Reddit: "Police Officers: If ordered, would you confiscate firearms from law abiding citizens?"

[Ronin13]

yes we know you now want to be a cop, so you are taking that side. fine. if cops refuse to do their jobs, they will be fired. and in this economy, there will allways be someone to take their place.

what do you think? a department doesnt want to enforce the law, and everyone is just going to say" well ok, if they dont want" so, you talked to some like minded cops, that means nothing. so you talked to people like yourself who talk big, so what?

actions speak louder than words. We will see what happens.

Ok, so I'm just mistaken that I didn't see already 12 CLEOs saying they will refuse to enforce any unconstitutional laws? If 90% of all cops refuse to enforce ONE law (jay walking is against the law, I've never seen anyone in the last 10 years get popped for it) they won't be fired. Especially if their Chief/Sheriff refuses to do so... Like you said, we'll see what happens, but I don't see a confiscation getting through congress.

[HBARleatherneck]

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[HBARleatherneck]

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[10mm-man]

Ok, so I'm just mistaken that I didn't see already 12 CLEOs saying they will refuse to enforce any unconstitutional laws? If 90% of all cops refuse to enforce ONE law (jay walking is against the law, I've never seen anyone in the last 10 years get popped for it) they won't be fired. Especially if their Chief/Sheriff refuses to do so... Like you said, we'll see what happens, but I don't see a confiscation getting through congress.

I am a little fuzzy on this logic... Tell me; is not the registration of NFA items unconstitutional? How many LEO enforce that BS law? Set me straight as I am confused....

Think i am gonna go saw off a few shot guns, convert some Ar's into full auto and just keep em off the books! No need to worry about any LEO enforcing that because it's unconstitutional..... Yea!

[Ronin13]

I am a little fuzzy on this logic... Tell me; is not the registration of NFA items unconstitutional? How many LEO enforce that BS law? Set me straight as I am confused....

Think i am gonna go saw off a few shot guns, convert some Ar's into full auto and just keep em off the books! No need to worry about any LEO enforcing that because it's unconstitutional..... Yea!

Red herring... Yes, NFA is unconstitutional, yes it's illegally enforced. But watered down masses don't understand this, so you go ahead and test that out with our current legal system and see if it gets all the way up to the SCOTUS. I see what you're trying to do here, but in a broad sense, if an all out gun ban (not something disguised as "common sense" "regulation") did happen, that's where the common person would most likely draw the line.

[Monky]

Are you all high!? EVERY SINGLE LEO I've talked to has stated that they're not going to enforce any gun confiscation efforts. The one I took my class with on Sat, who works for Commerce City PD, said everyone in his department, from Patrol officers, to supervisors, to the deputy chief (no word from the chief) all are not going to participate in any gun round-up. This talk of "a paycheck will keep them in line," is BS. If every single cop in a department refuses to go out and take guns away from people what are they going to do? Fire them all? Yeah right. Think of it this way- your boss just told you to increase the risk in your job by 500%, meaning you will most likely get shot at or killed... would you really do it? Some jurisdictions I know are too busy with just day to day calls, much less have the time to go door to door. I can't believe the lack of common fricken sense going on in here...

Do you sanitize the badges prior to licking them?

[Citizen_Soldier]

I think the large risk of losing your own life would outweigh a paycheck. Most LEOs make decent money, but it's by no means amazing. Many are hunters, competitive shooters, collectors, just like the rest of us. If federal legislation came out that required confiscation of "assault weapons" and the like, I feel there would be a large increase in officer deaths and refusals to comply with the new laws. Whether or not it would lead to people getting fired, I do not know. Here in Wyoming I can't think of a single cop I know who would enforce these BS laws.

[Ronin13]

I think the large risk of losing your own life would outweigh a paycheck. Most LEOs make decent money, but it's by no means amazing. Many are hunters, competitive shooters, collectors, just like the rest of us. If federal legislation came out that required confiscation of "assault weapons" and the like, I feel there would be a large increase in officer deaths and refusals to comply with the new laws. Whether or not it would lead to people getting fired, I do not know. Here in Wyoming I can't think of a single cop I know who would enforce these BS laws.

That's exactly what I'm saying. Every cop I know thinks going to people's houses and taking their guns will be met with stiff resistance. Now, I can't say for all, but even the idea of killing a cop is a scary and dangerous line of thinking, and I would never want to be in that position (like HBAR said, I want to be one!)... but if it comes down to unconstitutional seizure of your property in clear, direct violation of your 2A rights, I think there are more than a few out of the 100+ million gun owners in this country that would stand firm. So any attempt will be looked at by the boots on ground as an extreme risk, and an unnecessary one at that.

[HBARleatherneck]

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[Zundfolge]

I think the large risk of losing your own life would outweigh a paycheck.

If that were true I would think the turnover at police departments would be huge.

Most cops aren't cowards, they understand there are risks but feel that their gear, training and authority will keep them safe while kicking in doors.

The cops that will refuse to enforce these unconstitutional laws will do so purely because of integrity and each officer will have to decide if their integrity has a price. Many will not put their integrity above feeding their children.

The big downside is that the high integrity officers will leave their jobs thus leaving law enforcement with less overall integrity.


At any rate, after today's punt by Oblowme I'm feeling more confident that at least on the federal level we will win. I also don't see the state of Colorado going so far as confiscation. So the debate over whether most cops will willingly kick in the doors of their fellow citizens is for the most part still an academic exercise.