If there is someone in politics today who knows how to say some… stuff, it’s Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). She rivals Donald Trump in how to get media attention, though, unlike Trump, the legacy mainstream media loves her.
No surprise there, considering her politics.
With all of the things that Trump says, he has sometimes been criticized for saying shocking things, and Crockett does the same. Unlike Trump, though, who says shocking things and probably just enjoys the fact that they shock people, Crockett says shocking things that I’m not sure that she realizes why they are shocking.
Her comments that we’re talking about today are a perfect example of that. Andrew Chapados writes,
Crockett prefaced her remarks, made in September but now going viral, by saying that she would need to go into “legal mode” to explain how agencies like ICE and the United States Armed Forces are being misused by the Trump administration.
It was during that portion of her statements that Crockett made the odd claim about how local law enforcement is supposed to operate:
“I want to be clear that, like, law enforcement isn’t to prevent crime. Law enforcement solves crime. OK? That is what they are supposed to do. They are supposed to solve crimes, not necessarily, um, prevent them from happening per se.”
Here’s the thing: legally speaking, Crockett is right. Law enforcement officers don’t have a legal duty to protect people. We’ve talked about that before here in the context of lawsuits over how the on-site law enforcement officer in Parkland, Florida waited an extended period of time before trying to stop that mass shootings which was one of the worst in history.
But, remember, law enforcement officers aren’t required to protect you. Their job is to solve crimes and to arrest people for breaking laws.
Which means that even if they show up quickly, not all law enforcement officers may intervene to save your life.
(Don’t get me wrong. I believe most law enforcement officers are in that job for the right reasons and for right motivations and that they’ll do the right thing like intervening to stop harm towards innocent people. It’s just that, based on court decisions, they aren’t legally required to do that.)
Which is a very strong reason for you to have a firearm on your person at all times (or at least at your bedside) and for you to train to proficiency and to maintain proficiency with that firearm.
Because, when it comes down to it, as Crockett clearly implied, it’s in your hands whether you stop an attacker or not, whether you save your life or not.
