Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 09:00:30 -0700
From: weavermt@YAHOO.COM (Tim Weaver)
Subject: LEO exemption in HR 382
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu


Dear Mr. Pyle,

I am glad to see that the 2AmPD is supporting the
relaxation of CCW restrictions.  However, in the piece
on KeepandBearArms.com

https://www.keepandbeararms.com/newsarchives/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=1868
you write:

It is the perfect time for American Law Enforcement to
join their new "Sheriff" in support of the right of
honest citizens to exercis their Constitutional right
to keep and bear firearms and publicly support a bill
such as HR 382.

This bill was most recently introduced in the 107th
Congress by Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and is
intended to

"amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a
national standard in accordance with which
nonresidents of a State may carry certain concealed
firearms in the State, and to exempt qualified current
and former law enforcement officers from State laws
prohibiting the carrying of concealed handguns."


I would like to ask for your explanation as to why
"qualified current and former law enforcement
officers" should be exempt "from State laws
prohibiting the carrying of concealed handguns."

Given the nature of their duties, an argument can be
made for current LEOs to have provisions for off-duty
carry in their state.

However, why should these citizens have any extra
rights that an ordinary Joe like me do not have,
merely because they pin on a badge?  I don't think
they should.

Other than the inherent right to self-defense everyone
has, why do they need to carry off-duty out of their
area of jurisdiction?  Will a San Diego officer be
enforcing laws while on vacation in Nebraska? I don't
think so.  So why is s/he able to carry a self-defense
tool in a state where I cannot?

I won't even go into why former LEO's should be
afforded special rights and privileges that "ordinary"
citizens don't have.  Unless everyone is exempt, no
one should be exempt.

Nor will I go into the philosphy that the "government
that giveth can also taketh".  We rely too much on
government "granting" us rights we are already endowed
from God.

If the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is, indeed, a
right, then we should not need government permission
slips in order to exercise that right.  So, in this
context, your LEO's and former LEO's would have the
same RKBA as I, my wife or my mother.

Everyone wins.

Sincerely,
Tim Weaver
Phoenix Area Field Rep
Brassroots, Inc.
www.brassroots.org