DC's new police chief wants to reduce efforts to seize guns to reduce community tensions

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/guns-washington-police-seizure/2021/03/11/53ad2312-8192-11eb-ac37-4383f7709abe_story.html

I guess this is part and parcel of efforts to reimagine policing and "defunding" the police in ways that don't literally involve defunding the police, but easing up on guns seems like a questionable approach given what is currently happening in the district.

[jsteele]

Why not present a balanced view of what the Chief wants to do?

Contee said in an interview that he wants to focus less on seizing as many firearms as possible and instead intensify efforts on identifying and arresting people who use guns for violence or threats.

“We have to think beyond just getting the gun,” he said. “Certainly we want to get guns off the street. But we got to get the right guns out of the wrong hands.”

What is your specific criticism of this strategy?

[Anonymous]

Do MPD actually "seize" guns? Is there a TF that investigates, and then breaks down doors to seize illegal guns? I hear about the buy back, but I did not know that we actually have police dedicated to seizing weapons. What do they do all day?

[Anonymous]

PP. Ok, I am an idiot. Turns out MPD does have a Gun Recovery Unit. Though nobody seems clear as to what they actually do. They don't do 'jump outs'. So what do they do?

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:Why not present a balanced view of what the Chief wants to do?

Contee said in an interview that he wants to focus less on seizing as many firearms as possible and instead intensify efforts on identifying and arresting people who use guns for violence or threats.

“We have to think beyond just getting the gun,” he said. “Certainly we want to get guns off the street. But we got to get the right guns out of the wrong hands.”

What is your specific criticism of this strategy?

Among other things it is incredibly hard to identify what are the "right" guns to get out of the "wrong" hands, particularly before a crime (other than owning the gun, which in most cases is illegal) occurs. Reducing efforts to proactively get illegal guns off the street will almost certainly lead to more guns being used in violent crimes.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:Why not present a balanced view of what the Chief wants to do?

Contee said in an interview that he wants to focus less on seizing as many firearms as possible and instead intensify efforts on identifying and arresting people who use guns for violence or threats.

“We have to think beyond just getting the gun,” he said. “Certainly we want to get guns off the street. But we got to get the right guns out of the wrong hands.”

What is your specific criticism of this strategy?

Among other things it is incredibly hard to identify what are the "right" guns to get out of the "wrong" hands, particularly before a crime (other than owning the gun, which in most cases is illegal) occurs. Reducing efforts to proactively get illegal guns off the street will almost certainly lead to more guns being used in violent crimes.

Don't you agree that what they have been doing hasn't been working? Murders are increasing despite their efforts. What makes you think that continuing the same strategy that has not worked yet will work in the future? It makes sense to try a smarter approach.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:Why not present a balanced view of what the Chief wants to do?

Contee said in an interview that he wants to focus less on seizing as many firearms as possible and instead intensify efforts on identifying and arresting people who use guns for violence or threats.

“We have to think beyond just getting the gun,” he said. “Certainly we want to get guns off the street. But we got to get the right guns out of the wrong hands.”

What is your specific criticism of this strategy?

Among other things it is incredibly hard to identify what are the "right" guns to get out of the "wrong" hands, particularly before a crime (other than owning the gun, which in most cases is illegal) occurs. Reducing efforts to proactively get illegal guns off the street will almost certainly lead to more guns being used in violent crimes.

Don't you agree that what they have been doing hasn't been working? Murders are increasing despite their efforts. What makes you think that continuing the same strategy that has not worked yet will work in the future? It makes sense to try a smarter approach.

That presupposes that less efforts to get guns off the street is smarter. One could just as easily argue that greater efforts and greater resources devoted to ridding streets of guns is the smarter approach to move on from an existing policy that is falling short.

[Anonymous]

African American gun ownership is important and defunding will likely hurt more than help this community. We need strong reforms to the police to ensure they are held accountable.

[Anonymous]

DC needs to replace mandatory minimums (or even any sort of incarceration) for drug crimes with mandatory minimums for possession of illegal firearms, especially when those illegal firearms are used in the commission of a violent crime.

Anyone who goes to such lengths to illegally obtain a gun should not be walking the streets. They aren't obtaining the gun to make a living, as drug dealers are when they obtain drugs. They're getting a gun specifically to hurt someone else. Get these people off the streets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:African American gun ownership is important and defunding will likely hurt more than help this community. We need strong reforms to the police to ensure they are held accountable.

Gun ownership is what is driving all this violence. Until I moved here, I had absolutely no idea how much power the nra has in the AA community. But clearly they’ve got a lot of members and supporters in DC based on the number of shootings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:African American gun ownership is important and defunding will likely hurt more than help this community. We need strong reforms to the police to ensure they are held accountable.

Gun ownership is what is driving all this violence. Until I moved here, I had absolutely no idea how much power the nra has in the AA community. But clearly they’ve got a lot of members and supporters in DC based on the number of shootings.

Nonsense. People who legally own firearms rarely misuse them, particularly in comparison to the violent career criminals who typically are already prohibited from owning or possessing firearms or ammunition.

DC has a legal path to firearm ownership and even carry for non-criminals. “Easing community tensions” by deciding to ignore the majority of unlawfully possessed and carried firearms is just plain stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:African American gun ownership is important and defunding will likely hurt more than help this community. We need strong reforms to the police to ensure they are held accountable.

Gun ownership is what is driving all this violence. Until I moved here, I had absolutely no idea how much power the nra has in the AA community. But clearly they’ve got a lot of members and supporters in DC based on the number of shootings.

Hate-filled ragers are driving violence, not the weapons. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:African American gun ownership is important and defunding will likely hurt more than help this community. We need strong reforms to the police to ensure they are held accountable.

Gun ownership is what is driving all this violence. Until I moved here, I had absolutely no idea how much power the nra has in the AA community. But clearly they’ve got a lot of members and supporters in DC based on the number of shootings.

Nonsense. People who legally own firearms rarely misuse them, particularly in comparison to the violent career criminals who typically are already prohibited from owning or possessing firearms or ammunition.

DC has a legal path to firearm ownership and even carry for non-criminals. “Easing community tensions” by deciding to ignore the majority of unlawfully possessed and carried firearms is just plain stupid.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:African American gun ownership is important and defunding will likely hurt more than help this community. We need strong reforms to the police to ensure they are held accountable.

Gun ownership is what is driving all this violence. Until I moved here, I had absolutely no idea how much power the nra has in the AA community. But clearly they’ve got a lot of members and supporters in DC based on the number of shootings.

Nonsense. People who legally own firearms rarely misuse them, particularly in comparison to the violent career criminals who typically are already prohibited from owning or possessing firearms or ammunition.

DC has a legal path to firearm ownership and even carry for non-criminals. “Easing community tensions” by deciding to ignore the majority of unlawfully possessed and carried firearms is just plain stupid.

Exactly.

+1
Indefensible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:African American gun ownership is important and defunding will likely hurt more than help this community. We need strong reforms to the police to ensure they are held accountable.

Ok Clarence Thomas