Just Another Voice?

By

Ren Patenaude

Paten66@aol.com

11/26/01

 

As busy as a 19-year police sergeant and married father of four can be, I still manage to get time now and then to peruse the web, read some articles, and write some letters.

I continually get drawn to shop talk, and eventually to political issues, hoping to find the shift of public opinion coming back around to common sense.  Like everything else political these days, it seems to be an almost even split between reason and ridiculousness.

So I shake my head, and sigh, and wonder why it is so hard for some to see the damage they inflict upon themselves in the panicked attempt to find “security”.  Former NYC mayor Ed Koch did irreparable harm when he said, “People don’t need guns, the police have guns”.  And lo, the media and social elite were appeased.  After all, peasants cannot be trusted with firearms, they may hurt themselves!  The liberal snobs and socialist academics fear the common man, whom they insist doesn’t even exist.  A recent letter to the local fishwrapper claimed that armed citizens aboard commercial aircraft would lead to murderous anarchy, and claimed Eddie Eagle was a propaganda tool!

So, my fellow peace officers and constitutional defenders, how many of you sit there now, reading this and knowing exactly what I am talking about, still say, ”What can I do?  I am just one voice.”

Have you ever been out on a real dark night (well, duh) and noticed even a dim light can be seen from very far away?  Ever notice that late at night, when all the day-time hub-bub is gone, you can hear a train from miles away?  Seen, or heard, a buoy light or bell out on open water?  Are you getting the picture?  See, we in law enforcement have the benefit of all speaking a common language, far more so that the average 9 to 5’er.  I say this from experience, having been lucky enough to attend seminars and training schools with cops from all over the country.  With one exception (from NY City!), EVERY cop I’ve ever discussed gun control with thought it was not only a bad idea, but counter-productive.  Chances are if you’re reading this, you agree as well.  So you see, YOU ARE NOT JUST ANOTHER VOICE.  You are the expert.  You are the authority.  You are the source that the media routinely ignores.  You contribute to your agency’s Uniform Crime Report, which creates the statistics that HCI loves to bastardize.  You not only have the right to speak, but a moral obligation to do so as a sworn peace officer. 

Take a minute and e-mail your elected officials, and tell them.  Yes, snail mail is better, but will you write it and mail it?  Answer the public’s questions on the 2nd Amendment, even if only as a fellow citizen.  Tell your fellow officers to stand up and be heard, so that just one voice becomes the deafening roar of thousands.  Got a union?  Make absolutely sure your dues are not selling you out of your RIGHT to defend your family.  Hold your union officials accountable to the principals that created your job in the first place; To serve your community.  Then write an article to 2AMPD and tell us that you did it, and inspire the oncoming shift of good guys, cop and civilian alike, to do the same.

Just another voice?  Yeah, but do it anyway.  Do it now.

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Ren Patenaude is a patrol sergeant and 19-year veteran of the Ulster County Sheriff's Office, and former two-term president of the Ulster County Deputy Sheriff's PBA.