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He wouldn't give up - The incident began
in a bar a little after 1 a.m. where Dennis Devitte, with friends and family,
was enjoying the music. Three armed thugs came charging through the back door,
with guns drawn and their faces covered by T-shirts or bandannas. One tried to
climb over the bar to get to the cash register, but a customer grabbed him and
pulled him down. The other two opened fire. One of the gunmen went right by
Devitte and shot a man in a wheelchair. Devitte carried a .25-caliber handgun
and knew that he would have to get really close to assure accuracy and avoid
hitting patrons. He knew he stood only a slight chance against the three gunmen,
but knew that if he didn't act, innocent civilians and some of his friends or
their family members might be killed.
Devitte started towards one gunman who was
firing into the crowd with a .40-caliber semi-automatic." I went straight at him
as he turned and started firing at me," Devitte said. "He kept firing
and hitting me, but I held my fire until I got to less than 18 inches from
him." Another gunman began firing from behind Devitte with a 9mm pistol.
One slug ruptured several large blood vessels. He takes round after round but
keeps going until he is a foot away. Then he shoots the gunman eight times.
Devitte finally falls as the gunman's last bullet blows his knee apart. The
gunman stumbled out the front door and collapsed as the other two robbers fled.
As friends stuffed towels and fingers in the bullet holes to stop the bleeding,
Devitte told them, "I did the best I could. I hope I didn't hit anybody
else. Please tell my wife I love her."
Devitte needed six units of blood (the average
person has about 10), and his knee had to be reconstructed with bone from a
cadaver. Yet he was back to work less than six months later. Dennis and his wife
both credit many friends and strangers for helping them to survive that
"bad situation."
Bank robbery thwarted - Jeffrey Holland
was working part-time at a downtown Omaha bank when two robbers entered. Holland
captured one of them despite being shot twice. The second robber -- who fled
after firing nine times at Holland -- was caught an hour later. No one else was
injured. Holland lay in critical condition for three days in a hospital.
Store robbery thwarted -Joseph
Shackett was visiting a friend at a check-cashing store in Houston when two
robbers forced their way in. Shackett grabbed the gun of one robber, drew his
own weapon and killed the man. Then he killed the second robber who was about to
shoot the storeowner.
Halts runaway vehicle - Near midnight,
Richard Vogt responded to a frantic 911 call from a mobile phone of an 18-year
-old girl behind the wheel of a runaway car. Driving at speeds well over 100
mph, Vogt pulled his vehicle in front of her car and slowed it to a halt just a
few hundred feet short of a busy intersection.
Pushes couple to safety - On an
interstate near San Diego, Mark Beathard stopped his motorcycle to assist a
young couple standing on the shoulder at an accident site. Suddenly, another car
cam roaring down on them. Beathard pushed the couple to safety but was struck
himself. The impact threw him 40 feet in the air and broke both his legs.
Reading center program for kids - Julia
Mae Burney started the highly successful Cops 'N Kids Reading Center program in
Racine. Convinced that reading was essential to helping poor children break out
of the cycle of poverty, she began distributing books to them. Under Burney's
leadership, the program is renovating an abandoned building, which she plans to
stock with more than 30,000 book
A crime-prevention solution - Bruce
Stayments started Dad's School, a partnership for responsible fathering that has
been described as "an innovative and successful crime-prevention
solution" by the National Fatherhood Initiative. "It's getting guys to
realize their significance as fathers and how important that is in their kids'
lives", says Stayments.
Some of you will recognize the above incidents
from Parade Magazine's cover story for their November 5, 2000 issue, "The
Police Officer of the Year." These are perfect examples of fellow citizens
who are gun owners, for sure, and citizens who are very much aware of the value
of a firearm for personal protection. All have been trained in the proper use of
a firearm and the laws relating to the legal and moral aspects of the use of
deadly force. Some of them, as depicted, have experienced the deadly threat that
led to the use of a firearm to protect their life, or the life of others. All
have existed in an environment that is a constant reminder of the need for a
firearms for self defense.
They are a diverse group with a variety of
interests and lifestyles, off duty, not unlike other families in the community
where they live and serve. You wouldn't recognize them as different from any other shopper,
jogger, bicyclist, or diner as they participated in the activities of a normal life. Their chosen
profession puts them in harms way under a variety of circumstances, with the
occasional confrontation with violent criminals. This happens more often than
many are aware, since only the incidents deemed newsworthy are reported in the
press. Most are mediated to a successful conclusion, verbally or with a minor
wrestling match or fisticuffs. Most citizens only hear of the heroic deed,
or death of a police officer when the circumstances are especially violent or
newsworthy, and many of these incidents are confined to local news.
I deliberately avoided using their law
enforcement titles in order to allow the reader to first view their actions as
that of a fellow citizen. I hope you are as impressed as I am with their brave
and unselfish acts, and the very real truth that their actions prove so very
vividly that firearms serve a very positive and useful purpose in our society.
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There are approximately 740,000 sworn law
enforcement officers now serving in the United States. About 10 percent of
them are female.
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In 1997, there
were nearly 35 million crimes committed in the United States, an average of
more than one crime every one second (according to the National Crime
Victimization Survey conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics). That is
the lowest level of crime in nearly 25 years. Violent crime rates have
declined by 21 percent since they peaked in 1993, and non-violent crime
rates dropped 22 percent since 1993.
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Crime fighting has
taken its toll. Since the first recorded police death in 1794, there have
been more than 15,000 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.
-
A total of 1,596
law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the last 10 years,
an average of one death every 54 hours or 160 per year. There were 156
police deaths in 1998, which represents a slight decrease from the 160
officers who died in 1997.
- On average, more than 62,000 law enforcement
officers are assaulted each year and some 21,000 are injured annually.
Not all recognition is related to the familiar
tools of law enforcement, but by confirmation of their important personal
contributions to the community. They offer a wealth of experience and an
eagerness to assist their fellow citizens through a variety of the community's
volunteer programs. We are all familiar with P.A.L. or similar youth activities,
and rape prevention/crisis intervention programs where the concerns and
expertise of police personnel are important contributions.
What perfect allies! Wouldn't it be an
accomplishment to draw them into the Second Amendment arena to share their
knowledge and experiences? These men and women have not only a working knowledge
of the value of a personal firearm, they live their daily lives responding to
the victimization of our citizens. They spend much of their working lives
relating to, and empathizing with victims of a very evident criminal element.
They understand exactly how many people suffer as a result of the actions of
criminals. Is there any doubt that they have a firearm in the home for personal
protection?
And that is exactly the purpose for The Second
Amendment Police Department website at www.2ampd.net.
There you will find a variety of articles by law enforcement officers from
across the United States and foreign countries. All support the right of a
citizen to possess firearms for personal protection and because it is a natural
right.
Sadly, the frustrations felt by gun owners have
made it all too common in the Second Amendment community to scapegoat or
demonize all law enforcement, based on the highly publicized abuses or
accidents by a few. A number of high-publicity abuses, primarily the
actions of federal agencies, have contributed to a growing resentment as these
accounts are referenced repeatedly in Second Amendment forums and websites.
Major Second Amendment web sites consider it "newsworthy" to post
extremely disparaging attacks on law enforcement, and in much the same way that HCI demonizes all
gun owners by the action of a minority of gun owners. Not coincidently, the fear-mongering
is typically anonymous.
I don't pretend to dissuade all those who have
issues with law enforcement for any variety of reasons. Certainly, there is a
legitimate reason to be offended by some very real, and highly publicized,
abuses by our government. The Second Amendment Police Department, www.2ampd.net,
encourages all Americans to maintain Eternal Vigilance with regards to the
ever-present threat of government intrusions. Every effort should be made to
point out, and weed out the abusers. My concerns are directed at the exaggerations
of individuals with very obvious personal issues, and the "news"
sources that resort to the hateful rhetoric of stereotyping and fear mongering
that those of us in the 2AM activist community find all too familiar. It is
ugly, regardless of the intended target, and the negative feedback can do more harm
than good.
My appeal is to the majority in the 2AM
community who will recognize that in a law enforcement family of hundreds of
thousands, the anecdotal examples favored by those "selling" their
news do not represent the norm. Heaven knows that a gun owner should know
better! If you can imagine how indignant you become whenever the
"news" reports another tragedy perpetrated by some pervert with a
firearm in a manner that condemns all gun owners, you might guess how hard it is
to draw cops into the debate where it has become all to common to casually
disrespect all law enforcement in too many 2AM discussion forums and websites on
the Internet.
And it is not just cops who are turned away by
the rhetoric. If we can agree that our firearms rights depend on bringing more
citizens to our "side", our way of thinking about individual rights,
then we must first be able to establish a dialogue. Over-used and exaggerated
stereotyping, obvious biases, and thinly veiled threats against law enforcement
are not high on the list of bridge-building efforts! You and I might be familiar
with the common RKBA sound bites, but in a society where thousands, daily, are
successful when they call an ambulance, the fire department, the police, or
animal control, do you think that "Call 911 and Die!" is attractive or
makes sense? In a society of one victim per second, with many of those victims desperately
in need of police assistance, do you honestly believe that comparing a
community's police to Hitler's Nazi Gestapo is the proper invite to Second
Amendment issues? In a society where Parade Magazine promotes the annual
recognition of "The
Police Officer of the Year," and communities across the nation recognize
the positive contributions by their law enforcement citizens, is it politically
smart to be obviously anti-police?
And finally, in this election year that so
clearly emphasizes the philosophical divide in this country, should the RKBA
community support a minority of vocal antagonists who pursue actions and
rhetoric that will push away a law enforcement community of hundreds of
thousands?
The Second Amendment Police Department thinks
not, and will encourage the majority to encourage common sense and decency in
discussions and displays. You are invited to read any number of articles at www.2ampd.net
for assurance that cops are not the enemy. As I typed this closing paragraph, I
received the following message from a police officer surfing the web: "Glad
to have run across your page, its nice to know there are others out there. I
have never known a rank and file officer that was for gun control." This is typical of the law enforcement personnel who take the time to fill out the
form on the website.
Please help us continue to promote that
message by referring your law enforcement friends and acquaintances to our
website.
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