My late brother was a federal agent. He was required to wear a gun but told me he tried to not let that be known. He was of the opinion that when you show up armed you put people on the defensive and are not likely to get the cooperation or information you need to do a better job. He was also of the opinion that most local small county police were grossly under trained as he said,“You get what you pay for.”
His opinion was that if the local police kept their guns out of sight and got out of their cars for something other than getting a meal they’d do a better job. Big city cops? He thought a lot of them were wannabe military types who were afraid to leave home but still wanted the authority plus the pension after 20 years. He in his career went into some scary situations but he called in specialists beforehand to handle the situation should it turn bad. He was killed in an accident returning from a brief undercover assignment and when I went to his memorial service it was surprising that most people there from his little town in NC didn’t even know what his job was.
The same in Norway, plenty of gun owners but the Police is not normally armed.
The do have guns at the Police stations and sometimes in the patrol cars. But locked away and only to be taken out with permission from the Police Chief, or the court.
Like in New Zealand, there have been one case of mass killing by nutcases, but police shootings are rear. Police killing anybody is even rarer,
Meanwhile, in Portland OR. Calm before the storm? Or barometer dropping?
From WAPO, by Adam Taylor and David A. Fahrenthold, July 31, 2020 at 5:24 p.m. PDT
PORTLAND, Ore. — This city’s battle-scarred downtown was calm much of Friday after federal agents withdrew from the streets where they had faced off with protesters for days, though dozens remained stationed downtown to respond to any further violence.
The agents, who had been posted at a federal courthouse that protesters had targeted with graffiti and fire, moved to other downtown locations, held in reserve under a deal between Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) and the Trump administration. Amid criticism of the federal officers’ tactics, local and state police who took their place at the courthouse were far less aggressive — largely staying out of sight Thursday night, making no arrests and firing no tear gas.
In moments reminiscent of the once-nightly clashes, a few protesters threw rocks or fireworks at the empty space where federal agents had stood. But the crowds were largely peaceful Thursday night into Friday, listening to speeches about police brutality and racism and chatting on the grass.
Federal law enforcement officers keep watch at a garage door at the U.S. courthouse in Portland, Ore. Under an agreement with the governor, about 130 federal agents will remain in the city as a “quick reaction force,” able to return to the courthouse if local authorities need help…
Finally some positive news out of Portland?
I wonder about his motives but it is humorous that a guy who led an armed force against the US is now siding with an unarmed group against US.
I guess it depends on which news source.
I find that watching the first 20 or so minutes of whatever national news station is mostly doom and gloom. The last 5-10 minutes are a bit more about semi-good news. My remote works quite well.
I agree…from Wikipedia, RE: The Epoch Times, the news source cited above [edited for space at… and bolded at the real whacky parts]:
The Epoch Times is known to promote far-right politicians in Europe and it backs President Donald Trump in the U.S.; a 2019 report showed it to be the second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising after the Trump campaign.The group’s news sites and YouTube channels have spread conspiracy theories such as QAnon and anti-vaccination propaganda… According to BuzzFeed News , The Epoch Times is known as "one of the staunchest defenders of Donald Trump’s presidency. The paper has championed Trump’s Spygate conspiracy theory in its news coverage and advertising, and the Epoch Media Group’s Edge of Wonder videos on YouTube have spread the far-right, pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory….
–END CITATION–
…and we’re supposed to believe ET because…?
Sounds like your brother was a reasonable law enforcement officer. I never had such a personal relationship with a LEO & the only times I interacted with federal agents was with the FBI, NCIS etc for work related stuff. But those officers were really normal & not like the deputies, police & reserve officers that I have known. If the federal agents had a gun on them I couldn’t tell & if it weren’t for the badges they showed me I wouldn’t have known if they were the agents or Uber Lux drivers for the agents. That’s what I found odd about the Portland anti-federal agent protests. Usually it’s the feds who are portrayed as the “good cop” that comes in to clean up a locals mess up.
I agree with your brother about the low pay & low training for county deputies where I live. They’re honest guys trying to put food on the table, pay the mortgage & I’ve heard them complain about the same thing. The most pitiful in my opinion is the school resource officers. Those guys must have done terrible things in their previous lives for God to punish them with that line of work. I’d rather be working in the cafeteria or as the janitor of a middle school compared to the resource officer. The lunch lady & janitor probably get paid more too.
But I disagree with the one size fits all type of law enforcement that you are hinting around at. When a LEO shows up at a residence with a history of violence I suspect the LEO needs to let everyone there know who’s in charge. The same with dealing with belligerent drunks & druggies. Showing up with the gun in the car without a vest on would get a lot of them killed. If the animals in the big cities are killing 2-3 unarmed normal citizens every weekend I hate to imagine what would happen to community organizer law enforcement showing up with nothing.
I’m glad the feds departed the courthouse in Portland. For that city’s sake, I hope it calms down. And if they & other cities want to disband, reduce or disarm their police forces that’s fine too. I’m a Libertarian which is a little bit better than being an anarchist. Let them try, maybe it will work out? Or maybe it will turn into the scenes from that Escape From New York movie. Only one way to find out.
Who will play Snake Plissken?
Barack Obama, who else? But after reading about the bloodbath in his home town over the weekend I think they should call it “Escape From Chicago”.
Again, I believe in our democratic process & interested in what will happen if the citizens of these large cities exercise their rights to defund, disband or disarm their local police departments. It’s their business & outsiders who never come anywhere close to visiting shouldn’t have any say in it. But when I read about all the violence, lawlessness & savagery in some of these large metropolitan areas I can completely understand why the police are geared up like they were in Iraq or Afghanistan. Below is an article about 9 murders in the city of Chicago over the weekend. Disbanding, defunding & disarming the police department will be a big gamble if they go through with it.
Seems like there too many weapons in the hands of too many people. Kinda like the Oxy problem too much Oxy too easily available killed a lot of people. NO other first world country has the problem of gun violence the USA does. Why? too many, too available. Until that inconvenient problem is solved this kinda crap will continue. You cannot change society in a generation but you can change how they kill each other or themselves.
I had a novel idea a few years ago. Ban carrying pistols or other firearms but make carrying swords 100% legal. Everyone that wanted to could be armed.No one wants to get cut and you can out run a sword if you don’t want to fight. It’s up close and personal.
Any chicken shit can pull a trigger on a gun and that is the problem.
How can you be so gullible? This Fox report is obviously fake news. There’s nothing at all about any of it on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS etc…
I don’t own a gun, but respect responsible ownership. Certainly these certain folks in Chicago and other cities do not follow that category. If you want to cause ill will towards me or mine, I have ball bats, kitchen Knives, and a killer dog that will eat the ass out of an alligator to get to you. My secret weapon you ask? My wife, once she gets going you will give me money to escape. No Mas
You may want to reconsider. Bringing a baseball bat to a gun fight is not recommended.
I agree, but you haven’t met my bride.
Hilarious and appreciated 
I know how you feel. Years ago my ex-wife went outside to talk to a contractor who was screwing up royally. My cousin was sitting with me as she approached the contractor and I asked my cousin,"You ever seen a werewolf, one of those shape changing things you see in horror movies? He said no. I said “Standby here’s your chance, you might want to run in the house and get us a couple of beers, this is going to be good.”
While we have the law books opened scribbling that in there we might as well highlight, underline & put an explanation mark on that part already written about killing innocent 9 year olds. That’s the thing, monsters don’t care about what laws we write & will do whatever the heck they want. What is chicken shit IMO is trying to write new laws & place more restrictions & government oversight on people hundreds of miles away from Chicago where they don’t have these problem in hopes of curving the behavior of monsters in Chicago & other large metropolitan areas.
My suggestion to liberals on all of this. Go with the argument of disbanding/defunding the police OR the argument of taking away guns from law abiding citizens but not both at the same time. While in the mind of liberal Democrats both sound like swell ideas doing both at the same time will be criminals ultimate dream come true & won’t end well.