Most normal Americans support the police. It’s how a dozen or fifteen on-duty cops can police a county of 100,000 people. What’s more, if a lone cop is losing a struggle for his life, good Samaritans will often step in to help, especially outside of bigger cities.
For instance, recall when a motorist attacked an Illinois State Trooper near Chenoa last summer. Things didn’t look so good for the Trooper. The man tackled the lawman then savagely beat and pepper sprayed him. It wasn’t until a concealed carry holder intervened with his gun that the Trooper’s attacker stopped his felonious assault and ran off.
Today, the Illinois State Police are already poisoning goodwill they enjoy among many Land of Lincoln gun owners by administering the new PICA gun and magazine ban. “Emptying the goodwill bucket” as the teachers say at my kids’ school. Just look at the comments at some of the stories on the GSL website. The goodwill bucket will leak even faster when Pritzker’s state cops start knocking on doors about guns and mags purchased after January 10th.
Then there’s the matter of HB-676. When it becomes law and mandatory gun seizures take place for those named in ex parte restraining orders issued without any due process, that will further erode goodwill towards police. Sure most folks will just chalk it up to the person with their guns seized “had it coming” until they learn of someone they know getting their guns seized over vexatious or unfounded complaints.
It’ll only get worse when the guns don’t get returned after a preliminary order gets thrown out at a formal hearing.
Even worse, when news gets out about gun owners getting killed for resisting seizure of their guns, the gun grabbers will cheer. The only problem is people like Bozo Bob Morgan and his Moms Demand Action ladies aren’t the people who will ever stop and meaningfully help cops on the losing end of a fight on the street.
Meanwhile, gun owners will quietly just make mental notes of the news of the arrests, seizures and gun owner deaths. Their bucket of goodwill will soon be replaced by a bucket of animus.
If public sentiment continues a swing from general goodwill towards cops to outright hostility, policing will suffer even more. Good cops will take Florida and Texas up on their offers of signing bonuses and leave our state.
As for the cops who remain? It’ll take a lot more than a dozen on-duty cops to work that same county of 100,000 safely.
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