Second Amendment Martyrs
Officers Beminio and Martin
Two Iowa police officers, Anthony Beminio and and Justin Martin, were ambushed, shot and killed yesterday.
Their apparent killer, Scott Michael Greene, used an AR-15 type rifle.
Reasonable people rally around the twin concepts of moving to keep weapons out of the hands of those who should not have them and the fact that the US is awash in firearms.
Reasonable people also want our police officers to be safe on our streets and communities.
The Beminio/Martin slayings underscore these points and more and in an especially compelling fashion.
The mantra of the “gun in every pot” crowd is that guns make us safer.
It’s an essential fact that even police officers are not safe though they have a weapon strapped to them and are experts in its use.
The reason is obvious, killers will choose their time and place of attack.
If police officers are not safe with a weapon in immediate proximity, you aren’t either, despite your house full of weapons.
Scott Greene, the shooter, was known to the police.
Chief Ross McCarty of the Urbandale, Iowa, Police said, “Most of our officers have some understanding of Mr. Greene.”
Greene was constantly having brushes with law enforcement and the court system, including just hours before the incident.
It should have been exceedingly difficult for Scott Greene to obtain or retain firearms.
Basic, commonsense restrictions on firearms would save the lives of police officers across our nation.
Still, the false notions of safety espoused by gun owners and their powerful lobby will strangle any attempt to protect the police as they try to protect us.
Perhaps the families of officers Beminio and Martin will take solace in the fact that their deaths make them Second Amendment martyrs for many.
But, I doubt it.
I hope that they rest in peace and that their families are well cared for.