Guns, Bars Dangerous Mix
By The IntelligencerDuring a fight in the parking lot of a Hancock County bar June 7, handguns fell out of the waistbands of two off-duty police officers, one of whom has been charged with malicious assault. It is difficult for us to imagine a situation more fraught with peril. What if one of the guns had gone off accidentally? What if someone involved in the fight had picked up a pistol and used it?
Hancock County sheriff's deputies arrested Brian M. Lynk, 30, of Aliquippa, Pa., after the fight in the parking lot of a nightclub near Chester. He was charged with assaulting a man who required hospital treatment for his injuries.
Lynk was off duty from his job as a Midland Borough, Pa., police officer when he was arrested, according to the sheriff's department. He was with another off-duty officer who was not charged.
Both men were carrying handguns, as permitted by law, while they were at the bar, according to the sheriff's report. It added that during the fight, guns fell out of the waistbands of both officers, and onto the ground. Lynk reportedly retrieved his gun immediately - but the other officer's weapon was still on the ground when deputies arrived.
We don't know the circumstances surrounding the fight - or whether Lynk is guilty of the charge against him. That will be up to the courts to decide.
But while we recognize that off-duty law officers often carry weapons, there are situations in which they should have been left at home. Again, it requires little imagination to understand the danger of loaded handguns on the ground during a fight outside a bar.
The authorities in both Midland Borough, Pa., and Hancock County should look into why the officers took guns to the nightclub - and whether they broke laws by doing so. If so, they should be prosecuted. If not, the situation may call for state and federal legislators to take another look at rules regarding off-duty police officers and weapons.
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RockEReputation
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06-20-09 1:18 PM
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..and for the most part, continually have and do, despite your advancement above and beyond your initial fixation with Mexican immigrants...take that as a meager compliment.
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RockEReputation
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06-20-09 1:12 PM
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Your whimsical, unworldly man philosophies exude from your every comment offered here.
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Graysongs
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06-20-09 10:49 AM
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RockE - Empty words from an empty mind. Go back to the "kiddie pool" where it's safe for you.
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RockEReputation
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06-20-09 10:10 AM
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"mindless who think all the argument they need is to call people names and make false accusations" ...My life experience includes lotsa interaction with ana1-retentive retro-thinkers who have never crossed (whereby to gain insight and wisdom) physical, social, nor spiritual borders in their lifetimes...such a sad, mentally constraining existence that must be.
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Graysongs
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06-19-09 9:00 PM
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Ellis - RockE is just one of the various mindless who think all the argument they need is to call people names and make false accusations. And he's not near as bad as most of them.
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EllisWyatt
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06-19-09 7:37 PM
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RockE Where were you when liberals, many of them famous celebrities, openly bashed Bush? I have never seen a person receive so much hate and ridicule-unless it's Sarah Palin we are talking about. Liberals are deranged, mentally ill, immature and stupid. Apparently, it is okay to wish death on a Republican president, make fun of him and his family, make fun of a conservative female Republican, take as gospel things she never said and make jokes about her 14-year old daughter being raped and impregnated. Some liberal made a movie about Bush getting assassinated. Where were you then? Where were you during the bashing of Bush for 8 long years? I would laugh if this weren't so sad. As for "hate" crimes-this is just another way to bash white males, who are living under a new Jim Crow-Affirmative Action and "diversity" being the new slavery.
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Graysongs
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06-19-09 6:15 PM
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Red Eye - I'm not sure how biased these so-called "journalists" are. I think it's mostly just that they're not very smart people. They're not smart enough to ask questions.
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robojock
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06-19-09 5:31 PM
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Amen Red, I am a certified officer also, and the 24/7 rule applies to all officers as directed by the Supreme Court, in stating "an officer is on-duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week".
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RedEye
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06-19-09 4:42 PM
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The writer of this article is obviously incompetent in terms of firearms. They let their own unintelligible biases fuel this nonsense editorial. The officers aren't allowed to drink w/ firearms, it's obviously against the law to assault each other, and the imbeciles obviously were incompetent for not using retention straps on their holsters. They should be charged accordingly. As an officer I had to always carry. We are "on duty" 24/7 plus someone we previously arrested could retaliate. Don't moronically blame the firearms...blame the idiots!
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RedEye
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06-19-09 4:37 PM
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The writer of this article is obviously incompetent in terms of firearms. They let their own unintelligible biases fuel this nonsense editorial. The officers aren't allowed to drink w/ firearms, it's obviously against the law to assault each other, and the imbeciles obviously were incompetent for not using retention straps on their holsters. They should be charged accordingly. As an officer I had to always carry. We are "on duty" 24/7 plus someone we previously arrested could retaliate. Don't moronically blame the firearms...blame the idiots!
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robojock
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06-19-09 2:41 PM
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Rock, why don't you investigate how many hate crimes gainst whites have been prosecuted nationwide. My last count was 5 in 10 YEARS. Despite such cases as "Tookie" Williams who specifically targeted Asians and shot one in the face while making racial slurs, as recounted from one survivor. He was prosecuted for muder whitout any connection to a hate crime. This is also despite the fact that his gang was ordered to target whites and Asians. All crime is bad, we do not need a hate crime to make some worse than others, just like so called legislation increasing time for cocaine related crimes. Frankly, we have too much special interest group pandering in law enforcement. Trust me I can spout about 10 cases where whites were targeted, one involving a black rapist that so brutalized the whte women, they could not have children.
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Graysongs
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06-19-09 11:13 AM
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RockE - The fact is that name-calling and slurs of various sorts are an unpleasant and unproductive part of public discourse. Bush was often referred to as a "chimp" in certain quarters. These are ugly things out of lesser minds, but they have come from both sides of debate for years. The open protest concerning stimulus spending and debt being placed upon generations to come is perfectly legitimate. If it is being endorsed by FOX, it is also being equally maligned by MSNBC. That kind of open conflict in the free press has gone on in the US since the beginning.
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RockEReputation
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06-19-09 10:46 AM
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"The fact that Obama is "black" is not an issue for anyone except for those who want to use it" Which reality are you not willing to live in? It's quite apparent by the choice of names and descriptors applied to Obama at this ******* comment board and in the New York Post's dead monkey cartoon and in Republican Rusty DePass's escaped gorilla comment last week "I'm sure its just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless." that racism exists. "There are some things worth fighting for, dying for and, yes, killing for. It is better for one man to die than for a whole nation to perish." - Blog Posting on Townhall com And from a different perspective, never before through political workings and/or chaotic times, has a US crowd been rallied as now by the likes of FOX to wage tea wars against an adminstration, and most cheesily and unpatriotically of all, on the nation's Independence Day.
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wonderwhy
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06-19-09 9:50 AM
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rocke- agree and perfect analogy
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Graysongs
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06-19-09 9:35 AM
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RockE - Same tired nonsense as usual. The fact that Obama is "black" is not an issue for anyone except for those who want to use it to silence anyone who disagrees with his policies. "Race", "alienation", "hate" are simply thrown around to blunt legitimate disagreements with stupid ideas.
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RockEReputation
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06-19-09 7:00 AM
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OJ walked because money outweighs truth, you see. "Hate crime prosecution is selective at best" In July '08 in Shenandoah, PA two white teens kicked a Mexican man to death. A retired police offer testified to hearing "Tell your [expletive] Mexican friends to get the [expletive] out of Shenandoah or you’ll be [expletive] laying next to him!!!" during the attack. The 2 whites were found not guilty. (Maybe the Mexican man and his lady and 2 kids were illegals)
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robojock
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06-18-09 11:59 PM
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Sorry, as a still ceritified cop that assisted in investigating such crimes, I must agree with Gray. Hate crime prosecution is selective at best. I personally I have witnessed 2 cases inolving black teens beating wgite teens, because they were white (this was the statment of the black teens). The prosecutor refused to prosecute as a hate crime in both instances, but a similar case involving threats earned one Ohio County resident a prison term. This happens throughout the country.
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RockEReputation
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06-18-09 10:37 PM
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Seen anyone all energized because of the sour economy coupled with the election of a black president? The 88-year-old Maryland man charged in the fatal shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington sure had some hate, eh? The number of active hate groups in the US is increasing - Southern Poverty Law Center stat If you're not on board with social change then you're alienated and angry because you can't slow history down or turn it back.
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Graysongs
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06-18-09 7:32 PM
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Ellis - OJ Simpson, on the other hand, committed a "love crime" back in '94. And that's why the jury found him "not guilty", you see.
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EllisWyatt
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06-18-09 6:38 PM
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cory Given your definition of "hate crime" I imagine that I am a victim because I am a white male. After all, my chances of getting killed by a black man are MUCH higher than his chance of getting killed by me. The chances of a black male raping my lady are very good. The chance of a white male raping a black female is so rare, it is a statisical ZERO. The fact that I am FAR more likely to be a victim of black on white crime seems to me to be a "hate crime". The term "hate crime" is ridiculous in and of itself. This judges a person based on what you think they might have been thinking when they committed a crime. Stupid. If you rape or murder someone, regardless of race, that is a hate crime. Your race has nothing to do with it. Your actions mean everything.
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Graysongs
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06-18-09 3:31 PM
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You're welcome.
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cory1978
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06-18-09 3:26 PM
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No, I'm not John McCain. If I were, I'd be getting paid for doing nothing - like the rest of the Congress.....kudos...THE VERY BEST COMMENT OF THE DAY seriously that made me laugh thanks.
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Graysongs
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06-18-09 3:07 PM
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I didn't raise the "hate crime" discussion.
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Graysongs
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06-18-09 3:05 PM
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cory - You asked me why I was so active today. I answered. No, I'm not John McCain. If I were, I'd be getting paid for doing nothing - like the rest of the Congress.
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cory1978
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06-18-09 3:03 PM
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I meant your ideas are all over the board on this topic
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