The Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) is asking city council members to reword a gun storage proposal so that former and off-duty cops are exempted from a gun storage requirement now being discussed.
As it now stands, the proposal would require all gun owners to lock up their guns in the home or otherwise render them inoperable. The LAPPL “argues that current and former officers shouldn’t be held to those rules.”
According to the LA Times, the LAPPL claims “current and former officers needed quick access to guns for protection, citing the armed rampage by ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner as an example of police and their families being targeted.”
City Councilman Joe Buscaino (LA 15th), a former LAPD officer, concurred, saying, “Anyone who wears a badge – both present and in the past – are police officers … and I’m just looking at their personal safety.”
Councilwoman Nury Martinez opposed the changes, saying, “Isn’t that just the responsible thing to do, as opposed to having to go to another child’s funeral? Whether you are a retired police officer or an on-duty police officer, I just think it’s the responsible thing to do – to lock your firearm at home.”
Ironically, the self-defense argument is the same one law-abiding citizens have been making regarding their own lives and the lives of their families. An inaccessible or inoperable gun is very difficult to use for self-defense in the event of a robbery or home invasion. Councilman Mitch Englander (LA 12th) took this into consideration and proposed an amendment that would exempt concealed carry permit holders.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twittter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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