What’s with these cops? Do they want us defenseless against crime?

I do not like the picture which is staring me in the face on the front page of today’s WSJ:

I found it online.

The caption:

Prince George’s (Md.) County police officer Chandler Coleman, center, wipes his eyes as he listens to Vice President Joe Biden speak about shooting victims as he sits Tuesday April 9 with members of law enforcement during an event on gun legislation in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House.

Other articles refer to Biden speaking to a “room full of police“:

OK, I don’t know how many of these cops were dragged to hear the rantings of Biden, or how many of them went there because they want gun control, but either alternative is grim.

In theory, police are supposed to be public servants, which means that they should not be working as political lobbyists to undermine our constitutional rights. Moreover, any cop who supports gun control is making a very clear statement that he thinks he should have the right to keep and bear arms, but the citizenry should not.

As things are now, cops are legally empowered to have guns that the rest of us are not allowed to have. What makes them so special? Are they not supposed to be working for us? Or are they tools of the ruling class oppressor? Ironically, I used to believe they were in the days when I was a flaming young radical, but now that things seem to have come full circle, I’m wondering whether I was right.

Especially where it comes to cops who want gun control.

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds links a reassuring study which reveals that 99% of police are solidly united against gun control.

A new online survey suggests that the vast majority of active and former police officers adamantly oppose President Barack Obama’s proposed bans on so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines.

The study, conducted by first-responder community website PoliceOne.com, included more than 15,000 self-identified active and retired law enforcement officers, with 99 percent of respondents saying that policies other than an assault-weapons ban are most important in preventing future mass shootings.

Which means my speculation about the men in the picture being “dragged to hear the rantings of Biden” are most likely correct.

As to the 1% who want gun control, I’d be willing to bet that they are among the top brass, and of course they are the ones who force their subordinates to show up for anti-gun propaganda photo shoots instead of doing their job.

Hey, COPS NOT PROPS!

While I am at it, consider the case of the art professor at a public university who recently got into trouble for requiring her students to design anti-gun propaganda. If it is wrong to make art students make propaganda at the taxpayers’ expense, isn’t it just as wrong to make cops do the same thing? If anything, I think the latter is worse, because uniformed police are considered more persuasive than art students. The former are dripping with that “authority” and “respect” ethos, and the latter, while the latter are dripping with other things.

MORE: According to the FOP web site, is a violation of the Hatch Act for an officer to “engage in campaigning during working hours” or to “use any official authority for influence for political purposes, including using the officer’s official title or authority to coerce individuals to participate in political activity.” Officers are allowed to take political positions and endorse candidates but only “so long as the officer is not on duty and not wearing a uniform, badge or insignia.”

I expect that there will be a prompt investigation.

After all, the art professor is accused of violating a similar Texas provision which reads,

“A state officer or employee may not use official authority…to interfere with or affect the result of an election or nomination of a candidate or to achieve any other political purpose.”

Shouldn’t there be equal justice for art professors and police?

I mean, really.

Could there have been a public violation of the Hatch Act right in front of Vice President Biden?

Is there no shame?