William Norman Grigg - Neither Sword Nor Shield: Full-Spectrum Civilian Disarmament

"We need to make it clear," fulminated Patrick Lynch of the New York City Policeman's Benevolent Association, "that if someone lifts even a finger against a police officer, their life could be on the line."

Taken literally, this would make a capital offense out of a familiar disrespectful gesture, a salute that is entirely appropriate when directed at officious tax-grazers of Lynch's ilk. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that Lynch perceives criticism of the police as a species of crime.

A little more than a decade ago, Lynch (whose surname appears to be one of God's little in-jokes) attempted to manufacture public outrage over Bruce Springsteen's song "American Skin (41 Shots)."

That ballad described the death of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was perforated by 19 bullets fired by NYPD officers in a perfectly avoidable eruption of gunfire. The officers were pursuing a rapist, and Diallo -- who, like countless other slightly built young black men, vaguely resembled the suspect -- supposedly provoked an outburst of "contagious gunfire" by reaching into his pants to produce a wallet to show his ID.

Continued . . .