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Cop with no gun

independence

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
339
Location
Tennessee
I was CCing while doing some contract repair work at a restaurant the other day (I usually OC) when a male cop drives up in a squad car and walks in. The restaurant is a fast food place in a rural North Mississippi town, and the cop had a uniform corresponding to the town name. The cop struck up a conversation with the female cashier who he seemed to know and I noticed that he wasn't wearing a gun, or even anything resembling a gun belt.

At a break in the conversation, I say, "No gun belt today? Where's your gun?" He looks rather sheepish and says, "Well...I took a chance this time and left it in the car. Yeah, it's on the floor boards of the car." I say, "Oh..." The cashier jokes with him not to worry because they have plenty of kitchen knives if something goes down.

I was floored. (Pardon the pun.) After he left, I commented on the absurdity of it to her and she said, "Yeah, he always does that." That really surprised me. Maybe he had a backup gun, or maybe not but it is still really odd no matter how you analyze it.

Later on, a county cop comes in and he was properly armed. He seems to know the cashier as well and strikes up a conversation. I interrupt and say to the cashier, "Well, at least this cop's an upgrade from the one we had before: He's actually is wearing a gun." She laughs and we tell him the story of the previous cop and he, too, seems puzzled. He comments that one of these days he may wish he had it.

So this is a story of un-open carry. By a cop. And it seems like something is missing from the story. I don't know what, though. With him not even having the belt on at all, it really makes you wonder. It's not like he just unholstered. He took the whole belt off. Or never wears it. Or something. And she said he does that all the time. And there was no prohibitive sign on the door, either.

Very puzzling, indeed.



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Maverick9

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
1,404
Location
Mid-atlantic
Did he have a bullet in his shirt pocket?

Cool story, and depending on the sitch, laudible. After all maybe it was Chuck (watch his feet!) on the way to a JCVD infomercial spoof?

I was talking to my partner today about security and said 'I lock the car when out in the driveway, because we keep the garage door openers inside'.

She said 'really? If a BG wanted the opener the car has these things called windows'. (facepalm).

I now keep a cluster of relatively tame rabid animals in the garage - at least that's my story. Beware, BG. I probably need a sign. :eek:
 

XD9_MS

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2013
Messages
19
Location
Desoto County, MS
Strange...and I thought that all the gear (gun included) was mandatory while on duty...but I see is not. Or this guy just didn't care.
 

Fuller Malarkey

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Joined
Sep 12, 2010
Messages
1,020
Location
The Cadre
Strange...and I thought that all the gear (gun included) was mandatory while on duty...but I see is not. Or this guy just didn't care.

Looks like one that has gonads larger than a squirrel slipped through the hiring screening process.

I find it bizarre that even citizens think all things a cop does hinges on the threat his gun represents. Who'd think maybe the natives simply respect the guy and trust is the motivator to cooperate?
 

independence

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
339
Location
Tennessee
<snip>I find it bizarre that even citizens think all things a cop does hinges on the threat his gun represents. Who'd think maybe the natives simply respect the guy and trust is the motivator to cooperate?

Hmm. That sounds good in theory, but this little town is on a highway that sees a lot of interstate traffic. Even if your Andy Griffith cop idea was true for the natives, it seems like a pretty bad idea for dealing with the random violent criminal from out of town exiting off the highway and looking for trouble.


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Maverick9

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Messages
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Mid-atlantic
Hmm. That sounds good in theory, but this little town is on a highway that sees a lot of interstate traffic. Even if your Andy Griffith cop idea was true for the natives, it seems like a pretty bad idea for dealing with the random violent criminal from out of town exiting off the highway and looking for trouble.

OK, here's the thing. A BG gets off the ramp, looking for trouble. Unless he's specifically a character out of a 'Machete' movie, he's not looking for THAT kind of trouble.

He sees a squad, and drives by, doing 44 in a 45, looking saintly as he can, looking for the next diner without a B&W in front of it.

Just like locked doors are only there to keep out honest people. A BG will bring a brick. So it makes no sense, in a way to lock your doors if you're not at home. It only makes sense to lock them if you are home.

What does that give you? Just some time. If the BG has to go through 3 doors to get to where I am, I can hear him. He doesn't know where I am. He doesn't know if I'm armed. He doesn't know if there are three people living there, one in each major zone, all of them armed with handguns, long guns, and shotguns. He doesn't know that those three people have an armored partition, they train not to sweep each other, and they focus on one of two kill zones - the entry points, and a third that includes other openings.
 
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OC for ME

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Jan 6, 2010
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12,452
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White Oak Plantation
A county cop I know "suits up" before he hits the mean streets after he gets to work, then dresses down before he heads home. His commute is in uniform. He does not have the privilege of using his cruiser as his commute vehicle.
 

independence

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
339
Location
Tennessee
OK, here's the thing. A BG gets off the ramp, looking for trouble. Unless he's specifically a character out of a 'Machete' movie, he's not looking for THAT kind of trouble.

He sees a squad, and drives by, doing 44 in a 45, looking saintly as he can, looking for the next diner without a B&W in front of it.

Just like locked doors are only there to keep out honest people. A BG will bring a brick. So it makes no sense, in a way to lock your doors if you're not at home. It only makes sense to lock them if you are home.

What does that give you? Just some time. If the BG has to go through 3 doors to get to where I am, I can hear him. He doesn't know where I am. He doesn't know if I'm armed. He doesn't know if there are three people living there, one in each major zone, all of them armed with handguns, long guns, and shotguns. He doesn't know that those three people have an armored partition, they train not to sweep each other, and they focus on one of two kill zones - the entry points, and a third that includes other openings.

And what about when he drives past the location that has the squad car and robs "the next diner without a B&W in front of it" and there is a 911 call. I can just imagine the cop trying to throw his gun belt on in the parking lot, or better yet, while he is trying to drive down the road. When seconds count, the police are minutes away and trying to get their gun belt on... ...smh
 
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Fuller Malarkey

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Sep 12, 2010
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The Cadre
And what about when he drives past the location that has the squad car and robs "the next diner without a B&W in front of it" and there is a 911 call. I can just imagine the cop trying to throw his gun belt on in the parking lot, or better yet, while he is trying to drive down the road. When seconds count, the police are minutes away and trying to get their gun belt on... ...smh

We're missing some critical information. The crime rate would contribute in determining the absurdity of a police officer in public sans a visible weapon.

What community were you in? A few minutes of research will disclose the crime rate and likely the crime intervention the police of that jurisdiction have engaged in. It's possible the majority of their crime involvement is simply taking down information and filing it away. I'll bet I can even get the cop to come on here and explain himself. Just name the fast food joint and the cashier the cop knew. Or just the day if you didn't happen to catch her name.

Some cops are responsible for crossing guard duty at schools. Wearing 20 pounds of Batman belt around a bunch of kids that don't fully appreciate tactikewl or comprehend the deadly, dangerous threat this blue clad warrior wants to represent might have that epiphany that the "intimidation factor" outweighs the benefits of being restricted by that prop. I'm all for police going back to being peacekeepers, which rarely involves the implication they operate in some shell shocked state of flashback, complete with facial twitch and sweat, and they'll use the gun in a heart beat.
 

marshaul

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
11,188
Location
Fairfax County, Virginia
Here's the thing:

Firearms are better for citizens than police.

1. Citizens do not initiate confrontation; police do this as part of the job.

2. Citizens are likely to be targeted; being a hard target deters this. Police, on the other hand, are likely to be killed in (illegal, yes) "self-defense", and the more dangerous they are, the greater the inventive to "defend" lethally. Therefore, while firearms make citizens safer, they generally do not make police safer (empirical evidence supports this). And that doesn't even consider whether armed police are safer for the citizenry (they are not).

As Robert Peel's bobbies learned, being a cop is easier without a gun. Contrarily, being an independent, self-sufficient citizen is only possible with a gun.

See how that works?
 
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Firearms Iinstuctor

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Messages
3,428
Location
northern wis
Used to know a old game warden that kept his gun under is vehicle seat all the time.

He told my brother who was a trainee with him that he missed placed it once for a few weeks.
 
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