Rob Pincus
New member
After a funeral for a fallen police officer earlier this week I was invited to go to a political "rally." The rally was held at the DA's office in Nashville and featured Free Beer. I was with several detectives and we had all agreed that the day called for several beers, all the better if they were free, so we decided to attend.
Soon after getting there.. Before the beers even... I cornered the guest of honor, the guy who wants to be the next Mayor of Nashville, and I asked him a rather leading question:
" So, if you get into the Mayor's office is Nashville finally going to join in these suits against the gun industry? "
Let me start now by saying that I really had no idea if this guy was even a republican or a democrat. Nashville politics dictate that if he could afford to provide free beer, he most likely was a democrat though. I was dressed in a double breasted suit with an LEAA pin on the lapel, no visible badge, gun or anything else, mind you.
The candidate looked at me as if he was pained, and said, while wincing:
"Ya'know, I really don't think those are going to do any good.. we really need to be a little more pro-active on the local level when it comes to guns."
Now, given the circumstances of the day, you can imagine that I was not in a great mood to begin with, and he had just flipped a switch.
I sent one more baited question:
"Well, what about concealed carry, I understand that one of the state legislators wants to remove some the current restrictions on where people can carry in the state."
he responded:
"That's crazy, I think everyone knows that."
So, I showed my hand.
"No, actually, a lot of us think it is a good idea."
Free beer or not, he knew he had just lost one vote. (Truth be told, I don't live in metropolitan Nashville anyway....).
I started to lay into him about his personal opinion, and he called over a lawyer friend of his.. he explained to me that this lawyer could represent his views and once the lawyer had two words out of his mouth, the Politico slinked away.
The lawyer went on to explain, between shrimp Hor'douvres, that they were only concerned about kids and safety. I asked him about education.. explaning that we educate kids about sex and drugs.. why not guns if they are so dangerous.. He countered with:
"Few 8 year olds are exposed to drugs, and they aren't old enough for sex, but they can shoot themselves with a gun."
Although he confused me for a moment with his utter pointlessness, I regained my composure and explained to him that I thought kindergarten would be a good time to start gun saftey in the public schools.
THEN he really put his foot in it. He said:
"Well, we get our direection on gun issues from Police Officers."
ME: "Oh, good...," motioning to a couple friends..." Do you know Detective XXXX and SGT XXXXX? We work together a lot. I think they'd be interested in giving their opinions."
That got a little ugly.. then I he brought up the Police Shiefs Association and the FOP, which I countered with the LEAA..
"Oh, what is there stance on guns?"
Me: "They basically think that everyone who isn't a violent felon or a nutcase should be able to buy a gun and carry for their protection.. which would save lives and eter crime."
Lawyer, getting sick and fidgety: "Really, well, we tend to stick to the larger organzations for our stances."
Me: "100 thousand street officers seems like a good sized organization to me. I think you;d find s good bit of difference between what you read in PCA newsletters and what you hear from the average guy with a badge, like us."
Lawyer: "WEll, we are not after the guy who legally owns a gun to protect himself, and has been trained to do so, we are more concerned with the guy who has a gun over his mantle."
At this point I lost all sense of politeness and the free beer was calling my name.
"Hmmmm, I've only got one gun over my mantle today, I am wearing the other one that is normally there, I wore it to the funeral. My wife gave it to me when I was commissioned in the Army. Thanks for you time, I'll be sure to explain how Mr. XXXX feels."
About an hour later, the candidate came over to me with another Detective, trying to explain that I may have misunderstood his stance. I was not receptive and basically called the other detective a punk afterwards for bringing the guy over. The other detective is an avid shooter and gun enthusiast, but he is also a friend of the candidate.
The punchline to this whole story is that we knew the lawyer who was responsible for taking care of the keg after the party, and the keg was still more than half full. We loaded it into the back of a truck and took it with us.... it was a looooong, but inexpensive, night of fraternal drinking.
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-Essayons
Soon after getting there.. Before the beers even... I cornered the guest of honor, the guy who wants to be the next Mayor of Nashville, and I asked him a rather leading question:
" So, if you get into the Mayor's office is Nashville finally going to join in these suits against the gun industry? "
Let me start now by saying that I really had no idea if this guy was even a republican or a democrat. Nashville politics dictate that if he could afford to provide free beer, he most likely was a democrat though. I was dressed in a double breasted suit with an LEAA pin on the lapel, no visible badge, gun or anything else, mind you.
The candidate looked at me as if he was pained, and said, while wincing:
"Ya'know, I really don't think those are going to do any good.. we really need to be a little more pro-active on the local level when it comes to guns."
Now, given the circumstances of the day, you can imagine that I was not in a great mood to begin with, and he had just flipped a switch.
I sent one more baited question:
"Well, what about concealed carry, I understand that one of the state legislators wants to remove some the current restrictions on where people can carry in the state."
he responded:
"That's crazy, I think everyone knows that."
So, I showed my hand.
"No, actually, a lot of us think it is a good idea."
Free beer or not, he knew he had just lost one vote. (Truth be told, I don't live in metropolitan Nashville anyway....).
I started to lay into him about his personal opinion, and he called over a lawyer friend of his.. he explained to me that this lawyer could represent his views and once the lawyer had two words out of his mouth, the Politico slinked away.
The lawyer went on to explain, between shrimp Hor'douvres, that they were only concerned about kids and safety. I asked him about education.. explaning that we educate kids about sex and drugs.. why not guns if they are so dangerous.. He countered with:
"Few 8 year olds are exposed to drugs, and they aren't old enough for sex, but they can shoot themselves with a gun."
Although he confused me for a moment with his utter pointlessness, I regained my composure and explained to him that I thought kindergarten would be a good time to start gun saftey in the public schools.
THEN he really put his foot in it. He said:
"Well, we get our direection on gun issues from Police Officers."
ME: "Oh, good...," motioning to a couple friends..." Do you know Detective XXXX and SGT XXXXX? We work together a lot. I think they'd be interested in giving their opinions."
That got a little ugly.. then I he brought up the Police Shiefs Association and the FOP, which I countered with the LEAA..
"Oh, what is there stance on guns?"
Me: "They basically think that everyone who isn't a violent felon or a nutcase should be able to buy a gun and carry for their protection.. which would save lives and eter crime."
Lawyer, getting sick and fidgety: "Really, well, we tend to stick to the larger organzations for our stances."
Me: "100 thousand street officers seems like a good sized organization to me. I think you;d find s good bit of difference between what you read in PCA newsletters and what you hear from the average guy with a badge, like us."
Lawyer: "WEll, we are not after the guy who legally owns a gun to protect himself, and has been trained to do so, we are more concerned with the guy who has a gun over his mantle."
At this point I lost all sense of politeness and the free beer was calling my name.
"Hmmmm, I've only got one gun over my mantle today, I am wearing the other one that is normally there, I wore it to the funeral. My wife gave it to me when I was commissioned in the Army. Thanks for you time, I'll be sure to explain how Mr. XXXX feels."
About an hour later, the candidate came over to me with another Detective, trying to explain that I may have misunderstood his stance. I was not receptive and basically called the other detective a punk afterwards for bringing the guy over. The other detective is an avid shooter and gun enthusiast, but he is also a friend of the candidate.
The punchline to this whole story is that we knew the lawyer who was responsible for taking care of the keg after the party, and the keg was still more than half full. We loaded it into the back of a truck and took it with us.... it was a looooong, but inexpensive, night of fraternal drinking.
------------------
-Essayons
