[johnwilliamson062]

Im my personal opinion the average officer is out there doing the best they can do on one of the worlds most thankless jobs. I get it that not every officer is worthy of that badge but that kind of thing applies to every profession.

50K a year, retirement after 20 years, full medical, uniform allowance, etc. I feel a whole lot worse for my garbage man. I don't want either job, but I'd much rather be a police officer than a garbageman even if pay was matched. I bet the garbage man gets a whole lot less respect than most LEO.

My life would also be more affected by lack of waste disposal services than police. I've lived a few places that effectively had no police(so corrupt you avoided at all costs), but I have never lived somewhere without a decent waste disposal system.

growing body of evidence that innocent law abiding citizens are being attacked with police weapons by former and current police using Ar's and whatever other weapons.

I don't think the problem is new weapons or changes in police behavior. The simple fact is everyone everywhere carries a video camera and recorder on them all the time now. LAPD got it with Rodney King, not because it was the first time they beat someone so high they didn't feel anything into submission, but because it was the first time someone in that neighborhood had a camcorder to record the event. What they were doing was par for the course nationally at that time and if you watch the full 45 minute video and look at what options were available to them you can sort of see why. Now they have tasers and OC spray.

The overwhelming majority of police officers and firefighters for that matter are strongly patriotic and strongly pro second amendment for everyone.

Odd, because LEO in my area HIRE a union to represent them politically and fund the union to do so with a considerable amount of financial support dedicated to political activity. On every last battle for CCW, mag restrictions, AWB, etc., the LEO unions, hired and funded solely by law enforcement officers as their representatives, are anti-gun. In most cases the keystone of the anti-gun campaign is some anti-gun quote by a police chief or LEO union. The union dues of LEOs in my area are wiping out any number of phone calls and letter writing they can claim.

You stay in the biz long enough, you make enemies. You make enough enemies, sooner or later one will try to settle your hash. That alone is justification enough for cops to carry 24/7.

As if police have anywhere close to a monopoly on this claim. I have had my life seriously threatened on several occasions related to work. I am sure many other non-LEO have also.

The part I do disagree with you is that due to the budget situation, there are departments that refuse to purchase the item (mostly carbines) and basically push the officer to do without, or purchase hisself (where legal).

DOD provides rifles to LEO free of charge. The CLEO just has to do a very minimal amount of paperwork.

Ohio AG runs some yearly statistics on crime and they are categorized by industry. I don't know if other states do this or not. I have never seen other statistics so categorized. Police come out on the top of the list for major crimes every year. The stand-out is human trafficking for which they often rank in the top three. Now that isn't to say all police are involved. The percent of police is still small even if greater than other parts of society. What disturbs me about these statistics is I find it hard to believe their fellow officers aren't knowledgeable of their actions and overlooking them or even conspiring with them.

No one is saying police officers shouldn't be able to protect themselves, we/they are just saying they aren't "special" in this need.