September 17, 2007

Miami Police Given Choice of Carrying Assault Rifles

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI, Sept. 16 (AP) — Patrol officers here will have the option of carrying assault rifles as they try to combat the rise in the use of similar weapons by criminals, the city’s police chief said Sunday.

The chief, John F. Timoney, approved the policy last week, before a Miami-Dade police officer was killed on Thursday in a shootout with a man wielding an assault rifle.

“This is something we do not do with any relish,” Chief Timoney said. “We do this reluctantly.”

The policy had been under review for about a year after officers began seeing an increase in the weapons in the hands of criminals, the chief said.

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The legislation passed so emphatically that National Rifle Association backers plan to take it to statehouses across the nation, including Virginia's, over the next year. The law will let Floridians "meet force with force," erasing the "duty to retreat" when they fear for their lives outside of their homes, in their cars or businesses, or on the street. Not much retreating going on so far, just a rash of dead police officers. Good going, NRA.

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