Survey of law officers finds majority doesn't agree with Obama's gun control plan

Published April 09, 2013

FoxNews.com

An overwhelming majority of law enforcement officers says a federal ban on assault weapons would not reduce the risk of violent crime, according to a recently released national survey of active duty and retired officers.

The survey conducted by PoliceOne.com found that 85 percent of officers think the passage of the Obama administration’s gun control legislation either would have no effect or would have a negative effect on their safety.

More than 80 percent of respondents said they supported arming school teachers and administrators with guns. And more than 28 percent of officers say they think having “more permissive” concealed carry policies for civilians would help most in preventing large-scale shootings in public.

The survey, which polled 15,000 law enforcement professionals at all ranks, was conducted online March 4-13. Survey questions were composed and compiled by PoliceOne staff and the Pretorian Group, PoliceOne’s parent company.

“The American people, and particularly the members of law enforcement, want politicians in Washington to stop pursuing a failed political agenda and get to work fixing our broken mental health system, improving school security and getting criminals off the streets,” said Chris Cox, head of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action following the results of the PoliceOne survey.

The results of the survey, released Monday, come as President Obama tries to keep the political momentum for gun control measures going. Last week, he traveled to Colorado and Connecticut – two states that have seen some of the country’s worst mass shootings and responded by passing tough state gun laws. During his multistate swing, Obama repeatedly called on Congress to step up its efforts for universal background checks for gun buyers and limits on large-capacity ammunition magazines.

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Prosecutors say they are not ready to agree to Holmes guilty plea in theater shooting

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  July 23, 2012 FILE: James E. Holmes appears in Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Colo.

DENVER –  Prosecutors in the Colorado theater shooting on Thursday rejected an offer from suspect James Holmes to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty and accused defense lawyers of a serious breach of court rules by making the offer public.

In a scathing court document, prosecutors said the defense has repeatedly refused to give them the information they need to evaluate the plea offer, so the offer can't be considered genuine.

No plea agreement exists, prosecutors said, and one "is extremely unlikely based on the present information available to the prosecution."

They also said anyone reading news stories about the offer would inevitably conclude "the defendant knows that he is guilty, the defense attorneys know that he is guilty, and that both of them know that he was not criminally insane."

Neither the defense nor the prosecution immediately returned phone calls Thursday.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the July 20 shootings in a packed theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora. Twelve people were killed and 70 were injured.

Holmes' attorneys disclosed in a court filing Wednesday that their client has offered to plead guilty, but only if he wouldn't be executed.

Prosecutors criticized defense attorneys for publicizing the offer, calling it a ploy meant to draw the public and the judge into what should be private plea negotiations.

Prosecutors did not say what information the defense refused to give them, but the two sides have argued in court previously about access to information about Holmes' mental health.

Karen Steinhauser, a former prosecutor who is now a law professor at the University of Denver, said prosecutors clearly do not want to agree to a plea deal without knowing whether Holmes' attorneys could mount a strong mental health defense.

"One of the issues the prosecution needs to look at is, is there a likelihood that doctors, and then a jury, could find that James Holmes was insane at the time of the crime?" she said.

Prosecutors also criticized comments to The Associated Press by Doug Wilson, who heads the state public defenders' office.

Wilson told the AP Wednesday that prosecutors had not responded to the offer and said he didn't know whether prosecutors had relayed the offer to any victims as required by state law.

Prosecutors said that violated the gag order.

They also said they have repeatedly contacted "every known victim and family member of a victim -- numbering over one thousand" about possible resolutions of the case, including the death penalty and life in prison without parole.

George Brauchler, the Arapahoe County district attorney, is scheduled to announce Monday whether he will seek the death penalty for Holmes. Brauchler hasn't publicly revealed his plans. He has refused repeatedly to comment on the case, citing the gag order.

Pierce O'Farrill, who was shot three times, said he would welcome an agreement that would imprison Holmes for life. The years of court struggles ahead would likely be an emotional ordeal for victims, he said.

"I don't see his death bringing me peace," O'Farrill said. "To me, my prayer for him was that he would spend the rest of his life in prison and hopefully, in all those years he has left, he could find God and ask for forgiveness himself."

A plea bargain would bring finality to the case fairly early so victims and their families can avoid the prolonged trauma of not knowing what will happen, said Dan Recht, a past president of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar.

"The defense, by making this public pleading, is reaching out to the victims' families," he said.

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Labor, business agree to principles on immigration

U.S. business and labor groups announced agreement Thursday on a key priority for an immigration overhaul bill: creating a new system to bring lower-skilled workers to the country.

The Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, a collection of 57 unions, reached consensus after weeks of closed-doors negotiations they were conducting at the request of Sens. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, and Lindsey Graham, a Republican.

Both senators are involved in crafting an immigration deal to help address issues that include the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Business and labor have long been at odds over any temporary worker program, with business groups wanting more workers and labor groups concerned about protections for American workers. The issue helped sink the last congressional attempt at rewriting the nation's immigration laws, in 2007.

The principles include agreement on the need for a mechanism to let businesses more easily hire foreign workers when Americans aren't available to fill jobs. This will require a new kind of worker visa program that does not keep all workers in a permanent temporary status, the groups said in a joint news release.

They also said they see the need for a new professional bureau housed within a federal executive agency and tasked with informing Congress and the public about labor market needs and shortages. That addresses a key demand from the labor side for a more transparent and data-driven process about worker needs.

But the joint statement from the chamber and labor groups made clear that more work needs to be done to finalize their deal so that it can be included in a comprehensive immigration bill.

"We have found common ground in several important areas and have committed to continue to work together and with members of Congress to enact legislation that will solve our current problems in a lasting manner," the statement said.

"We are now in the middle -- not the end -- of this process."

Even so, Thursday's agreement represents a significant step in talks that some in Congress gave little chance of success.

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