Off-Duty Carry: An Option or a Responsibility?
/Off-Duty Carry: An Option or a Responsibility?
By: Kirk Lawless
Genesis 4:8-10
And it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel and killed him. The Lord said to Cain “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!”
And so, the first murder in the history of the world is recorded in The Bible. And, when will we see the last?
What about Cain’s answer to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
If you swore an oath when you became a cop and believe and stand by that oath, you definitely signed up to be your brother’s keeper. It doesn’t stop when you retire, and it certainly doesn’t stop when you’re off-duty. For me, it’s both a calling and a commitment.
Gun violence is everywhere, it seems, and folks aren’t scared to keep their trigger fingers limber (slappin’ triggers like they owe them money). If the folks out doing their dirt are willing to ambush cops in uniform, what makes you think it’s a good time to go about town unarmed. In my opinion, it is a responsibility!
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” I would answer that as a definite yes.
I’ve seen dozens of cops from my department who never carried an off-duty weapon. Some would come and go from the PD wearing gym shorts and flip-flops.
Shit happens everywhere. A brother in blue from SLMPD retired, but armed, was approached on the street by a thug who wanted his car. Sgt. Ralph Harper would go down swinging and in a hail of gun smoke exchanging shots with the bad guy and sadly succumbed to his wounds while the criminal got 20 years to life for killing him. That was in 2018.
And, things aren’t getting any better for us.
I remember being stunned by a movie I watched in 1979 (before I became the cops). It was “The Onion Field” written by Joseph Wambaugh. If you haven’t watched the film, or read the book, you should. It opened my eyes.
It’s the story of two police detectives who were kidnapped by two petty thieves, driven into a remote area and one, Ian Campbell, was executed. His partner, Karl Hettinger, managed to escape being slaughtered as well. The killing was due, in part by Karl Hettinger surrendering his weapon to the would-be assassin.
RULE NUMBER ONE! Never give up your firearm. Ever.
A quote from the movie, delivered at roll call after the killing,
“Any man who give up his gun to some punk is a coward. Any man who does can kiss his badge goodbye, if I can help it. You’re policemen. Put your trust in God!”
That was rule number one from the second we hit the academy floor and to this day, I carry religiously.
I know of such a man who gave his gun up to a burglar and obeyed the burglar’s command to “be quiet” until the officer’s FTO came looking for him, only to be met with a barrage of gunfire. The FTO had to go out on a disability, the trainee ran away from the scene and was found several doors away, cowering in the bushes, himself shot, and having abandoned his brother officer, had zero problem taking a job at another department where politics saw him promoted to the highest levels all while continuing to be a coward at every given opportunity. He’s a disgrace to the profession.
Remember, “A hero dies once, a coward dies every day!”
Fast forward to today (in any trauma room in the United States). A trauma surgeon is furiously working on the recipient of several GSWs. The room and everything in it is splattered with blood: nurses, equipment and doctors. It looks like a slaughterhouse. Every heartbeat sends another spurt of blood across the room until it pools and congeals on the floor. The doctor is “old school>” Every time he clamps off a bleed, another fountain erupts, throwing plumes of fresh blood around the room like a water sprinkler.
The doctor “goes in” all the way, into the man’s chest cavity feeling with his gloved hands, every inch of intestine, every artery looking for the offending source. In his mind he’s thinking “Marco. Marco” as the nurses start to replenish the blood supply again, yet again. There at the backside of the heart, the doctor felt it, a long sliver of bone that had reduced the man’s heart to raw shredded meat. Out loud, without thinking the doctor yelled “Polo!” The room fell silent. “No more transfusions, we couldn’t save this guy if we had a donor heart in the next room.”
The doctor, ripping off his scrubs and gloves, slipping on the glistening red floor pulled back the curtains to find two wide-eyed young cops just outside the room.
“Gentlemen. He wasn’t one of yours, was he?”
One of the officers, young enough to feel nauseous at the macabre scene in front of him, answered. “No, doctor. Our guy is at General getting worked on. They said he’s going to make it. This guy tried to rob one of our off-duty guys in a parking lot in front of his kids, well … and you know the rest,”
“What did he hit him with?”
“A forty-five. Our guy always carries a forty-five.”
The doctor mopping his brow, “Enough said … God’s caliber.”
So, in a similar scenario who would you rather be? The off-duty well-armed cop or the dead guy headed for his last bath and haircut?
Remember your oath: You are your brother’s keeper. It’s what you signed up to do. Weapon check. Every blessed day.
Kirk Lawless is a 28 year, decorated, veteran police officer from the St Louis area. He’s a former SWAT operator, narcotics agent, homicide investigator, detective and Medal of Valor recipient. Off the job due to an up close and personal gunfight, he now concentrates on writing. He’s a patriotic warrior, artist, poet, actor, musician, and man of peace.
