The Left Feasting on Dead Heros in Santa Cruz*

 *or never let an emergency go to waste

Sorry about the gruesome title, but it took little time for the Santa Cruz left to try and use the death of two police officers to forward their agenda; remember to the left/ collectivists there is only the agenda. These are the first to join in when there are complaints of excessive force and/or other constitutional violations voiced by the vocal minority. This shown in it's full fruition in the 1997  after the "Happy" John Dine Shooting. John Dine was a homeless subject with many documented mental issues. Dine had obtained a plastic replica pistol, which his friends later said he had told them we had gotten for protection. On November 12th, Dine was seen flashing the gun on the Pacific Garden Mall and the police were called. Dine was contacted by several police officers and one of them shot Dine dead when he pointed the gun at him. The end result was the officer was put through the ringer, with a constant barrage of lies, usually revolving around that the plastic gun was a police plant and that Dine was simply murdered by the police officer for no reason. The fact that this story makes no sense at all, still didn't draw any support from the left as any day a police officer can be shown in a bad light is a good day for them. In the below letter the writer says she is the wife of a retired police officer; one wonders if he is as hopeful for a police state as she is.

It's Time to Get Guns off the street  
Thursday, the people of Santa Cruz and from across California gathered to mourn the loss of two police officers who were shot to death at close range by a man they were investigating. One was the mother of two young children. The other was a longtime veteran whose own son is now a community service officer in the same city. This senseless act is yet another counterpoint to the NRA's defense of the right to bear arms and flies in the face of the ludicrous statement made by NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre that "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." Not so Mr. Pierre! My husband is a retired Seattle police officer/detective, who investigated the same kind of crimes as these two slain officers. He was lucky, but we cannot rely on luck alone. The bottom line is we need to get semi-automatic weapons off the streets and ensure that tight regulations and background checks are in place for anyone who wishes to own a gun. No police officer should ever again have to walk into a situation like the fallen two from Santa Cruz. My heart goes out to the families of Elizabeth Butler and Butch Baker.  Rebecca Levy, Aptos

My response: Rebecca you are simply a coward and your post is an insult to law enforcement. Not every tragedy should be fodder for a anti-gun rant from the left. Your remark, "No police officer should ever again have to walk into a situation like the fallen two from Santa Cruz" is hopelessly self serving, as if you and your love of a paternal and protective government can re-define reality with a gun ban. We the police are public safety officers; we are the thin blue line between you and the criminals and no gun ban will ever change that. The idea that computers will some how eliminate violent crime is based on the naive belief that all crime is about the most intelligent way to steal money; I've got news for you, holding up a liquor store or mugging a guy in the park, are high risk and low profit crimes, yet they are the most common. When the gun fire starts and everyone is running away, the police will be rolling code 3 right to the heart of the problem; it's what we want do, it's what we are trained for and we do it so you don't have to sacrifice your individual rights to be safe..

California Current Gun Laws Continue Unfunded

In a recent blog I was asked,  Like most of what is touted as needing "reform"; immigration, gun ownership by criminals, database of criminals with mental health issues, and I'm sure you all can think of more, we need simply to enforce and apply the laws we already have. 

In other words what are the current gun laws that are not being enforced? This was the subject of an LA Times Article,  California unable to disarm 19,700 felons and mentally ill people . The article starts out saying California authorities are empowered to seize weapons owned by convicted felons and people with mental illness, but staff shortages and funding cuts have left a backlog of more than 19,700 people to disarm, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.

The article goes on to say, that in California alone, there is a 3 year year back log on simply entering the names of felons and the mentally ill that should be ineligible to posses or acquire firearms and tracking down the 19,700 known felons and mentally ill that own or have acquired some 39,000 firearms and need to be disarmed but haven't been; this is blamed on a lack of funding and there are some 3,000 names being added to the list every year.

One is therefore forced to ask why is there little political pressure for more funding of these exsisting laws rather than the likes of Diane Fienstein pushing for another Federal Assault Weapons and large capacity magazine ban? California already has such a ban, but according to FBI and DOJ studies, their use in crimes is statistically insignificant as the vast majority of guns crimes are committed with handguns. So rather than really make the citizenry safe by taking guns away from felons and the mentally ill, all the political will is to ban weapons from law abiding citizens.  The idea that we need gun and magazine bans, rather than fully fund the laws we have now is ridiculous; in California even at gun shows all buyers must have a back ground check and guns must be transferred through a registered gun dealer, but the DOJ returns are so slow many guns are sold to those that are prohibited to buy because the dealers are not advised within the waiting period). California already has all the gun control being asked for by President Obama and more, but we aren't funding it. One has to wonder what the real end game is..