TALES OF COPS “ON THE TAKE” HAVE so reviled the American public, and embarrassed generations of dedicated police officers, that police agencies and grand juries energetically investigate any such allegations, and when they find dirt, prosecution is relentless.
But what happens when an association of police officials blatantly sells out to a political special interest, shilling its name and influence to push an agenda? What should happen?
Now is a good time to find out. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) recently issued a document called “Taking a Stand: Reducing Gun Violence in Our Communities.” This report came out of the Great Lakes Summit on Gun Violence held in Chicago. Among the IACP’s predictable recommendations were that all gun sales, presumably even between family members, be done only through licensed firearms retailers, with mandatory background checks. IACP also recommends banning so-called assault weapons and “.50-caliber sniper rifles.” They want Congress to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, a federal law that protects sensitive gun trace data — held by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — from general access. The data is available to law enforcement agencies for use in legitimate, on-going criminal investigations, but not for use in civil litigation “fishing expeditions.”
We say “predictable” because the summit and production of the report was largely bankrolled by the Joyce Foundation, which has a history of supporting extremist gun control efforts. The IACP recommendations come right off of the gun control wish list.
The Joyce Foundation notes on its own website that it “has funded IACP to work collaboratively with law enforcement officials, public and medical health professionals, researchers and policy-makers to address gun violence reduction through a coordinated, regional approach.” We’re talking big bucks: Grants of $375,000 and $174,788 at least. Joyce spent another $99,935 “to develop and execute the release of a report on the Great Lakes States Summit on Firearm Violence.” This isn’t free coffee and donuts, or a wad of $20 bills slipped to some beat cop caricature in a movie. This is the IACP revealing itself to be the best group of police officials money can buy.
The summit roster reads like a “Who’s who” of the gun control lobby. Report contributors included Kristen Rand and Tom Diaz with the anti-gun rights Violence Policy Center, another group that gets major funding from Joyce.
Noticeably missing was anyone from the firearms industry or a gun rights organization.
N e w s p a p e r s greeted the IACP report as though it were gospel. In truth, it is a thinly disguised piece of political propaganda, leading us to wonder anew about media bias on the gun rights issue. The report, and the summit that produced it, should be subjected to the same savage scrutiny that would be given to any document produced by a law-enforcement group that got its funding from, say, the National Rifle Association or Second Amendment Foundation. Such a report would be ignored as pure fiction.
This episode brings up a serious question: Since when is it acceptable for police chiefs to become lobbyists or front-men for interest groups whose sole aim is to strip American citizens of their constitutionally-protected firearm civil rights?
Perhaps when enough money was thrown at the IACP by a lobby that traditionally gets a free pass from the media; only then is it apparently acceptable for cops to sell out.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 2, 2008. Read the original PDF.