2005 SCOTUS Ruling: Police Not Constitutionally Bound to Protect Citizens

A 2005 Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling that received little attention when handed down, but which is extremely pertinent to today’s gun debate, found that police officers are not constitutionally bound to protect citizens.

The case originated in Colorado, where Simon Gonzales violated a restraining from his estranged wife in order to kidnap and kill his three children. In between the time of the kidnapping and the murders, the mother of the children, Jessica Gonzales, repeatedly called the police to report the whereabouts of her children. 

After her children were killed, she sued on grounds that the police did not react fast enough–and therefore did not protect her children from harm.

After an appeals court reversed a lower court ruling throwing out the case, the SCOTUS ruled that police officers are not, in fact, constitutionally bound to protect. 

This is important because so many people are under the delusion that we can all give up our guns, and if anything does go wrong we can just dial 911 and everything will be fine.

No. We are responsible for our own lives, our own families, our own property. 

This is no slight against police officers, whom we ought to support 100%. It is just a reminder that in the real world, our defense and the defense of those we love is in our own hands–literally.