The Armed CITIZEN!

By

Leroy Pyle

He wouldn’t give up – The incident began in a bar a little after 1 a.m. where Dennis Devitte, with friends and family, was enjoying the music. Three armed thugs came charging through the back door, with guns drawn and their faces covered by T-shirts or bandannas. One tried to climb over the bar to get to the cash register, but a customer grabbed him and pulled him down. The other two opened fire. One of the gunmen went right by Devitte and shot a man in a wheelchair. Devitte carried a .25-caliber handgun and knew that he would have to get really close to assure accuracy and avoid hitting patrons. He knew he stood only a slight chance against the three gunmen, but knew that if he didn’t act, innocent civilians and some of his friends or their family members might be killed.

Devitte started towards one gunman who was firing into the crowd with a .40-caliber semi-automatic.” I went straight at him as he turned and started firing at me,” Devitte said. “He kept firing and hitting me, but I held my fire until I got to less than 18 inches from him.” Another gunman began firing from behind Devitte with a 9mm pistol. One slug ruptured several large blood vessels. He takes round after round but keeps going until he is a foot away. Then he shoots the gunman eight times. Devitte finally falls as the gunman’s last bullet blows his knee apart. The gunman stumbled out the front door and collapsed as the other two robbers fled. As friends stuffed towels and fingers in the bullet holes to stop the bleeding, Devitte told them, “I did the best I could. I hope I didn’t hit anybody else. Please tell my wife I love her.”

Devitte needed six units of blood (the average person has about 10), and his knee had to be reconstructed with bone from a cadaver. Yet he was back to work less than six months later. Dennis and his wife both credit many friends and strangers for helping them to survive that “bad situation.”

Bank robbery thwarted – Jeffrey Holland was working part-time at a downtown Omaha bank when two robbers entered. Holland captured one of them despite being shot twice. The second robber — who fled after firing nine times at Holland — was caught an hour later. No one else was injured. Holland lay in critical condition for three days in a hospital.

Store robbery thwarted -Joseph Shackett was visiting a friend at a check-cashing store in Houston when two robbers forced their way in. Shackett grabbed the gun of one robber, drew his own weapon and killed the man. Then he killed the second robber who was about to shoot the storeowner.

Halts runaway vehicle – Near midnight, Richard Vogt responded to a frantic 911 call from a mobile phone of an 18-year -old girl behind the wheel of a runaway car. Driving at speeds well over 100 mph, Vogt pulled his vehicle in front of her car and slowed it to a halt just a few hundred feet short of a busy intersection.

Pushes couple to safety – On an interstate near San Diego, Mark Beathard stopped his motorcycle to assist a young couple standing on the shoulder at an accident site. Suddenly, another car cam roaring down on them. Beathard pushed the couple to safety but was struck himself. The impact threw him 40 feet in the air and broke both his legs.

Reading center program for kids – Julia Mae Burney started the highly successful Cops ‘N Kids Reading Center program in Racine. Convinced that reading was essential to helping poor children break out of the cycle of poverty, she began distributing books to them. Under Burney’s leadership, the program is renovating an abandoned building, which she plans to stock with more than 30,000 book

A crime-prevention solution – Bruce Stayments started Dad’s School, a partnership for responsible fathering that has been described as “an innovative and successful crime-prevention solution” by the National Fatherhood Initiative. “It’s getting guys to realize their significance as fathers and how important that is in their kids’ lives”, says Stayments.

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Some of you will recognize the above incidents from Parade Magazine’s cover story for their November 5, 2000 issue, “The Police Officer of the Year.” These are perfect examples of fellow citizens who are gun owners, for sure, and citizens who are very much aware of the value of a firearm for personal protection. All have been trained in the proper use of a firearm and the laws relating to the legal and moral aspects of the use of deadly force. Some of them, as depicted, have experienced the deadly threat that led to the use of a firearm to protect their life, or the life of others. All have existed in an environment that is a constant reminder of the need for a firearms for self defense.

They are a diverse group with a variety of interests and lifestyles, off duty, not unlike other families in the community where they live and serve. You wouldn’t recognize them as different from any other shopper, jogger, bicyclist, or diner as they participated in the activities of a normal life. Their chosen profession puts them in harms way under a variety of circumstances, with the occasional confrontation with violent criminals. This happens more often than many are aware, since only the incidents deemed newsworthy are reported in the press. Most are mediated to a successful conclusion, verbally or with a minor wrestling match or fisticuffs. Most citizens only hear of the heroic deed, or death of a police officer when the circumstances are especially violent or newsworthy, and many of these incidents are confined to local news.

I deliberately avoided using their law enforcement titles in order to allow the reader to first view their actions as that of a fellow citizen. I hope you are as impressed as I am with their brave and unselfish acts, and the very real truth that their actions prove so very vividly that firearms serve a very positive and useful purpose in our society.

There are approximately 740,000 sworn law enforcement officers now serving in the United States. About 10 percent of them are female.

In 1997, there were nearly 35 million crimes committed in the United States, an average of more than one crime every one second (according to the National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics). That is the lowest level of crime in nearly 25 years. Violent crime rates have declined by 21 percent since they peaked in 1993, and non-violent crime rates dropped 22 percent since 1993.

Crime fighting has taken its toll. Since the first recorded police death in 1794, there have been more than 15,000 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

A total of 1,596 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the last 10 years, an average of one death every 54 hours or 160 per year. There were 156 police deaths in 1998, which represents a slight decrease from the 160 officers who died in 1997.

On average, more than 62,000 law enforcement officers are assaulted each year and some 21,000 are injured annually.
Not all recognition is related to the familiar tools of law enforcement, but by confirmation of their important personal contributions to the community. They offer a wealth of experience and an eagerness to assist their fellow citizens through a variety of the community’s volunteer programs. We are all familiar with P.A.L. or similar youth activities, and rape prevention/crisis intervention programs where the concerns and expertise of police personnel are important contributions.

What perfect allies! Wouldn’t it be an accomplishment to draw them into the Second Amendment arena to share their knowledge and experiences? These men and women have not only a working knowledge of the value of a personal firearm, they live their daily lives responding to the victimization of our citizens. They spend much of their working lives relating to, and empathizing with victims of a very evident criminal element. They understand exactly how many people suffer as a result of the actions of criminals. Is there any doubt that they have a firearm in the home for personal protection?

And that is exactly the purpose for The Second Amendment Police Department website at www.2ampd.net. There you will find a variety of articles by law enforcement officers from across the United States and foreign countries. All support the right of a citizen to possess firearms for personal protection and because it is a natural right.

Sadly, the frustrations felt by gun owners have made it all too common in the Second Amendment community to scapegoat or demonize all law enforcement, based on the highly publicized abuses or accidents by a few. A number of high-publicity abuses, primarily the actions of federal agencies, have contributed to a growing resentment as these accounts are referenced repeatedly in Second Amendment forums and websites. Major Second Amendment web sites consider it “newsworthy” to post extremely disparaging attacks on law enforcement, and in much the same way that HCI demonizes all gun owners by the action of a minority of gun owners. Not coincidently, the fear-mongering is typically anonymous.

I don’t pretend to dissuade all those who have issues with law enforcement for any variety of reasons. Certainly, there is a legitimate reason to be offended by some very real, and highly publicized, abuses by our government. The Second Amendment Police Department, www.2ampd.net, encourages all Americans to maintain Eternal Vigilance with regards to the ever-present threat of government intrusions. Every effort should be made to point out, and weed out the abusers. My concerns are directed at the exaggerations of individuals with very obvious personal issues, and the “news” sources that resort to the hateful rhetoric of stereotyping and fear mongering that those of us in the 2AM activist community find all too familiar. It is ugly, regardless of the intended target, and the negative feedback can do more harm than good.

My appeal is to the majority in the 2AM community who will recognize that in a law enforcement family of hundreds of thousands, the anecdotal examples favored by those “selling” their news do not represent the norm. Heaven knows that a gun owner should know better! If you can imagine how indignant you become whenever the “news” reports another tragedy perpetrated by some pervert with a firearm in a manner that condemns all gun owners, you might guess how hard it is to draw cops into the debate where it has become all to common to casually disrespect all law enforcement in too many 2AM discussion forums and websites on the Internet.

And it is not just cops who are turned away by the rhetoric. If we can agree that our firearms rights depend on bringing more citizens to our “side”, our way of thinking about individual rights, then we must first be able to establish a dialogue. Over-used and exaggerated stereotyping, obvious biases, and thinly veiled threats against law enforcement are not high on the list of bridge-building efforts! You and I might be familiar with the common RKBA sound bites, but in a society where thousands, daily, are successful when they call an ambulance, the fire department, the police, or animal control, do you think that “Call 911 and Die!” is attractive or makes sense? In a society of one victim per second, with many of those victims desperately in need of police assistance, do you honestly believe that comparing a community’s police to Hitler’s Nazi Gestapo is the proper invite to Second Amendment issues? In a society where Parade Magazine promotes the annual recognition of “The Police Officer of the Year,” and communities across the nation recognize the positive contributions by their law enforcement citizens, is it politically smart to be obviously anti-police?

And finally, in this election year that so clearly emphasizes the philosophical divide in this country, should the RKBA community support a minority of vocal antagonists who pursue actions and rhetoric that will push away a law enforcement community of hundreds of thousands?

The Second Amendment Police Department thinks not, and will encourage the majority to encourage common sense and decency in discussions and displays. You are invited to read any number of articles at www.2ampd.net for assurance that cops are not the enemy. As I typed this closing paragraph, I received the following message from a police officer surfing the web: “Glad to have run across your page, its nice to know there are others out there. I have never known a rank and file officer that was for gun control.” This is typical of the law enforcement personnel who take the time to fill out the form on the website.

Please help us continue to promote that message by referring your law enforcement friends and acquaintances to our website.

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Leroy Pyle is a career police officer,
NRA Training Counselor/Instructor, and Internet Activist WebMaster, www.2ampd.net & www.PaulRevere.org