Article republished with permission.

January 16, 2007
PoliceOne.com

By Paul Markel

Paul Markel is a police officer in Ohio and a member of the Police Officers Safety Association (POSA) Board of Advisors. His book, Have Passport, Will Travel, a "real-world" guide to dignitary protection, is available at amazon.com.

Nobody likes a Monday morning quarterback. I know I don't. However, sometimes we must examine a tragedy to determine what when wrong. The FAA investigator at the scene of an airplane crash is not a Monday morning QB; he is there to try and prevent whatever happened from happening again.

If as cops and professional security providers we are truly serious about halting and preventing serious crime, we must be like the FFA investigator and examine "crashes" in our world, in our area of responsibility. Regarding the latest school shooting in Colorado, we, the professional good guys, can't afford to simply shake our heads and say "what a senseless shame". That's for the talking heads on Cable TV to do.

Yes, there are a number of unknowns, but let us start with the known.

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The following was submitted to this website as News Commentary. If you are a writer and have material you would like to be considered for publication, please use the SUBMIT News feature. The link can always be found in the top-left info block on the homepage.

By Michael A. Kotch

Re: the Dec. 27 commentary, "Too many weapons: Control guns to stop the tide of death", by John D. Kelly IV:

Dr. Kelly obviously is committed to the medical profession. However, his negative position on firearms ownership is an emotional response that avoids the true factors in violent acts.

He blames availability of guns and concealed-carry permits as the cause of 380 homicides in Philadelphia in 2005, noting that 208 of these deaths were over disputes.

Dr. Kelly seems to purport that holding individuals accountable for their actions is unrealistic, and, therefore, that eliminating the rights in the Second Amendment is the only plausible solution to violent crime.

Economist Lawrence Southwick Jr., in his 1999 paper, "Guns and Justifiable Homicide: Deterrence and Defense," said 800,000 to two million violent crimes were prevented each year as a result of gun ownership and use by civilians.

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