PrintFebruary 13, 2010
Police Officer jokes on Facebook about shooting gun rights advocates
It's being reported that a police officer from East Palo Alto joked about gunning down proponents of the second amendment on Facebook. The article in today's Mercury News tells of the police officer in question joking about shooting someone as "2 weeks off".
After several more comments in the thread, Tuason apparently joked that officers should shoot the advocates, who have made recent headlines throughout the Bay Area for sipping coffee at cafes and performing other everyday acts with visible weapons.The officer public remarks are causing a huge uproar at the popular calguns.net web site and among second amendment advocates. Several blogs and other news outlets have already picked up the story. Several members of the calgun.net website have filed complaints regarding the officers questionable comments with the East Palo Alto police department.
"Sounds like you had someone practicing their 2nd amendment rights last night!" Tuason wrote. "Should've pulled the AR out and prone them all out! And if one of them makes a furtive movement ... 2 weeks off!!!"
Will this be another Van Jones moment where the press ignores stories it doesn't like? The fact that I was alerted to this incident via email when I read the NYT, WSJ, and several other papers as part of my morning routine tells me that this story won't get much traction until it's so big the media can't ignore it. How will this be spun by the media when they do finally cover it? My bet's on the press story line going like this "Second amendment activists are dangerous and have no sense of humor, threaten police officer for making joke."
