Police Officer Helps Save the Second Amendment

B

Bartholomew Roberts

Moderator
Since police officers take a lot of flak when one of their lot does wrong, I think it is only fair to take notice when one of them does right. Especially when one of them is almost single-handedly responsible for the recent victory in Parker v. District of Columbia that is a huge decision in its own right and may well go to the Supreme Court. I also thought this was just a fascinating example of how individual integrity and honor can go a long way in righting wrongs.

To appreciate this story, you first need to understand the concept of "standing" as used by the courts. The requirements for standing are as follows:

1. Must show personal injury (actual or threatened) as a result of putatively illegal conduct.
2. Injury can be fairly traced to challenged action and is likely to be redressed by a favorable decision

You must meet both of these requirements or the court will simply refuse to hear your case on the grounds that you have no standing. This is exactly what happened to a similar case in DC that the NRA started (Seegars). Using a stricter standard for standing than other circuits (a standard set by another gun case Navegear (a maker of the Tec-9 who sued after the 1994 ban)), the D.C. Circuit court determined that none of the plaintiffs in Seegars had standing because none of them had been arrested or even threatened with arrest yet. As a result, they had no personal injury according to the court.

Parker came within a hair of going the same way. The one thing that saved it is that D.C. Special Police Officer Dick Heller had applied for a D.C. firearms permit for his home and been denied by the city. The denial of a license or a permit was held by the D.C. court to give standing to all of the complaints in Parker, so Parker succeeded where Seegars failed.

Now Mr. Heller was a police officer. He already had a firearm. He could have very easily relied on his fellow officers and ignored the law. Instead, in a situation where the city of D.C. was his employer and all kinds of political pressure could be brought to bear on him, he did the right thing and signed on to the Parker lawsuit as a plaintiff, basically suing his employer. I don't know what life is like for a police officer who goes against the wishes of his top bosses in a public and dramatic fashion; but I bet it wasn't fun for Mr. Heller.

Here we had a man who had an easy way out that would give him what he wanted, who instead took the harder road and stood up for all of us. So let's give him credit for his work.
 
Where are all the friggin cop haters on this board when ya need one..:confused:

There's got to be at least one mall nija joke or the drumming of the JBT's as the march into all our living rooms taking our guns and rights away - not even bothering to knock....:eek:

The "Special Police" have stuck yet once again.

12-34hom.
 
I was hoping you would come by and post this, Bartholomew.

While this may not get as much traction here as where you originally posted it, it needed to be told.

If it hadn't been for what Heller did, we wouldn't be celebrating today!

Personally, I can't imagine the amount of flack he must have taken while this case wound its way through the courts. And I'd wager to say, it hasn't stopped. If anything, the current decision might have made it worse!
 
sure sounds like the powers that be in D.C. are a bunch of

idiots.... why would they not grant 'one of their own' a special permit?
 
You're being too presumptious 12-34Homey. Why wouldn't (people) see this man as respectable? Ya' got too much contempt for the common man, and you're being trigger happy for being impatient in the middle of the night. Maybe it's guys like you that keep the US vs THEM mentality alive, instead of honorable intelligent people like Officer Heller. HE has my respect and gratitude.

I used to be a full blown cop hater when I first came to the board. The higher intelligence and professionalism of your brother officers on board slowly showed me the error of my thinking. Now I have progressed and grown. You still sound like you're lookin to pick a fight. Whats with that? You do not represent your chosen profession very well.
 
Al, I thought it might be appreciated here as well. I would like to note though that since my initial post, I have learned that the term "D.C. Special Police Officer" applies to a wide array of personnel from armed security guards working directly for the city at municipally owned buildings to unarmed security guards working for private enterprise; but authorized by the city.

Essentially, they have the same powers as a police officer but those powers are limited to the building they are assigned to protect (or the contracts they are executing in the case of private guards). Officer Heller was an armed guard; but I have been unable to verify whether he worked for the city.

However, looking at the statute, it seems one of the requirements in the annual renewal of the status is approval of the Mayor or Chief of Police. So while Officer Heller may not have sacrificed as much as I first thought, it still seems likely at the moment that his career in D.C. is over. As soon as I find out more, I will share it.
 
Edwardo stated - I used to be a full blown cop hater when I first came to the board. The higher intelligence and professionalism of your brother officers on board slowly showed me the error of my thinking. Now I have progressed and grown. You still sound like you're looking to pick a fight. Whats with that? You do not represent your chosen profession very well.

So what kind of a cop hater are you now Edward?

Maybe a few more episodes of Dr. Phil and you will be completely cured..;)

I've been around here since 99 and seen more than my share of jaundiced posts from folks like you about law enforcement. I just thought we could both appreciate the irony & content of "Police Officer Helps Save the Second Amenment".

Your mileage may vary.

12-34hom
 
So what kind of a cop hater are you now Edward?
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not a cop hater at all. I understand that the "Administration" ties the LEO's hands by statute and the citizenry also. This effectively leaves no common ground for the us vs them division to come together. Some Officers have been intelligent & honorable enough to see past the comments I've made in the past to address the real issue thats underlying, the division itself. In addressing the real issue...yeah, I've caught on and my posts have reflected this. More respect shown to officers, striving to choose more neutral phrasing...it helps communication and the gun community and board members in general and is a step towards the high road way of removing discourse and having better dialogue in general. It's win/win this way. Your post clearly provoked negative response and I think it very unprofessional of you.

Whether you will admit it or not, we're on the same side. You're a citizen when you change clothes. When you jump on there all provacative with your speech, it does nothing but drive a bigger wedge between the LEO's and the citizens. Some are fence sitters, or have only had the (dis)-pleasure of meeting LEO's in a bad light sometime. Don't be so provacative, it lacks class and worsens the problem.

Why would you think that us so called cop haters would be closed minded enough to dog an LEO that stood up for 'our side?' That would be insane.

Who's Dr. Phil? Your IA Psyche?:D
 
I think it takes a lot of personal strength and shows character when someone is his position stands up. No ones boss likes to be told something and he just yelled it right at them.

Also, don't get the deal on cop hating. Maybe where I'm from they're better than other places but I am from Alabama and live in a very small town. So I guess we get the good ol' boy treatment.
 
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