Psycho Door-Kicking Cop Embodies Strong Argument Against Gun Registration

Gun rights circles are buzzing over Facebook
gloating by a Branford, Connecticut, police officer over the power
the state’s new gun (and magazine) registration law gives him to
kick in doors and snatch firearms. The comments seem to have earned
Officer Joseph Peterson a little time out of the office. They also
wonderfully illustrate the dangers of letting politicians turn
every bugaboo and pet peeve into an excuse for officials great and
small to use their power against citizens. Because even if some
restrictive laws are good ideas (and most are not), they’ll
inevitably be enforced by people who will abuse their
authority.

Most
arguments against
government policies turn on their moral and practical failings,
assuming that they’re implemented with unified intentions, good or
bad. Arguments against gun laws generally hinge on the
disempowerment of individuals relative to the state. But laws are
enforced by individuals with varying competence and agendas that
may have nothing to do with the bigger picture. In the case of the
Branford, Connecticut,
Police Department‘s Officer Joseph Peterson, the law apparently
represents an opportunity to wield a raging hard-on for power and
to lord it over the little people.

In a heated Facebook conversation about Connecticut’s gun
registration law, enforcement, and defiance thereof, supplied by
activist John Cinque to
Freedom Outpost, Peterson remarked at one point, “I
give my left nut to bang down your door and come for your gun…you
idiot grow up.”

Peterson isn’t the first person to lose his cool in a social
media conversation, but that’s the point. Many people blow their
stacks in public and private in ways that reveal their inner
asshole, but most of them aren’t authorized to handcuff people,
kick in doors, and potentially kill in the enforcement of laws.
That power demands self control and a hell of a lot of integrity.
The more laws you have on the books, the more interactions between
citizens and enforcers that will put that integrity and self
control to the test.

Once Peterson’s Facebook comments became public, the Branford
Police Department issued a press release (below) announcing that an
unnamed officer is under investigation for Facebook comments. The
department didn’t return a call by press time, so it’s not entirely
certain that the officer in question is Peterson (though if not,
the department has a bigger problem than appears at first glance),
and it’s not clear whether the Workers’ Compensation Leave is a
response to the incident, or a pre-existing condition.

But here’s the thing: For every person who says something stupid
in public, an unknown number of other people think the
same thing but have the wisdom to leave it unspoken. That Peterson
wishes publicly for an opportunity to “bang down your door and come
for your gun” is a good sign that other cops want to do exactly
that, but don’t post the sentiment on Facebook.

Lord Acton’s comment that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely” isn’t just a trite throw-away line—it’s
a recognition of reality. Human beings abuse any authority given to
them. Offer them a license to kick in doors and they’ll covet and
misuse that, too. That’s a great reason to keep the excuses for
using such coercive power to an absolute minimum.

Peterson’s Facebook comments aren’t remarkable because his
sentiments are unusual, but because they’re not at all out of the
ordinary. And so are the dangers they represent.