“The number of law-enforcement officers killed by firearms in 2013 fell to levels not seen since the days of the Wild West, according to a report released Monday,” seattlepi.com reports. “The annual report from the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund also found that deaths in the line of duty generally fell by8 percent and were the fewest since 1959. According to the report . . .
[click here to read], 111 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in the line of duty nationwide this past year, compared to 121 in 2012. Forty-six officers were killed in traffic related accidents, and 33 were killed by firearms.”
Tell me again why cops need MRAPs and SWAT teams, and why cops can swan around with AR-15s while law-abiding Americans in many parts of the United States are denied “assault rifles” or “high capacity magazines.” Meanwhile, let’s drill down a bit . . .
First, wikipedia.org reports that “in 2008, state and local law enforcement agencies employed more than 1.1 million persons on a full-time basis, including about 765,000 sworn personnel (defined as those with general arrest powers).” Those numbers have swelled in the intervening six years, but let’s go with 765k cops potentially in harm’s way. Thirty-three officers killed by firearms represents .0043 percent of that total.
There were six rifle-related police fatalities. Strangely, the NLEOMF don’t report on the type of rifle involved. But do you really need me to do the math on the number of AR-style rifles in Americans’ hands vs. the number used to kill cops?
Again, it would be excellent if we had a little more information to work with. What, exactly, is an “ambush”? Or “Investigative Activity”? How to you separate out what constitutes a “drug-related matter”? A brace of accidental shootings? What’s that all about?
How about a break down of which type of gun was involved in which type of fatality? While we’re at it, how many cops were shot during no-knock raids? Come to think of it, how many non LEOs were shot during no-knock raids?
Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the police killed or injured in the line of duty. We, their employers, want to do everything we can to ensure their safety. But militarizing them is not the answer. Nor is it necessary. In fact, it’s a danger to the Constitutionally protected liberties which they are sworn to protect. Just sayin’ . . .