By David Codrea
Per The Washington Post, the indicted cops “were members of an elite gun task force.”
Regular readers will recognize the term “Only Ones.” And know where it originated. And see how it applies here.
“The police officers charged today with crimes that erode trust with our community have disgraced the Baltimore Police Department and our profession,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis admitted in a statement acknowledging the charges. “We will not shy away from accountability, as our community and the men and women who serve our City every day with pride and integrity deserve nothing less. Our investigative partnership with the FBI will continue as we strive to improve. Reform isn’t always a pretty thing to watch unfold, but it’s necessary in our journey toward a police department our City deserves.”
Davis’ performance at a joint press conference with the U.S. Attorney, FBI and DEA did not seem to assuage reporters in attendance, who wanted to know, among other things, why officers would feel so confident that they could get away with flagrant crimes, and how a department with over $40M in overtime expenses could have “controls” so susceptible to fraud. The ubiquitous “few bad apples” explanation fails to account for Davis admitting the number of other corruption investigations he has participated in over the years, why the department requires three full-time detectives to deal with internal dishonesty, and the reputation BPF has “earned” over the years based on the actions of its criminal “law enforcers.”
Indeed, Baltimore political corruption in general has created an environment where criminality by lawless lawmakers appears the norm, not the exception. So naturally, crime in the general population reflects the quality of citizen who would elect such “leaders,” and the result of that is a “homicide crisis” The Baltimore Sun calls “much worse [than] Chicago’s.”
And naturally, to deal with that, corrupt and incompetent public “officials” do what corrupt and incompetent public “officials” do everywhere their utter worthlessness at achieving anything other than self-promotion and enrichment is exposed: They call for ratcheting up citizen disarmament, and pass stupid new edicts that will have zero effect on predators incubated, sustained and made inevitable by a wealth redistribution-dependent constituency. That’s what Bloomberg Mayor and convicted fraud Sheila Dixon did to focus attention away from her corruption, and it’s what helped current mayor, Catherine Pugh build her political career on.
While in the Maryland Senate, Pugh supported the so-called “Firearm Safety Act,” described by Capital Gazette as a “bill that would ban the sale of most assault weapons, require gun buyers to provide fingerprints and make it harder for people with mental illnesses to buy guns.” That’s the law that just had a Fourth Circuit panel’s ruling for “strict scrutiny” in Kolbe v. Hogan overturned by an activist en banc court, which late last month bizarrely “ruled” the Second Amendment does not protect militia–suitable weapons (setting the stage for a potential Supreme Court showdown).
The cycle will repeat itself. Billions more dollars will be “transferred” from the productive sector, bureaucracies will be bolstered, more enforcers will be set loose, more corruption will flourish, and nothing will improve because it can’t in such a diseased and oppressive environment. Democrats will continue to control the city, and official and unofficial crime will continue to rise. And when an opportunistic as-yet unindicted criminal politician sees a chance to get some favorable public blood dance press coverage, another “common sense gun safety law” that does nothing but punish the innocent and distract from the real issues will be promoted. The top-down rot will continue as the “Authorized Journalists” and gun-grabbers (but I repeat myself) cheer on each new infringement.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.