My comments have nothing to do with your job, but rather your statement
I think it was a rather pointed political jab, and and so was my response.
Obviously we think differently. I consider my safety when running into a police officer as paramount, and I am in no physical shape to jump out of the car or to take on a cop. No wish to either, in a previous incarnation I was one. The relative safety (or lack thereof) of a normal traffic stop is one of the reasons I am no longer one. I have kids, lots of them, and they would have a very hard life without me in the picture. What I do now is far safer, and keeps me on the very outer edge of the LEO circle. It’s comfortable here.
The "testosterone" bit was about the "macho" thing one sees so often now days in social media (of which the NFOA is certainly a part, we have all seen them here). The “Anonymity” of the internet allows people to bluster and put on a show simply because they CAN be anonymous, hence the testosterone injection from such activity. One can refuse to think about safety on social media and bluster all day every day, but the reality is that when we have a firearm on us safety is our first concern. Ben Franklin didn’t have an armed police force to deal with, to be concerned about. In fact he didn’t even like the idea of a standing army, as concerned many of our founding fathers. The local constable, if armed, carried the very same weapons Ben had in his closet at home or in his hand.
Bucket got the point, managing the interaction for the safety and benefit of all. The officer can manage it, sure, but then again so can we as citizens. Cops are my friends, and I respect them and the job they do. The job has changed a great deal since I did it, the criminals are more coarse, more ruthless, more apt to shoot and without care of who is harmed by their actions. My father was a cop, he never wore a vest in his entire career. Times were gentler then, fewer armed criminals and more general respect in our communities. Now days cops without a vest are rare, and in my opinion are not real bright.
