Two short blocks away from the historic Independence Hall and revered Liberty Bell in downtown Philadelphia at the old Christ Church Burial Grounds, Ben Franklin is rolling in his grave.
Franklin authored the famous quote, “Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Tulsa Police Chief Wendall Franklin believes the opposite. In an interview with NPR, Franklin deployed a “Just trust me” gimmick to push for more gun control and uttered, “Ultimately, I’m a Second Amendment guy…But I’m okay giving up some of that freedom, right?”
The problem, as Second Amendment advocates know all too well, is if you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll want a glass of milk.
‘Just Trust Me’
Tulsa, Okla., is rated in the Top 10 of the nation’s most dangerous cities and has a local homicide rate well above the national average. Describing his conversations with Oklahoma state legislators about surging crime, Police Chief Wendall Franklin seemed defeated in trying to solve the problem of violence plaguing law-abiding and innocent Tulsa residents.
“It’s a topic that’s not really brought up a whole lot, and it’s something that gets glossed over quite a bit,” he said. “No one really wants to talk about it.”
When pressed about why he previously was okay with state legislators – as the duly-elected representatives of the people – working on firearm-related policy but now is pushing for gun control, the chief deployed a familiar gun control tactic. “Trust me,” he said.
“Ultimately, law enforcement, we are the experts. We’re the subject matter experts at protecting America, right? Protecting our cities. We should be utilized in that manner,” Chief Franklin explained. “Anything that we do, ultimately, we give up something to have that protection.”
The “I’m a gun guy” routine is repeatedly used by some of the most ardent gun control activists as a linguistic tool to dupe others into thinking more restrictions on law-abiding Americans are okay. President Joe Biden often says, “I’m a Second Amendment guy.” Ryan Busse, a gun control activist employed by Giffords, uses the schtick too. He’s banking on deceiving enough Montanans that he’s still a “gun guy” but supports just enough gun control to win the governor’s mansion from staunch Second Amendment advocate Gov. Greg Gianforte. Also in Montana, Democratic U.S. Sen., Jon Tester touts his Second Amendment bona fides often. Yet joined with some of the worst gun control senators by voting to keep the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Final Rule in place that unconstitutionally usurps congressional power to rewrite through regulation the National Firearms Act to now define pistols with attached stabilizing arm braces as short-barreled rifles (SBRs), after having initially determined a decade ago they were not rifles.
Burden of Proof
Police Chief Franklin’s gun control dialogue was telling. It once again centered on law-abiding citizens giving up their rights, not criminals committing acts of violence being held to account. He added that it is his belief that law-abiding citizens who may feel threatened or have a completely lawful need to purchase a firearm may need to wait longer to bring their firearm home.
“I’m okay with waiting three days, five days, or whatever to get my firearm if I go out and purchase another firearm. So I’m okay with a pause to allow for weapons to be purchased and allow the government and the gun companies to look at the background and do a thorough check before that gun goes to someone,” he added. He was discussing his belief that there should be more restrictions on law-abiding Americans purchasing Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) and unfinished firearm components, a practice gunsmiths have been using since before the founding of the country.
“I think that’s where we are today. We are going to have to give up some things. And I think there are some things that we can give up for a safer community,” the chief concluded.
Law-abiding citizens who lawfully purchase legal firearms at retail already submit to an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification before the transaction can be finalized. They must pass that background check to buy their firearm.
In case the chief was unaware, the overwhelming majority of firearm purchases are completed with little problem. According to NICS data, in 2019, about 90 percent of the tens of millions of NICS checks done annually were completed immediately, with just over 10 percent of NICS checks going into “delayed” status. And about 90 percent of those delayed NICS checks are resolved within the three-business day window as required by the Brady Act, and 94 percent are resolved within ten days.
Only 0.7 percent of 2019 delayed NICS checks were never resolved, and only a minuscule 0.01 percent of transferred firearms are referred to ATF for retrieval because the purchaser turned out to be a prohibited person.
Focus on Criminals
While law-abiding citizens continue to be the target of greater gun control pushes, it’s criminals who ignore the laws and do whatever it takes to break the laws in order to obtain firearms illegally.
Government surveys of prison inmates reveal what the firearm industry already knows – criminals rarely obtain their firearms from retailers or even gun shows. In fact, over time, the share of criminals’ firearms that come from retailers has dropped by ten percentage points. More than 90 percent of criminals obtain their firearms through illicit means and illegally through the black market. Police Chief Franklin’s restrictions wouldn’t impact them at all.
Instead of using hollow “trust me” logic to push more gun control, Police Chief Franklin and those like him would do better focusing on criminals, not law-abiding Tulsa residents.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
“You can trust me. I’ll just put it in a little bit and you’ll still be a virgin!” — Carlos Mencia.
Someone needs to tell Chief Franklin that no part of the Bill of Rights was enacted to make his job easier. It was enacted to protect the citizens of the United States, including those of Tulsa, from overzealous government officials.
Overzealous officials like Chief Franklin of Tulsa, OK.
Franklin is just another appointed weak black police chief afraid to call out his own people on their propensity for violent behavior. Unlike the majority of Oklahoma, Tulsa is governed by liberals and their failed agenda.
It boggles the mind that anyone still believes the government’s enforcers will choose you over their paycheck and pension. They will enforce whatever they’re told to or they will be replaced by someone who will. They prove their oath means nothing every day by enforcing every single arms law that has ever been enacted.
I don’t think you could be more right if your opinion came down the mountain on golden tablets. It’s a damn good thing I wasn’t on the jury, either. But these days, Protect and Serve is only a slogan for slackers who collect a check for doing neither.
My wife likes to watch “First 48”, crime drama about homicide investigations. Tulsa figures heavily in these episodes. With the visual drama being shown, you would think the Chief would be trying to arm the good people of Tulsa. I mean, residents are dying nightly on the streets, and not all are gangbangers. I would bet that Chief and the local politicians live in enclaves away from the homicides they don’t care about.
This chief sounds like a walking, talking propagandist for the gun control groups.
And to agree to be interviewed by NPR? He should be dismissed for dereliction of duty. Trust me he says…I say never!
“We’re the subject matter experts at protecting America, right? Protecting our cities.”
Well, Chiefy, the nunbers say we need new experts….YOU ARE A FAILURE!!!! Expecting citizens to rely on your ilk for protection from bad guys is the definition of “insanity”….doing the same thing repeatedly expecting a different outcome.
They would rather investigate your murder than your self defense. I believe some (any is too many) prosecutors would rather do an easy plea deal with your murder (an easy check mark in the win column to show the voters) than to disprove your self-defense. I also believe some prosecutors want to portray self-defense a vigilantism.
He doesn’t get to give up my freedom.
After all – isn’t this EXACTLY how we get control of drunken drivers – by forcing sober drivers to take more tests to get a license? And when your neighbor has too many kids, you can stop that by getting a vasectomy yourself! All that is required to stop bad guys is to set a good example – like by unilaterally disarming before going into battle. It only makes sense – to the addle-brained. The point that is NEVER brought up is that this guy needs to be fired. His job is not to find ways to solve problems that… Read more »