Police Chief Ken James: Guns Are Not Defensive Weapons

A link to a YouTube video was recently forwarded to me, the content of which was so unbelievable that if I had read a transcript, I would have assumed it was a satire or spoof. Unfortunately, it is clear that it is not the case.

The video shows a Feb. 7 press conference presided over by Emeryville (Calif.) Police Chief Ken James, who refers to current proposed anti-gun laws.

During the press conference, James makes several statements that are completely irrational in regards to "reasonable gun laws helping our officers on the street."

But the most over the top statement is, "One issue that always boggles my mind is the idea that guns are a defensive weapon. That is a myth. A gun is not a defensive weapon. A gun is an offensive weapon, used to intimidate, and used to show power. Police officers do not carry a gun as a defensive weapon to defend themselves or their other officers, they carry a gun to be able to do their job in a safe and effective manner and face any opposition that we may come upon. If it was a defensive measure, why did we lose 55 officers last year to gun violence?"

The above comment is so nonsensical and divorced from reality, it would be comical if it weren't so terrifying. Based on the content of James' statement, it is clear that either he is remarkably stupid, or thinks the public is. I would hope that someone as "Darwin Award" stupid as he comes across couldn't get elected to high office, but you never know — especially since we're talking about California.

Most police chiefs are elected to office, which makes them politicians. Many politicians like having control over the people they purportedly "serve," which is why so many police chiefs are very anti-gun when the majority of street cops are not. Does James actually believe the inanities that are coming out of his mouth?

Of course, James isn't the only public official spewing nonsense through a public forum. In March, our esteemed vice president, Joe Biden, took to YouTube with this brilliant home defense advice: If you think there are troublemakers near your home, just walk outside with a double-barreled shotgun and fire two blasts in the air.

As if that statement wasn't ignorant enough in regards to gun safety, Biden went even further with Field & Stream, saying if you want to keep bad guys away from your house, "Just fire the shotgun through the door."

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Earlier this month, Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette also made a fool of herself during a public forum hosted by the Denver Post. While discussing high-capacity magazines, DeGette said, "I will tell you these are ammunition, they're bullets, so the people who have those now they're going to shoot them, so if you ban them in the future, the number of these high capacity magazines is going to decrease dramatically over time because the bullets will have been shot and there won't be any more available."

Great, except that's not true at all. Anyone with half a brain will tell you magazines can be reloaded with ammo, a fact apparently lost on DeGette.

When the public and media called DeGette out on her error, her office doubled down on stupid: "The Congresswoman has been working on a high-capacity assault magazine ban for years, and has been deeply involved in the issue; she simply misspoke in referring to 'magazines' when she should have referred to 'clips,' which cannot be reused because they don't have a feeding mechanism."

Also wrong.

Such statements would be comical if they weren't so terrifying; after all, these are the people charged with not only defending our rights, but in James' case, our lives.