Sheriff John Cooke tells us his deputies are too stupid to enforce complex laws:
When Sheriff John Cooke of Weld County explains in speeches why he is not enforcing the state’s new gun laws, he holds up two 30-round magazines. One, he says, he had before July 1, when the law banning the possession, sale or transfer of the large-capacity magazines went into effect. The other, he “maybe” obtained afterward.
He shuffles the magazines, which look identical, and then challenges the audience to tell the difference.
“How is a deputy or an officer supposed to know which is which?” he asks.
Because cops never have to make judgement calls about any kind of complex technology. Just ask any kid who’s built a hot rod and had the cops stop him, pull out rulers and go over every inch of the car with a fine-toothed comb.
Weld County is the Greeley area, which is the Northeastern part of Colorado where the wingnuts want to secede. However, Weld did not vote with some of the smaller rural counties when the secession vote was taken. That said, I’m sure the good Sheriff knows his audience, because the Times, as usual, buried the lede:
“In my oath it says I’ll uphold the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Colorado,” [Cooke] said, as he posed for campaign photos in his office — he is running for the State Senate in 2014. “It doesn’t say I have to uphold every law passed by the Legislature.”
fka AWS
Head/Desk
Gex
So let me get this straight. If we want to have any meaningful policy response to our gun problems, people like him are going to insist that we go maximal on our gun control laws. Because anything less is “confusing.” Got it. We should not try to be reasonable with these folks. We should take everything away so they don’t get confused.
campionrules
Essentially Colorado passed two meaningless gun control laws – neither of which appear to have even negligible impact on criminal activity – and the Democrats nearly lost the State Senate. Would have too probably, if Giron hadn’t just upped and ‘retired’ so that Hickenlooper could appoint a new Senator and avoid the inevitable recall defeat that would have tipped the Senate balance.
It’s all kabuki -the only effective gun control laws will be laws that remove weapons.
BGinCHI
This guy is going places in right wing politics.
Let’s just hope that “e” at the end of his name doesn’t get him misidentified as an Italian or Mexican or some other kind of Muslim.
JustRuss
If that’s correct, then it doesn’t matter when they obtained the magazine if possession of large cap mags is illegal.
Amir Khalid
So a local sheriff/police chief has the authority of the courts, and can decide whether a law is constitutional or not? Yeah, that sourids about right.
Belafon
So, a Sheriff that’s not willing to follow state and federal law. I don’t see anything in either constitution where the state has to pay him a salary.
Patrick
What happens when the sheriff refuses to enforce a law, and somebody is killed because of it? Can the sheriff be an accessory to the crime?
jonas
@BGinCHI: The ethnic name hasn’t seemed to hurt that Arpaio dude down in Arizona — as long as you promise to put the boot in on browns, you’re in.
AliceBlue
Jeebus. Like flypaper for stupid.
Botsplainer
@Amir Khalid:
The Shurf is the highest ranking officer anywhere according to a correct reading of the real Constimatooshin. Ask a wingnut.
Roger Moore
I wouldn’t be surprised to see some backlash against this guy come the next election. Weld County has a substantial and growing Latino population who are going to see this guy’s crap for what it is. A less crazy candidate could give him a run for his money.
BGinCHI
I’m just impressed they named a county after Tuesday Weld.
Amir Khalid
Oh, and, um, about the post headline? I don’t want to seem like a grammar fussbudget, but I think you’re missing the final s in “grows”.
SiubhanDuinne
@fka AWS:
My head is pretty well permanently affixed to my desk these days.
But before I lose it completely, I’d like to congratulate mistermix for his correct use of “fine-toothed comb.”
drkrick
@Amir Khalid: Grammar aside, it’s a correct quote of a Bob Marley lyric.
Villago Delenda Est
Shorter Sheriff John Cooke: Yes, I am a stupid git. Why do you ask?
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid:
Hehheh. Tell us another one! :P
Mustang Bobby
So if I zoom down one of the many open roads in Weld County — and there are plenty of them — at 120 mph, my excuse will be that I don’t have to obey every law passed by the state legislature, and I’m home and dry?
BGinCHI
@Mustang Bobby: Probably depends on the content of your bumper stickers but not your character.
Villago Delenda Est
@Botsplainer:
This, right here, sums up the world view of the wingnuts. To include the spelling errors.
Where you and I see a blue sky, they see one that’s shocking pink.
Villago Delenda Est
@BGinCHI:
I’d suggest a Steve Stockman “gunz for foeti” bumper sticker to be absolutely sure.
Ash Can
Giving this guy a job in law enforcement? What could possibly go wrong?
Roger Moore
@Mustang Bobby:
This offer only applies to law enforcement personnel. Little people have to obey whichever laws the sheriff says you have to obey.
LanceThruster
“It doesn’t say I have to uphold every law passed by the Legislature.”
[faceplam]
Villago Delenda Est
@LanceThruster:
That’s really a Picard/Riker one, I’d think.
Botsplainer
@Villago Delenda Est:
There’s a very large Venn diagram overlap between the circle of people who think that the local county sheriff is the supreme law enforcement officer at every level within his boundaries and the people who go nuts over courts that have gold fringed flags.
Waspuppet
Pull him over and/or arrest him and then figure it out, and let him go if he’s clean and take him in if he isn’t.
Oh, right, I forgot – he’s talking about white people, who are actual citizens and deserve rights. Not the other kind of people.
Chris
“It doe have to enforce every law in the legislature”
lolololol
I fucking love these people. The angry, indignant, “the Law is the Law!” outrage that suddenly melts away into “except that one” whenever the law isn’t one that they personally like or that they find convenient to enforce.
Suffern ACE
Those are man’s laws, the one’s in the legislature. The Constitution of Colorado was brought down by angels and transmitted to us by Elijah himself.
Suffern ACE
@Mustang Bobby: Only if you are on state roads.
Zifnab25
I also have a perfectly good excuse for refusing to enforce a law I don’t like! Let’s see. It’s… um… I don’t see… uh… you forgot to pluralize! I think that means I only have to enforce the law one time, and then I don’t have to do it again.
Haha! Legal stuff is hard. Ain’t nobody gonna see through my clever loophole-ology.
LanceThruster
@Villago Delenda Est:
Abatootly!
LanceThruster
@Suffern ACE:
xD
Ramen!
maya
@BGinCHI: “I’m just impressed they named a county after Tuesday Weld.”
Actually, it was named after her older sister, Monday.
There is similar Super-Sheriff shite going on here in NorCal. A group of nine rural county sheriffs proclaimed last summer that: 1. Merica is a Republic. 2. Something, something, minority (read white) rights. 3. Therefore, they are omnipotent and above democratic majority restraints. They appeared together with officials of the California State Militia, which is a private organization headed by a ‘Gunny Bott’. Ah! Marine reference, so you know he’s tough and legit.
Forgetting, of course, that they were all elected to their office by a democratic voter majority.
MikeJ
@Amir Khalid:
It’s a line from I Shot the Sheriff.
srv
Well, now you see the consequences of Obummer and his henchman Holder not enforcing immigation laws,
Amir Khalid
@MikeJ:
Don’t get me started on Bob Marley’s grammatical errors, now …
Gen
@campionrules: giron, the rep I voted for, was recalled. You’re looking for Hudak. And the laws weren’t meaningless. 84% wanted stricter background checks. Having sent my daughter off to a debate tournament this weekend near Centennial, I can see why. And I haven’t met ANYONE here in Colorado that doesn’t know the recalls were solely to make representatives afraid to vote any way that would make 14% of the wrongness angst.
Belafon
@srv: When I responded to a “Obama is playing favorites with immigrants” tweet with a chart showing that Obama is deporting more people per year than any other president, the reply was “don’t believe the lies.”
Belafon
@Gen: Then why did the recalls succeed?
MikeJ
@Belafon:
Because Coloradans want more dead kids.
For some reason Republicans think it’s unfair to connect the dots between what they voted for and the shooting in Colorado last week. Elections have consequences.
schrodinger's cat
I don’t understand the gun obsession. At all.
srv
@Belafon: He has indeed broken up more families than any other President.
They will believe it as long as you package it with built-in cognitive dissonance.
Ramalama
well, if it helps, Greeley also had a great gay cowboy bar back in the day.
schrodinger's cat
@Belafon: You cannot wake up those who are only pretending to be asleep.
piratedan
@Belafon: i’ve wondered about the links regarding immigration reform and the private prison industry. Here in Arizona, the gov’s right hand person is a private prison lobbyist. Where do all of those detainees go when they’re arrested from crossing into the US? You don’t need three guesses to determine which facility type Arizona uses for the service and guess who gets paid by the feds for performing this service???? as such, there’s bunch of folks who are getting fat off the fed for having the system be as convoluted as it is and want to keep the pipeline of cash flowing.
schrodinger's cat
OT: Lolcat tribute to Peter O’Toole.
RaflW
I’m gonna print out that quote and keep it in my glove box. I drive through Colorado from time to time and maybe that would work as a get-out-of-traffic-court-free card if I happen to be in his county.
Roger Moore
@Belafon:
Because recalls tend to be the kind of low turnout affairs where an energized minority can win. Also, too, once the recall was underway, the specific issues involved may have been submerged by the general desire to get those there Democrats out of office and replace them with some Republicans. The gun folks tried to recall more than they got, but didn’t even get enough signatures to put the recall on the ballot in other areas.
Ruckus
It’s quite possible that I will in the near future reach the point that I look for some where else to retire. Some where not within the borders of the US. I know there are a lot of people who are “normal” and not out to screw me into the ground. But even if they are not out numbered, they do seem to be out monied and definitely out gunned. They for sure are out stupefied.
ranchandsyrup
Let’s just simplify the whole process and have the sheriff make the laws too. Amirite?
negative 1
@Amir Khalid: Sadly the answer is ‘kind of’. When they are elected, there is really usually no enforcement mechanism for failure to enforce laws. We see this more commonly than we think, in so-called ‘dead letter laws’ (usually antiquated municipal statutes) up on to the DOJ vowing not to prosecute marijuana sales in states that legalize it. They can’t break the law, but there’s very little people can do if they choose not to enforce it (other than vote the person out the next time).
celticdragonchick
@Patrick:
No. The SCOTUS has ruled repeatedly on that matter. Law enforcement has no particular duty to prevent a specific crime from happening, and you cannot sue a LE officer for failing to protect you.
MomSense
Please make it stop. We have to expend sooooo much energy and suffer too much misery because of these people.
Yatsuno
@ranchandsyrup: Why not? It worked in Blazing Saddles.
Ben Cisco
Isn’t that pretty much exactly what it says?
Quaker in a Basement
@campionrules: Would have too probably, if Giron hadn’t just upped and ‘retired’ so that Hickenlooper could appoint a new Senator and avoid the inevitable recall defeat that would have tipped the Senate balance.
Giron didn’t resign, Hudak did and Hickenlooper didn’t appoint her replacement. Other than that, spot on.
Cassidy
@schrodinger’s cat: there are a couple if things in play. For one, just generalized fear. Hoarding guns is predicated on the fear that you need a special gun for every conceivable possible situation. This leads to number two: marketing. The gun industry has successfully sold the fantasy that certain guns are only for certain situations and therefore you need a special gun for every conceivable situation. Same goes for ammo. Lastly, and this is my own observation, the current obsession with military weapons, which started in the 70-80’s and gotten worse now, is based on an extreme lacking in self confidence. The right has a well known fetish for the military, but most of them haven’t served in any capacity. So, they buy the same weapons in hopes to project that tough guy image of a tough guy soldier that they never had the courage to be. Essentially, Navy SEAL by osmosis.
Seanly
@Amir Khalid:
There are some who posit that sheriffs are the ultimate arbitrators of the Constitution. Local trumps all state & federal law, etc, etc. I’m not even sure what the name of the movement is (and don’t want to Google it at work). It’s a pretty fringe belief, but now in the US that gets you all kinds of legitimacy and respect.
The Ancient Randonneur
A nice juxtaposition to this is the wingnut claim that President Obama selectively follows the law with regard to Obamacare deadlines, immigration law, etc. Of course, I do wonder where all this Constitutional Scholars were when the Bush/Cheney cabal was decimating the 4th Amendment. I suppose most of them were running around thanking all the veterans for serving in a war they themselves weren’t willing to send their own kids to fight.
ranchandsyrup
@Yatsuno: That’s the real problem here. The preznident is a Ni-clang. Sheriff Cooke’s wingnut Q rating has and will continue to rise. Save us Mel Brooks.
scav
@The Ancient Randonneur: “The Law” like “The Constitution” and “Elections have consequences” and “Bipartisanship” only really apply if applied as the unstated “They” direct.
Gene108
@Belafon:
Reality is subjective. The right-wing in America figured this out. Hell, Joe Goebbels figured this out ninety years ago.
The MSM cannot report objectively because of their liberal bias, no matter how hard they shill for the Right.
Therefore all facts presented to me that are contrary to my world view are false. There will always be one exception to the general trend of facts that disproves the liberal facts and/ or validated my worldview.
Bush & Co were not wrong, when they said we make our own reality. They just did not expect people to be impacted enough by their policies that the pretty lies did not gel with day-to-day reality.
mike with a mic
Some of you guys are making a bigger deal of this than there is. Which is funny because I’ve seen people here claim that cops shouldn’t enforce shit like stop and frisk or drug laws…. so I guess only enforce the laws you like is how it goes.
Cops have limited time. As such they have a massive amount of freedom in how they go about things. If the cops decided it’s not worth the time to go after issue XYZ and the time could be better spent on issue ABC that’s completely up to them and there’s no harm in it. If the public doesn’t agree they can put pressure on the civilian authorities (mayor, governor) the police report to, these authorities can tell then tell the cops “hey, xyz is an issue and you should get on that and you should stop bothering with ABC because that’s stupid and a waste of everyones time”, or in the case of the sheriff you can straight vote them out of office.
Ultimately most gun laws are utterly stupid and meaningless. There is no reason at all to bother with that nonsense outside of giving upper class yuppies a chance to beat off every night thinking they made a difference… which isn’t something the cops should care about either.
The cops usually don’t enforce all that much unless someone calls them to do it, they need to raise money from court fees, or some local politician is riding their ass to do something about an issue. Gun laws are no exception.
ranchandsyrup
Weld County stinks. Literally. I was holed up in a hotel up in Greeley for 9 months and eventually I could tell the sugar beet smell from the hog rendering smell from ConAgra feedlot smell.
I do miss going to Potato Brumbaugh’s restaurant, though.
Botsplainer
@ranchandsyrup:
Here’s how it looks when the Shurf makes the laws.
http://meandrous.tumblr.com/post/27566955980/collective-history-mississippi-sheriff-lawrence
This was taken in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Murders in Philadelphia MS. The jolly dude on the left is Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price – he delivered the victims to his Klan brothers with his squad car, and police operators were instructed to say that the boys hadn’t been seen. The chaw-chompin’ good ol’ boy on the right is Lawrence Rainey, the Sheriff of Neshoba County. He was strongly involved, but the Federal jury deadlocked on charges against him.
One of their co-conspirators (Barnette) was elected Shurf afterward.
slippytoad
Wow, I was unaware that the law enforcement in Weld County was so, fucking, stupid that they couldn’t do their jobs.
Maybe, someone could be found who is smart enough to enforce the law. It’s interesting I wonder if this dipshit has trouble with other laws as well? Maybe he needs to find a new line of work, like digging ditches. I hear that don’t require much brains.
Roger Moore
@Botsplainer:
Feature not bug.
kc
For chrissakes, you can’t expect law enforcement officers to know how guns work.
Cassidy
@mike with a mic: Strawman. Cops May have limited time and are therefore given great discretion, but a Sheriff sets the time for the whole department. The two are not one and the same. If a sheriff days we will enforce such and such, then the officers will enforce such and such. Period.
Gene108
@mike with a mic:
The issue is announcing so publicly he is objecting to a law.
We are victims of selective law enforcement, for better or worse. For the better is when a cop lets you off with a warning for a traffic violation than giving you a ticket. The worse is maybe racial profiling.
Also the problem with gun control laws in the USA is there are very few uniform laws. Can’t get a gun in CO, then you can go to AZ and get it.
Saying gun control is pointless is like saying universal health care can never be achieved. There examples all over the world proving both points false, despite the problems achieving both in the USA.
Cassidy
@Cassidy: sets the tone…. Says not days
Roger Moore
@slippytoad:
I would not be surprised to discover that he has a great deal of trouble with laws that happen to inconvenience his political backers. You know, inconvenient environmental laws. traffic laws, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was completely incapable of enforcing civil rights laws that his deputies happen to violate, also, too.
Ruckus
@mike with a mic:
You are right of course but at least for a number of years most cops had the good sense not to tell everyone what laws they weren’t going to enforce. And not call their officers (and himself) stupid.
The Dangerman
I’ve come to the conclusion I don’t care if people are well armed (spoken as someone who just went shooting in WA State with a variety of weapons from my relatives well protected, and well stocked, armory)…
…but I would suggest a law that say your guns have to be in a gun safe; this should pass 2nd Amendment muster. If your gun isn’t in a safe and is used in a crime or an accident, your ass is in the slammer.
This rule should be simple enough for this Sheriff.
Ben Cisco
@Cassidy: Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
Villago Delenda Est
@schrodinger’s cat:
Moloch demands more sacrifices. His followers obey.
workworkwork
@Belafon:
Primarily because they disallowed mail-in ballots, which effectively disenfranchised about 70% of the electorate.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Dangerman:
Furthermore, if one must have firearms in the home, one must carry liability insurance on all one’s firearms.
Hey, these ARE “responsible” gun owners, aren’t they? Well? I’m waiting for a response!
piratedan
@Roger Moore: see Arpaio, Joe
Villago Delenda Est
@mike with a mic:
Ah, contrarian reactionary shitstain has to chime in. Why am I not at all surprised.
Citizen_X
So, on the other side of the issue, is he making up new laws to enforce?
Yatsuno
The freak flags, they be a flyin’.
@Villago Delenda Est: They will fight tooth and nail to keep their penile replacements from purview of the actuaries. Those numbers have already been crunched and they know they will be on the losing end.
Villago Delenda Est
@ranchandsyrup:
Let him be judge, jury, and executioner. That will provide a nice separation of powers that Madison would heartily approve of.
Citizen_X
@Cassidy:
Remind me how many guns soldiers and marines carry?
Oh yeah: one.
One guy with 30 rifles is as effective as a guy with one rifle. He is fatally less effective than five guys, with one rifle each, who have trained together and know how to maneuver. Sorry, gun nuts.
The Other Chuck
@Citizen_X: Isn’t a sidearm still standard issue?
TooManyJens
@The Dangerman:
You’d think, but no. In Heller, SCOTUS said a law requiring guns to be stored safely in the home when not in use meant they couldn’t be used for self-protection, and was thus unconstitutional.
Yatsuno
@Citizen_X: That one gun is also extremely regulated and the possessors of said weapon are highly trained in its use. The weapon is also locked away when not in use with the ammo stored separately. The whole “NEED MOAR GONZ WOLVERINES!!!” bullshit falls apart with one squad of Marines.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Other Chuck:
For infantrymen? No. Officers usually carry sidearms alone, although platoon leaders are routinely issued the same weapon as their troops, and have no sidearm.
Tank crews may have a sidearm and a grease gun handy.
glocksman
In a way, the Sheriff is right, as there really is no way to ID pre ban magazines from ones manufactured after the CO ban went in effect, as almost all magazines lack serial numbers or date of manufacture stampings.
That said, if the ban doesn’t have a ‘grandfather’ clause for existing ones, his argument is a fig leaf for his refusal to enforce the law.
The expired Federal ban mandated that all magazines over 10 rounds manufactured after the ban be marked with the date the ban went in effect and say ‘LE/Government Use Only’, as the pistol mags I bought in 2004 after the ban expired did.
Getting caught with one of them was proof itself of a violation.
Colorado cops don’t have it quite that easy.
Villago Delenda Est
@piratedan:
Ah, the man who knows better than the document keepers of Hawaii what a legitimate birth certificate looks like.
Jerzy Russian
@Ramalama:
Just out of idle curiosity, what was the name of this establishment?
cmorenc
EVERY day, we all run into people who think the speed limit laws don’t apply to them when they’re driving, especially on interstate highways. Woe be unto you if the interstate is congested with people only able to go around the speed limit and one of ’em gets impatiently right up on your bumper, and you have nowhere to go because of traffic beside and in front of you, and if that impatient driver sees even a small chance to slalom past you, it’s a white-knuckle event where even the slightest miscalculation by the driver or the smallest unexpected move or change in speed by someone in front of him will set off a multi-car wreck.
Roger Moore
@Citizen_X:
Presuming he left 29 of the rifles at home. If he actually tried to carry all 30, he would have a hard time walking under all the weight.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
@The Ancient Randonneur:
The Fourth Amendment was repealed long before that, by M.A.D.D. mainly, suborning a Supreme Court ruling that it’s constitutional to stop and search any car for the crime of passing a certain point, and the other ruling that illegally obtained evidence could still be used in court. That was in the mid-80s.
The Dangerman
@TooManyJens:
That makes no sense at all (but IANAL); very sad, it seemed a gun safe solution would be so simple.
Ramalama
@Jerzy Russian: It was called Cowboys and was the largest gay bar in Colorado. I think it’s gone now.
philadelphalawyer
His oath also says that he will fulfill the duties of his office.
http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/business/PDFFillable/OATH.pdf
And, according to the website of his own county, one of the duties of the sheriff is to “investigate crimes.”
http://www.hudsoncolorado.org/public-safety/weld-county-sheriff%E2%80%99s-office
That would pretty much seem to shoot down the “I have no duty under my oath to enforce the criminal law as enacted by the Colorado legislature” argument.
Also, this same sheriff argued in Federal court that he had standing to contest the constitutionality of the law precisely because he was duty bound to enforce it.
http://coloradoguncase.org/
The whole thing is a crock. The sheriff is not the last word on constitutionality. If the courts uphold the law, it his duty to enforce it, whatever his personal opinion might be.
Jamie
Mother of god.
Correct me if I fail to read along. Dude just said, in his turf, be white, or don’t be.
Jebediah, RBG
@MikeJ:
It was the bad grammar that had the sheriff after him in the first place.