Justice
Who do police leaders trust with a gun?
New book shows why police support gun populism
Jacob Blake was shot seven times while getting into his car by a Wisconsin police officer. Several days later, two people were killed by a 17-year old while protesting the injustice of Blake’s shooting. The killer — a supporter of the pro-police Blue Lives Matter movement — has been charged with murder.
The direct and indirect role of police in these deaths raises serious questions about the racism of local law enforcement and relationship to views on guns. Many suspect they already know the answer to who the police trust with a gun. A new book by Jennifer Carlson, Policing the Second Amendment: Guns, Law Enforcement, and the Politics of Race (published in September by Princeton University Press), offers some worrisome answers that show those suspicions are largely right.
Carlson does a lot in the book, but the most germane right now are the nearly 80 interviews with police chiefs across California, Michigan, and Arizona. These interviews show how…
