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A belt buckle that can get your kid killed
Anyone raising a teenage boy, listen up. There are fashion trends, and there are stupid ideas that will get you shot - by a thug or by a cop.
The belt buckle you see here is an example of the latter: The Monroe County Sheriff's Office sent us a news release about a 17-year-old Stock Island boy who was on the business end of a deputy's pistol because he was wearing a belt buckle that looked just like a gun. There's a little more to the story, but fortunately the teenager was sharp enough to follow instructions and the deputy was careful enough to refrain from firing his weapon.
But whose brilliant idea was that gun-shaped belt buckle?
I was one of the first reporters on the scene of the Amadou Diallo shooting in New York 10 years ago. He was shot at 41 times by cops who thought he had a gun (turned out it was a wallet). It was a tragic end to a good life.
A gun-shaped belt buckle isn't tragic: it's poor and dangerous judgment (and that's putting it diplomatically).
Both the teenager and the deputy are okay, but in an era when law enforcement officers are second-guessed for everything they do, I don't know too many people who would have questioned the deputy if he had decided to shoot.
And a life could very easily have been lost.
Over a belt buckle. Is looking tough really worth that risk?
I don't know who deserves the most criticism here: the people who made the belt buckle, the people who sold it, or the people who bought it? I wonder if this kid's parents can shed some light on this: I know I didn't run my fashion choices past my dad when I was a teenager in the Bronx, but I also know what he would have, um, "said" to me if I came home wearing a gun-shaped belt buckle.
Your thoughts?
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Comments
another stupid florida cop. Had he shot the kid he would have covered it up. Cops down there are nothing but thugs with guns
Posted by: Chris D | April 8, 2009 2:05 PM
I'd really like to know what the detective's justification was for confiscating the belt buckle. It wasn't a weapon and doesn't appear to have been evidence of a crime as apparently no crime was committed. A little clarification would be nice, otherwise this story is just about a cop using an unfounded kidnapping report to rob a kid at gun point under color of law.
Posted by: Matt K. | April 8, 2009 5:54 PM
Good question and good angle, Matt (though I don't know if I'd characterize it the same way you did). You ask a question that deserves an answer. Let me see if I can dig one up. Keep checking back here.
Posted by: Rafael | April 8, 2009 6:30 PM
I live in a country with 100 Million people where there is less than ten thousand people, with good enough reason, own guns under strict licensing. Here in India even cops don't carry guns, again unless there is a specific need to do so. It interests only the criminal elements in society and the armament manufacturers to have easy licensing and availability of guns. These elements will keep blocking any restriction of the gun slinging culture which may have been a necessity in the olden days.
Posted by: joseph | September 17, 2009 6:35 AM