police will not be looking for you!
So crime goes down…..police have an increase in the shooting of unarmed Citizens…..and she blames the Citizens. How do these idiots survive?
As a 39 year veteran Police Officer, I treat everyone I come in contact with as potentially armed. I don’t have a crystal ball in my pocket or in my patrol car, so, I don’t know. In the 1970s everyone in my neck of the woods either had a rifle/shotgun in the rifle rack or a revolver in the seat or glove box. Police Officers aren’t paranoid they’re just smart.
Common sense gun laws would be to un-arm the police if the rate has gone up so much for un-armed citizens being shot by police. The shootings and civil lawsuits that tax payers must be burdened with should be put on the shooter and then we would see a decrease in this activity.
The very first sentence tells you that what follows is worthless leftist opinion because of the initials MSNBC. No need to read any further.
Colors don’t matter. Black white brown red orange…most of the crimes committed in my area are by white males. Either way, I agree with the first two comments, people like her and all the misinformed gun grabbers need to pull their heads from each others asses and think about what would happen if their home was broken into and their families lives at stake.
She and the uninformed gun grabbers DON’T think.
The only way to keep guns from the hands of criminals would be to un-invent gun powder and guns. That isn’t possible, and making law abiding citizens less able to protect themselves through unenforceable laws is the true blueprint of stupidity. Seems she has a lock on that commodity.
Roll call, 5:15am. Sergeant speaks. “Ok guys and gals, here’s the overnights…..Hold up at the convenience store at 30th and Jackson. Two black males pistol whip the clerk for $35.00. Clerk is in the hospital. There was a home invasion rape and robbery at Main and Jefferson. An unidentified black male broke in and raped the lone black female occupant, stole her rent money, beat her, and threatened to kill her. Shooting outside the Cadillac Club. Two black males opened fire on crowd as the patrons were leaving at closing time, two dead, one injured. Lastly a white male was seen breaking in to cars in the Knightsbridge area. Let’s get out there an get that white bastard.” There is a reason why black males are considered to be dangerous.
Wow… Please don’t leave the house…
Nah, just don’t leave unarmed!
(retired street cop)
Folks like Harris-Perry continue to ignore very important facts. Criminals are, by definition, people who break our laws. Law abiding folks? Well, they abide by laws. Relaxing gun control laws is not going to cause criminals to commit more crimes, nor is it going to cause law abiding folks to suddenly begin committing crimes.
All the laws are swisted to allow the state to basically do what ever they feel like. Thats right I said feel like.
What attorneys will tell you about the law will leave you discussed.
The people in power over you and I are the real criminals.
They detain/in-prison a multitude of people on frivolous drummed up charges, ruining everyones lives.
This keeps the lawers, judges, guards,cops,and all the civic support, In the hoopla.
All the prisons are kept at max occupancy. This is how they get your earned money and tax dollar.
I heard 30 years ago from family, frends, and news reports that the system is broken.
It is worse now, and going in the toilet.
With the economy tanking, no one seems to realy care.
The only rule to follow, Never talk to police.
They are never your friend, they care less about you.
They are only interested in twisting your words and lying to building a case against you.
Harris-Perry is a collectivist who believes we should get away from the idea that children belong to their parents “…they belong to the whole community…”: She’s therefor ideologically beholden to the statist paradigm of government monopoly of force – up to and including your parental rights. This is consistent with her views all across the board: The government is all, the individual is nothing.
She thinks only police and military should have arms to act on our behalf – and we’ll sweat the details later. Of course, that monopoly of force means soldiers and police can also do as they please. You only need look at the 20th Century to see how that experiment worked out all across Europe and China (nothing a backhoe and a few bulldozers couldn’t cure): You cannot put a lamb and a lion in the same cage and tell the lion to play nice. It’s already been tried with disastrous results.
MSNBC’s ratings are circling the drain for a reason. Melissa Harris-Perry, Rachel Madcow, Al Sharpton, et al, all serve the same ideological masters. Their target is to weaponize race-pimping, fist-pumping identity politics to rubber stamp the statist agenda: The low-information, low IQ, socially dependent voter is their mainstay and power base. The rest of us tune them out. This is why I don’t watch TV anymore – except to stream movies and YouTube videos.
Your comments get 100% for accuracy. Harris-Perry is a Marxist who wants everyone disarmed so her savior, the Beige Bozo, can more easily disarm the populace, suspend elections & take over the country as dictator for life of the new third world banana republic, Obamanation!