This striking increase in police deaths brings to question the current laws regarding gun control. As Attorney General Eric Holder says, "Each of these deaths is a tragic reminder of the threats that law enforcement officers face each day -- and the fact that too many guns have fallen into the hands of those who are not legally permitted to possess them." Despite the handful of laws that have sought to regulate possession of guns - including the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, we Americans still generally hold the second amendment in the highest regard - "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." A recent 2010 Gallup poll shows that people are favoring less strict regulation over the sale of firearms and the possession of handguns. http://www.gallup.com/poll/144887/Continuing-Record-Low-Support-Stricter-Gun-Control.aspx
What do you think should be done, if anything, about the quick rise in the yearly deaths of in-the-line-of-duty police officers? Is this a testament to the fact that our current gun control laws are, in fact, not as strong as they should be? Or could there be some confounding variables that are skewing the correlation between gun control regulation and police officer deaths?
3 comments:
This a tragic fact, but I don't think anything can be done about this. Police officers put their lives on the line every time they go out to work, and that will always be the case. Stricter laws can't change the nature of the job. Also, do we know if there has been an upward trend in the number of deaths in recent years or is this just a spike?
I'll agree with Colin. Its just the job description of being a law enforcement officer. And this could just be a spike and not a trend, but for discussion's sake lets theorize anyways.
The second amendment seems, outdated. Yes its apart of the Bill of Rights and was made in that amazing time of HUGE political shifting, but lets face it. Its 200 something years old. The US back then and the US now are two different countries. Guns back then, were used to fight indians and for self protection on a daily basis. Today, yes guns can be used for self defence but how often do we need them now? If anything we just use guns for recreational enjoyment, shooting, hunting, etc. Gun laws should be more defined. They need to state who can and who can't own guns. Technically criminals and inmates in jail could ask for a gun and they're constitutionally obligated to get one.
Another possible explanation to the rise in law enforcement officers is the possible recruits themselves. We have so many TV shows that are all about law enforcement officers and their daily lives, TV has an effect on the populace. TV seems to be glamorizing what it means to be a police officer and that may bring people to think that they could be a law enforcement officer but when things start going down and they're getting shot at they can't handle it and make some mistake that leads to their death. This sounds like I'm blaming the officers for their own deaths. I'm not, I'm just saying that TV may have mislead them into thinking they could handle being a police officer.
I agree with both Colin and Calvin that police officers and other law enforcement officers might die in duty and that is just part of the job. I also believe that the Second Amendment may play a part to the increase death by gunfire; however, that doesn't explain the increased number of deaths not by gunfire. As mentioned by Calvin, this statistic might just be a spike not an actually increasing trend. A possible explanation for this increased in law enforcement death could be the increase of violent crime.
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