At least the Maryland State Lodge of the FOP does; as they signed onto an amicus brief arguing in favor of Heller in DC vs. Heller.
Thanks to Thirdpower for the heads up.
This does bring up an issue that is near and dear to my heart, as both my father and I have been in law enforcement in different capacities, and I have a lot of friends that are in military law enforcement or civilian LE. While you’re often going to hear police chiefs and Sheriffs calling for more gun control, more often than not the rank and file officers just don’t support gun control. Ask a guy like LawDog how many crimes he’s seen that could have been prevented if the intended victim was armed and trained; hell as almost any cop you meet.
I will say that a sort of exception are “big city” cops, people like LAPD and NYPD, which will probably have more anti-gun officers than in say, Indianapolis Metro Police Department. I don’t blame that on the department, but rather the area, because it follows that demographically speaking you’d have more anti-gun officers in an anti-gun area.
Remember that a Chief of Police is 99% of the time a political appointee of the Mayor of a city; which means that if he wants to keep his job, he’ll toe the party line of the mayor. Your average street cop won’t say anything to the media often about supporting the right to keep and bear arms unless he works for an administration that supports the right, because he also wants to keep his job.
If you’re friends with the local Five-O, talk to some of them, and see how they feel about the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.
Hence, the always-visible Association of Chiefs of Police, standing on the podiums of Bradyistas, VPC and their sorry ilk.
I’d suggest a print-out of the FoP Amicus brief. You’ll use it often in the years to come, weilding it as a rolled-up puppy training tool upside the heads of those yet ignorant enough to actually place credence in anything the Association of Chiefs of Police say, publish or do.
The FoP’s stand on this is noteworthy, and needs much greater illumination in the non-gunnie media. Of course, said media, being mostly on the other side of the issue, will pretend that the FoP just doesn’t exist.
Maybe I’ll hand-carry their press release down to the Galveston paper.
Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX
I am from Texas, and I can say that I have quite a bit of faith in the policemen around my area, mainly in the small towns. (note: that does not include larger towns, such as Dallas *shudder*, nor does that mean that I expect any of them to provide for my defense)
Prior to getting my CHL, I was able to test out the re-defined traveling law in my own town, as well as a couple other small towns nearby.
Every officer I have spoken to was cognizant of the law and clearly understood that I was “traveling”, and were very professional and even encouraging of armed citizens.
It is generally understood that having your CHL in this state is seen by the Department of Public Safety as well as many city and county LEO’s as “the good guy card”.