What the police think of gun owners

"I think any person that has a firearm and is willing to shoot at any person is a dangerous person."

That's the opinion of Columbus police officer Tony Garrison, who was shot and wounded (along with another cop) by an ex-Ohio State football player, Derrick Foster, during a no-knock raid on a suspected crack house on April 30.

Foster, who works as a code inspector for the city, was carrying his gun legally as he played dice at the house when the police burst in.  He, like others at the house, believed the intruders to be armed robbers, and Foster says he fired in self-defense (he also says he didn't fire the first shot).  Both Garrison and the other officer have recovered from their wounds.

So we have a raid on a suspected crack house, where no drugs were found and no one was charged with a drug offense; we have a city employee with no arrest record, no involvement in drugs and a CC permit for his gun hanging out with some other guys playing dice.  Granted, they were gambling which I assume is not a legal activity in Columbus, although according to Radley Balko no one was charged even for that.  But if you were hanging out in a tough neighborhood where money was changing hands, wouldn't you assume that someone busting into your house without warning wasn't there to deliver a pizza?

Derrick Foster, quite logically, was carrying a gun for self-defense, and was willing to use it.  In the eyes of at least one police officer, that makes him a dangerous person.  I'm pretty confident he's not the only cop who thinks that, either.

So remember: let the cops do the work of protecting you.  They're professionals.