[Dean Speir]

…by that ol' headline ripper Rob Firriolo:

Detroit's top cop lacks permit to carry gun

Chief Oliver says he didn't know one was needed

Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver is not yet a licensed, sworn police officer in Michigan, which raises questions about whether he legally could possess the handgun found in his luggage at Detroit Metropolitan Airport during the weekend.

The rest o'the outrageous story…

Anyone wanna speculate what would have befallen an ordinary citizen had this occurred to anyone here, especially if we were to try and trot out the ol' "I didn't know I needed a license...."

Never mind the questions it raises about Police Chief Oliver's IQ, what about his clearly deliberate decision to not declare his checked-through firearm under FAA 108.11!

As a former resident, I weep for the good citizens of Detroit, however many of them there might be left.

 

[Dean Speir]

I couldn't resist screwing with the guy's day!

This is what I wrote the reporter of that story last evening!

Darren... this is inexcusably badly reported.

It's not bad enough that you don't know anything about that which you're reporting, but doesn't the News have someone to backstop you?

The "department-issued gun" which was confiscated at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, had to had to have been personally-owned.

And about that "loaded .25-caliber Colt semiautomatic revolver packed in his luggage according to officials:"

• Officials said no such thing.
  [/*:m:3953asar]
• The handgun was unloaded.
  [/*:m:3953asar]
• It wasn't a .25 caliber.
  [/*:m:3953asar]
• There's no such thing as a "

• semi-automatic (proper form) revolver" outside of a museum collection. (See http://www.thegunzone.com/webley-fosbery.html.)
  [/*:m:3953asar]
  [*] Revolvers in .25 caliber/.25 ACP do not exist.[/*:m:3953asar]

That's pretty egregious reporting, wouldn't you say?!?

I lived in Detroit during a time when there was the Times, the News and the Free-Press. With this standard of reportage, I'm amazed that the News was a survivor.

There was always a suspicion that certain "news media" must have a handbook of anti-gun buzzwords which they try to cram into every "gun story."

 

[Dean Speir]

Tough to pick 'n' choose on this one…

The first source I saw took pains to explain that it was unloaded, and that the two problems he had involved the lack of a counter declaration, and his personal licensing problem in Michigan.

I'd probably opt for the .22 LR, something like a Beretta, doncha know?