4/07/2006

Spanish government is scared of Police because they can carry guns

Defense minister Jose Bono said yesterday that he does not approve of the April 22 demonstration called by members of the Civil Guard, Spain's paramilitary police, against the Zapatero administration's failure to fulfill its promises. Bono, surprisingly, said, "I don't like the idea of a demonstration by people who can carry a pistol because they have a short-arm license."

The Civil Guard union that called the demo replied that Bono's statements were "unworthy of a minister."

The Unified Association of Civil Guards announced yesterday that it was considering possible legal action against Bono for his allusion to the officers' right to carry arms. "Bono must know that we Civil Guards and police officers are not gunmen, or criminals, or plotting a coup, but just the opposite," said a joint press release from the Association and the Unified Police Union, both of which represent the majority of officers in their bodies. . . .

posted by John Lott at 7:53 PM

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, is not bad idea: Disarm the Police, by Gary North.

4/09/2006 9:16 AM  
Blogger John Lott said...

Thanks for the comment. While I am familiar with the history that you link to and I am sure that there are times when what is being argued will work, I also believe that there are advantages to specialization, where in this case people learn to become better at using weapons and stopping criminals. We still have volunteer fire departments in the US, and I am sure that it would work in some places to still have volunteer police departments, but it is interesting that we don't seem to have any places that rely on volunteer police departments.

4/09/2006 9:47 AM  

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