—– Original Message —–
From: “Leroy Pyle” <[email protected]>
To: “2AMPDsupportsRKBA (E-mail)” <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2002 2:32 PM
Subject: “Look what I got from the NRA.”

> (Surely, this officer will come to regret his statement? … L. Pyle)
>
> Security or Freedom: Which do you Want?
> By
> Ron Willis
> http://www.2ampd.net/Articles/Willis/security_or_freedom.htm
> On April 26, 27, & 28th, I had the privilege of attending the Annual NRA
> Meeting in Reno, Nevada. During a break in the action, I actually had the
> honor of meeting and shaking hands with President Charlton Heston. I
> thoroughly enjoyed the meeting, exhibits and other events, which were very
> professionally presented. A real class act.
> While visiting the various exhibits and booths in the Reno Convention
> Center, I visited the Glock display. While browsing there, I was given a
> lapel pin in the distinctive shape of a Glock pistol. The pin is black in
> color, tiny ( about 1 1/4 inch in length ) and is clearly intended to be
> displayed as a piece of jewelry. Under no circumstances which I can imagine,
> could the pin be mistaken for a firearm. Being from Glock, it was of course
> made of plastic.
> On Sunday morning as my wife and I packed our luggage, I placed my Glock
> pin, along with many other souvenirs, into my checked luggage in
> anticipation of the increased screening at the airport. After passing
> through the security checkpoint at the Reno International Airport, I had to
> pause to tie my shoes and put my belt back on. While doing so, I observed an
> airport police officer talking with a passenger who he had stopped just
> beyond the check point. ( It was a police officer, not a security person.
> After 30 years on the job, I know the difference.) The stopped man was a
> Caucasian male adult, senior citizen. The officer was explaining to the man,
> that increased security precautions required that he confiscate any item
> which appeared to be a weapon. The officer was holding in his hand one of
> the tiny Glock lapel pins. The officer explained to the citizen the need for
> “zero tolerance” in such matters. The passenger, obviously an NRA brother,
> did not seem pleased, but neither did he argue the point and continued on
> his way.
> After taking the offending piece of jewelry, the officer walked to a nearby
> colleague and said, “Look what I got from the NRA.” I’d be willing to bet my
> next pension check, that miniature lapel pin never made it to the trash bin,
> or to the police property / evidence room. I’d wager that pin and others
> like it, are now in the possession of that officer for his own personal
> purposes.
> For decades it has been standard procedure for police agencies, when taking
> possession of private property, to issue a receipt to the person from whom
> the property was taken. On that receipt is printed the procedure for the
> citizen to challenge the taking, or to file a claim to recover the property.
> I have personally issued receipts countless times. When conducting a search
> with a warrant of a person’s home, a receipt is given to the resident
> listing all items taken. I have personally given prisoners receipts for
> illegal narcotics which I have taken from them. It is called, due process.
> I’m sure I read about that in the U.S. Constitution, somewhere. It is also
> called accountability.
> After some reflection, I realized that I had witnessed an armed government
> agent, confiscating legitimate private property without due process. I
> witnessed a law abiding citizen being treated in a manner which not even a
> felonious drug dealer is treated. The senior, law abiding citizen, accused
> of no crime what-so-ever, had his property taken from him and there is not a
> thing he could do about it. How do I know the citizen was law abiding? He is
> an NRA member, and likely gun owner. As a gun owner and presumed gun buyer,
> he would have to get the permission of the FBI to buy a gun (NICS) and the
> FBI does not give permission to people who are not law abiding.
> I am ashamed to say, that I did absolutely nothing about it at the time. I
> had just left 3 days of the Annual NRA Meeting, the theme of which was “I’ll
> Fight For Freedom,” but when faced with loss of freedom, I did nothing. Like
> the rest of the sheep at the airport that morning, I was more concerned with
> making my flight and my personal convenience. That is a mistake I shall
> never make again!
> Upon arriving in Portland (Oregon), I telephoned a friend who was still in
> Reno at the Convention Center. Tom Gresham hosts a nationally syndicated
> radio talk show, “Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk” ( http://www.guntalk.com/ ) and
> writes a column in Guns & Ammo Magazine ( http://www.gunsandammomag.com/ ).
> I told Tom what I had seen at the airport. Later that day on his radio show,
> which was being broadcast from Reno, Tom talked about what I had reported to
> him. He had managed to contact the Airport Security Chief, who told him he
> knows nothing of the taking of miniature gun shaped pins, but they are
> confiscating other jewelry which is shaped like ammunition.
> What’s the difference? It is only jewelry! They are not weapons. They are
> being singled out only because of their appearance and knee-jerk paranoia
> resulting from the attacks of September 11th. Once the authorities determine
> the object is inert and not a weapon, that should be the end of it. With
> present day concerns about the illusion of security, it would be appropriate
> and reasonable for an officer to ASK that the jewelry be removed from public
> view. That is what I would have done had I been that officer, or the
> supervisor of those officers. Oh, by the way, the cabin crew of my flight on
> Southwest Airlines, were all wearing metal wings with sharp points on their
> shirts, about the size of your average box cutter. Those metal wings can
> easily be removed and used as offensive weapons. Not to mention those
> pointed, ball point pens and rolled up magazines which make excellent
> thrusting weapons.
> On a totally different issue at the Reno airport, I witnessed something I
> had only heard about prior to that day. Airline employees allowing young,
> strong, able bodied men walk into the aircraft without a second glance.
> Taken from the same line, three mature-to-senior women were singled out for
> “wand rape.” I have no doubt they were taken aside so the security personnel
> could build up their “stats” and justify taking aside Arab males at a later
> time. Although I understand that reasoning, it is wrong. Those women were
> publicly humiliated for no other reason, than to satisfy some politically
> correct notion of “fairness.” Those actions were taken by employees of
> Southwest Airlines, not the government, although the SWA employees cited
> “FAA Regulations.” More political correctness B– S—. As Tom pointed out
> on his radio program, “zero tolerance” equals zero intelligence.
> I shall address these issues with Reno Airport, Reno PD, the Mayor of Reno,
> who had addressed the NRA meeting welcoming us to Reno two days before I saw
> this, and with Southwest Airlines.
> “They that can give up liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve
> neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin
> Ron Willis, Detective (Ret.)
> Gresham, Oregon Police
> Disclaimer: All comments are the personal opinion of the writer and not
> intended to represent any government agency, whatsoever.
>
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