Of No Value

Tim Dolan is retiring as Minneapolis’ police chief.

He plans to become an advocate for making honest, law-abiding citizens easier victims for criminals.

No, really:

Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan, who retired Friday after six years as chief, said he’ll spend some of his newfound spare time doing volunteer work for “reasonable” gun control groups.

“It’s always been a passion of mine,” he said of gun control. “I worked at it quite a bit as chief, and there’s a lot of work still to be done.”

It’s tempting to say “there’s no such thing” as a “reasonable gun-control group”.  Of course, that’s untrue.  This is one group that advocates for gun laws that stress keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

It’s the National Rifle Association.

Is that the “reasonable gun control group” that Chief Dolan is talking about?

Dolan said he plans to help the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C., the Joyce Foundation in Chicago and a local group, Protect Minnesota: Working to End Gun Violence.

The Brady Campaign and the Joyce Foundation are famous for trying to drum up junk “science” against civilian firearm ownership.  As to “Protect Minnesota” – a group that has to change its name every five years when even the media start realizing what they are.  Their leader, Heather Martens, has never, not even once, said a substantial true thing about the subject of guns.  Not a single one.

Heather Martens, executive director of Protect Minnesota, said she met with Dolan on Wednesday at his office to discuss what he will do for her group.

“I think, basically, he will be a resource on gun policy … and give feedback on legislation,” Martens said. “He has always been a voice for preventing gun violence.”

Given Martens record, one might conclude Dolan has personally committed dozens of murders.  But we won’t go quite that far.

Sorry, Chief.  Your post-retirement activities will enable, not prevent, crime.

20 thoughts on “Of No Value

  1. The National Rifle Association has not done a good job of supporting legislation to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

    Specifically it has opposed and obstructed for example requiring a background check on private sales and gun show sales which could be done easily and cheaply through using the BCA data base – the same way that employers who have to run background checks on people for certain jobs is performed.

    The BCA maintains the same Minnesota data base that is part of the NICS data base used by the FFLs — each state owns the data that is the in the NICS, it does not belong to the FBI or the NICS.

    I haven’t checked on their policies lately, but it was and I believe still is the case that one can access the data base for free in the lobby of their offices, or one can access it online from any computer for a few dollars, or one can call the BCA and have them access it for you.

    So, no, the NRA has not been helpful in keeping guns out of the hands of criminals in any way shape or form. And there is no reason from his record as chief that Dolan intends to enable criminals to have better access to firearms either.

    The other thing the NRA has done which has enabled more criminals to have guns is the laws which have made it a cottage industry for former felons to get their gun rights restored. That has resulted in a significant number of felons who commit further acts of violence with firearms after those rights are restored.

    I support restoring firearms rights, like voting rights, to those who have served their time for non-violent crimes or crimes that did not involve firearms — but the incidence of repeat offenders abusing firearms rights demonstrate that it is sound policy to NOT restore gun rights where a gun was used in the original crime.

    The NRA doesn’t serve gun owners, the NRA serves the gun manufacturers. They have had an extreme right agenda since the late 1970s; prior to that the NRA DID support good gun legislation.

  2. Yea, Dog Poop and I did my happy dance yesterday as my stocks in those gun manufacturers did very well! That was the one positive of your black messiah and blamer in chief getting re-elected! Now that you’ve weighed in with your usual pile of misinformation, I’m actually even happier!

  3. The legal immigrant taxi driver killed by on 494 in Bloomington last week…was killed by an illegal immigrant who had been arrested 7 times in the past, several of them by Dolan’s Mpls police, and let go each time.

  4. Another really uninformed opinion from Dog Gone on the “gun control” topic?

    I can’t think of a more wasteful way to spend my time than reading it.

    Don’t make that mistake: go DG;DR !

  5. Troy, Since I knew it was not Penigma’s Chihuahua’s long awaited homework assignment, I DG:DR ‘d that comment. I feel better for it.

    You know, I still wait to hear what repercussions will come to the two Woodbury police officers who shot and killed the unarmed victim, while the victim was trying to escape his armed captor. Because you know that if an armed “regular citizen” had made such an error in judgement, no amount of judicial wrath would be sufficient.

  6. “I can’t think of a more wasteful way to spend my time than reading it.”

    In other words, Troy; “everyone is now dumber for having read it!” 🙂

  7. DG,

    Before I demolish the “substance” of your comment – there is really none, but I had to pick a word – let me just say that your habit of dropping off long, uninformed comments slathered in unearned condescension has taken you from being the valued dissenting opinion you once were (!) to a self-indulgent annoyance. While I’m loathe to simply type “DG:dr” after your comments, much less wipe your account, your approach to comments borders on rude.

    And it’s not one you’d accept on your own blog. And you know that.

    OK, on to destroying your comment.

  8. The National Rifle Association has not done a good job of supporting legislation to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

    Sure, they have. They were behind the NICS system, which has for twenty years made purchases by known criminals at stores virtually nonexistent. They support – enthusiastically – laws that step up punishments in gun crimes (including the one used in Minnesota).

    Your statement is devoid of fact; it is, rather, a chanting point from the anti-gun lobby.

  9. BCA database

    Dog Gone,

    This is where I prove you haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re writing about, and you are merely trying to synthesize your tissue-thin personal knowledge and your 180-degrees-off-from-reality chanting points into something that sounds like a point.

    Tony Cornish’s “Stand Your Ground” bill – the one you called “crap legislation”, although I know as well as you do that you don’t know why – would have enhanced the sharing between the BCA and the (NRA-supported) NICS.

    DG, for someone who sees herself as a “fact checker”, you are in command of almost none of them. On this issue less than most.

  10. And there is no reason from his record as chief that Dolan intends to enable criminals to have better access to firearms either.

    Strawman. His record and future plans with “Protect Minnesota” all relate to keeping guns away from the law-abiding.

  11. The other thing the NRA has done which has enabled more criminals to have guns is the laws which have made it a cottage industry for former felons to get their gun rights restored. That has resulted in a significant number of felons who commit further acts of violence with firearms after those rights are restored.

    And here’s yet another case where you are obviously parroting a chanting point from the first 2-3 pages of Google results (which are all big leftyblogs themselves parroting Brady and VPC chanting points).

    The NRA has supported state-level laws that would allow people with one felony to petition the court to get their firearms rights restored after 15 years.

    Not automatically!

    Yet again, DG, you haven’t the faintest clue what the facts are.

  12. I support restoring firearms rights, like voting rights, to those who have served their time for non-violent crimes or crimes that did not involve firearms — but the incidence of repeat offenders abusing firearms rights demonstrate that it is sound policy to NOT restore gun rights where a gun was used in the original crime.

    Irrelevant,

  13. The NRA doesn’t serve gun owners, the NRA serves the gun manufacturers.

    Which is why four million gun owners (and a few non-owners) belong to the organization, which is governed by democratic elections among members (unlike every single anti-gun group).

  14. They have had an extreme right agenda since the late 1970s; prior to that the NRA DID support good gun legislation

    Wrong again.

    Before the 1970s, the NRA had very little to do with politics. They did hunter training and sold off military-surplus firearms. They didn’t get into politics at all until the government started getting into gun control in a big way in the late sixties.

  15. I’ll say it again, DG; someone who sets herself up as a fact-checker should at least know some facts.

    You have exhibited no such thing in this argument.

  16. Game, set, match to Mr. Berg. Well played. DG, we have some parting gifts for you, The Shot in the Dark home game, a one year NRA membership and a year’s supply of Clorox wipes to clean away that stench of failure and self-righteousness.

  17. While I’m loathe to simply type “DG:dr” after your comments

    Mitch is significantly more gracious than the rest of us have to be. As a result:

    DG;dr

  18. Mitch is significantly more gracious than the rest of us have to be

    …and more than they are in their own comment section.

    Had to be said.

  19. I have the suspicion Dolan is prepping for a political run.

    Oh and DG………..pfft!!!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.