Chicago Police Superintendent Says Cops Will Shoot Gun Carrying Citizens Because of His Training

August 30, 2013 by  

garry mcarthy chicago police superintendent predicts gun carrying citizens will be shot

Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy is not happy about the new concealed carry laws in Illinois.  And now he is predicting that police will shoot citizens who are lawfully carrying firearms.

During an interview with WVON radio McCarthy made some very bold statements that show his disdain for the 2nd amendment.

“You put more guns on the street expect more shootings,” McCarthy said. “I don’t care if they’re licensed legal firearms, people who are not highly trained… putting guns in their hands is a recipe for disaster. So I’ll train our officers that there is a concealed carry law, but when somebody turns with a firearm in their hand the officer does not have an obligation to wait to get shot to return fire and we’re going to have tragedies as a result of that. I’m telling you right up front.”

While every cop has a right to protect himself, this bold statement by McCarthy is obviously meant to intimidate gun owners who choose to exercise their rights.  This threat that cops may mistakenly shoot a gun carrying citizen is just another attempt to fight the concealed carry laws that Illinois has long been deprived of.

McCarthy would not say what specific training officers will undertake if any. However, he did admit that in the past his department has made mistakes in shooting unarmed civilians. He believes the concealed carry law will increase those types of unfortunate incidents.

“You say concealed carry I say Trayvon Martin. Police officers make mistakes all the time,” McCarthy said. “We spend six months in the police academy, six months of field training and ongoing training on a regular basis and the fact is once in a while we’re going to shoot someone with a cellphone; we’re going to shoot somebody with a flashlight and none of that is okay. But now you take John Q. Civilian, you give them six weeks or 10 weeks of training and you say ‘have at it?’ The fact is more guns are not the solution to the firearm gun violence problem in this country. Less guns and reasonable gun laws are. And just because it’s 49 states to one doesn’t mean the state of Illinois is wrong on that one.”

So McCarthy is slamming  gun carrying citizens for not having the training of a police officer, and yet he predicts that his heavily trained cops will be shooting law abiding gun carrying citizens.  Makes sense?

Perhaps if cops in Chicago worried less about the law abiding citizen’s rights and more about the gangs and criminals that are ignoring gun laws, the windy city would be a safer place.

Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.  This is a gun control haven.  And yet in 2012 there were 2,364 shooting incidents.

While it’s a sad truth that police officers do sometime make mistakes and shoot the wrong person, predicting that his training will result in gun carrying citizens being shot is way over the line.