Get used to this because you’re going to be hearing a lot more of it. It’s only possible to stay ahead of decades of overspending, mounting unfunded liabilities and the cruel calculus of the actuarial tables for so long. And now a lot of states and municipalities are beginning to wake up to that fact. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke’s seen the light and, as jsonline.com reports, he has a warning for local cheddar heads: “With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option.” Not that it ever was, but let’s not quibble. Good advice is good advice. His prescription is even better . . .
He wants Milwaukians to consider taking a firearms safety course and learn to defend themselves. Click here to listen to the whole message.
“You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We’re partners now. Can I count on you?”
Wait, what? A peace officer suggesting civilians consider armed self defense as a viable option? And in Wisconsin? Gosh, the Sheriff hasn’t torqued local Underoos quite this tightly since he suggested arming teachers after Sandy Hook.
County Executive Chris Abele said Clarke is sending the wrong message.
“I think it’s irresponsible and it doesn’t help public safety to tell the public there’s some kind of imminent danger that they need to go buy guns,” Abele said. “Essentially, you’ve got a (public service announcement) that’s recommending people need to go buy guns because they can’t rely on the response they’ll get from 911. I’m here to tell you, we have phenomenal police departments.”
If you think that’s bad, just think how the local civilian disarmament organizations are taking the news.
Jeri Bonavia, executive director of Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, said she hears “over and over” from most law enforcement officials that the community should work to “take more guns off the streets, not add more.”
“What (Clarke’s) talking about is this amped up version of vigilantism,” Bonavia said. “I don’t know what his motivations are for doing this. But I do know what he’s calling for is dangerous and irresponsible and he should be out there saying this is a mistake.”
Rule of thumb: when both local politicians and gungrabbers get all tizzified over the same issue, someone’s doing something right. Milwaukians might do well to listen to the Sheriff’s, er, common sense advice.
They must hate honesty.
It undercuts the memes that support their power. So, yes.
I guess none of the grabbers heard that SCOTUS has ruled (more than once) that the police have no duty to protect the individual, only society as a whole.
How much do I love it when the gun grabbers find themselves at odds with their local LEOs? A LOT. That’s how much.
Gun Grabber: What? You mean I have to defend myself? But I don’t wanna…. Why do I have to do everything? It’s someone else’s turn. (All spoken in a whiny toddler voice.)
The sheriff GETS IT. The local petty tyrants – well, they remain petty tyrants, and there’s FAR more of those than all the other kinds put together. The ones who’ve taken their own secret oath to make your life a living hell.
My dad lives in a suburb of Milwaukee. I’ll forward him this email.
Sheriff David Clarke,
Every Shreiff should be more like this … I applaude him ! Telling people that they can defend themselfs and he has their back …Very Good Decision Sheriff David Clarke.
This is a prime example of how it’s liberal politicians NOT cops that are anti 2A. And Chicago’s chief is a politician…
My hometown sheriff… time to move back (if I didn’t alreay live in FL…. LOL).
No offense BUT might we consider that this union member is also facing fellow union members that may be laid off. Fear is a potent weapon. Brilliant way to pressure the city fathers to bust the budget a bit more. Just throwing it out there. Personally, all else aside, it will be the rank and file of our LLE and military that will decide if there is going to be gun confiscation or not. I don’t know, after seeing the Katrina tapes and reading the new West Point report on “Liberty Terrorist”, which way it will go, but they may be the ones tasked to do it. Unless they stage UN troops in Mexico or Canada and blitz the red states first and move bluewards. Oh, yea I have my Galvanized steel hat on. The current anti gun reality was tin foil stuff near about a year ago.
I live in Milwaukee county, and also have a parent who just retired from the sherriff’s department. Clarke is NOT a member of the union, and in fact is detested by many who ARE in the union. Due to a quirk in our election rules here, Clark had to run as a Democrat to unseat the previous unpopular sherriff and now, due to this, benefits from the mindless vote that both name recognition and the misleading (D) after his name on the ballot gets him.
Clarke’s department was the victim of Abele’s transferring of duties they were more capable of performing over to the local city police AND cut his budget to the point that it required more layoffs, all in a city that Scott Walker (now our governor) was able to come up with a zero-increase budget for multiple years running (only to be overridden by the local beauracrats). This was done for petty personal and political reasons, and has resulted in worse protection for our local populace thanks to a small-minded politician.
IMO, Clarke has done an admirable job with the resources at his disposal, and given Milwaukee county’s increasing frustration with the city police, his comments are not only spot-on, but just very well may be the advice someone takes to heart and ends up saving their life.
Then I apologize for the assumption and stand corrected.
Bullseye, I live here too!
When these big-city police chiefs start to realize that the first line of defense in fighting crime is the law-abiding citizen their jobs will start getting easier. They need to cut the cynicism and start working more closely with the communities they are sworn to protect.
Clarke is not a police chief. Big city police chiefs are most often anti-RKBA. They’re appointed by, and thus beholden to, the mayors who are usually anti-gun.
Sheriffs, on the other hand, are usually elected officials and answer to voters, which explains the difference in their world views.
Good point. The Austin TX police chief, Art Acevedo is a total fascist.
If it does get to the politicians taking guns away door to door in the city, I suppose it will be the city police doing the banging, right? What will the sheriffs do then?
I liked Bunny Coleman’s speech on the Wire
“You bust in enough hopper’s heads pretty soon you see it is occupied territory and not the place your sworn to protect. In the beginning, Police walked a beat and knew the people in their neighborhood. And if something went down he had a dozen sources of information letting him know what happened.”
We’d all be safer if more people took responsibility for their own safety.
I thought the sight of so many Texas State Troopers at the Capital Building last week was a bit funny. Never was there a place they were so little needed!
The last time I went in there, I showed my CHL to avoid waiting for the metal detector. The state trooper joked with me, “who you planning to shoot today, ma’am?” I said it all depends on how they’re behaving today.
It’s nice when those guys have a sense of humor. It probably helps that I look very non-threatening.
Be prepared for more incidences like this: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/remembering-an-a-t-f-officer-killed-while-trying-to-stop-a-robber/
I don’t think so. Self defense is not law enforcement or vigilantism, period. Police response time is what it is and in the best of circumstances is never immediate protection. What you are linking to here is an entirely different circumstance and has nothing to do with what the sheriff is recommending. If you do not understand the implications of police budget limitations as it relates to personal safety, and the disparity between political rhetoric and reality, then dream on, my little unicorn buddy, dream on.
The problem with that incident is, in my opinion, the result of never expecting good guys in plain clothes. If you live somewhere nobody is allowed to carry, and someone not in uniform pulls a gun, I could see how easy it would be to shoot the wrong guy. Odd how you never hear of this happening where CCW holders are common.
Regardless, this event is tragic, and my deepest sympathies to out to the family of the ATF agent and the shop keep.
Also: I think this incident proves that, in a crowded area, you should always identify yourself, or at least throw in something like, “Get on the ground, criminal” to identify yourself to all involved your intention to end the situation instead of partaking.
I’m from Milwaukee originally and I just wanted to say, it’s spelled “Milwaukeeans.”
Sherriffs tend to be responsible for larger, more rural, unincorporated areas, where physics and geography, as well as activity levels, dictates response times. Unlike in a dense city, out there you can’t even pretend (lie) that your department can be everywhere at all times. Plus in exurban/rural Wisconsin, you’re alrady talking about a lot of outdoorsy types, including a lot of hunters. Firearms are not an alien concept there.
Plus I am now declaring that any criticism of the good Sherriff is clearly racist. : ))
The last line made me smile.
“Wait, what? A peace officer suggesting civilians consider armed self defense as a viable option? And in Wisconsin?”
— Aaron Zelman (rip) founder of the Wisconsin based JPFO is smiling at us from the Heavens.
I read some of the responses at the news site, MAN!, they were saying how the sheriff was crazy and being irresponsible for saying citizens should get guns to defend themselves!
They glory in being peasants, peons and outright slaves; completely offended and outraged at the idea that they should take responsibility for thier own defense.
I feel at times that we are a separate species, some type of evolutionary divergence; obviously the anti’s are an evolutionary dead end.
Vigilante. Listen to the anti’s get the drizzles. At no point did this man tell citizens to actively seek out and engage criminals. All he said was to protect your families.
Give the man a pat on the back!!
Well said, Sheriff; well said.
If the wussies want to rely on their PD let alone an underfunded PD then let them. If they prefer getting beat, stabbed, choked, raped or killed then let them. What they ARE NOT ENTITLED TO is saddle everyone else with their roll-over-and-die attitude.
Yes, They seem to live in some kind of parallel reality where its a real honor to take an ass kicking or worse. I’m glad we have some court decisions that support what you said, Randy
I’ve mentioned our Sheriff Clark before. When he talks I could fall off my chair for the common sense. This man is tough on crime & doesn’t give sh.t what ethnicity a person is. When he talks it’s a pleasure to listen, Randy
“Jeri Bonavia, executive director of Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, said she hears “over and over” from most law enforcement officials…”
Law enforcement officials are not cops, they’re politicians.
Regarding Jeri Bonavia’s comment:
“What (Clarke’s) talking about is this amped up version of vigilantism,” Bonavia said. “I don’t know what his motivations are for doing this. But I do know what he’s calling for is dangerous and irresponsible and he should be out there saying this is a mistake.”
Let’s exercise our brains for a minute here. Sheriff Clarke’s suggestions of having citizens take a firearms safety course and learn how to defend themselves (and their loved ones) is NOT “vigilantism” – it is responsible citizenship. His “motivations” are clear – to educate and to help create a unified deterrent agains those bad people who wish to do us harm. I don’t think he said anything about citizens taking up patrol, or jumping on the police scanners to be the first responders to a violent crime in his county… did he? No, he simply suggested we all equip ourselves with the knowledge and skills to DEFEND ourselves and our loved ones.
Think about it. If you were unarmed and someone was trying to cause you or your family harm, you would still try to protect them with your bare hands, wouldn’t you? I certainly would do everything in my power to protect my kids. Is it irresponsible of me to take a self-defense martial arts class to learn how to do this better? Of course not.
So how is taking a self defense firearms course any different? Gun grabbers need to stay focused on doing things that make sense. Does that mean arming EVERY citizen with handguns and AR-15’s… no, that wouldn’t make sense, now would it? But it also doesn’t mean taking guns out of the hands of our responsible citizens, either. Consider options that make sense, that are reasonable, that are responsible.
Well done, Sheriff Clarke.
I agree, very well done Clarke. He killed it. But now on to your point about taking a martial arts class. Did you see The Last Samurai? With all their training and skills those miniguns made pretty short work of them. And criminals will always be able to get guns. But your logic is still sound. I’m just rambling.
CA is opening up the jails because we spend too much on welfare. That’s what happens when you vote democrat
Nowhere did Sherrif Clarke call for vigilantism. Encouraging people to defend themselves doesn’t require them to go out and get all Bruce Wayne on percieved criminals. But it does require that you not allow yourself to become a victim.
Jeri Bonavia, executive director of Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, said she hears “over and over” from most law enforcement officials that the community should work to “take more guns off the streets, not add more.”
It seems to be the M.O. for anti-rights gun-grabbers to lump all gun ownership (law-abiding and criminal) into a single pejorative description of “on the streets.”
I don’t live nor do I work “on the streets.” I resent the implication that my lawfully-owned and used guns are part of the problem “on the streets.”
As an actuary and a proud gun owner this is my new favorite website:)
Well, there has to be balance in the universe. My sheriff holds a press conference with my state’s Democrat senator saying that ARs are only for killing people and that nobody hunts with them. This guy balances my sheriff out.