On May 30, 2021, Miami Police Chief of Art Acevedo criticized Texas’ Constitutional Carry bill, HB 1927, which the State House and State Senate recently passed.
Acevedo described the bill as ridiculous and believed it goes against the recommendations of law enforcement leaders, who have largely been vocally against the legislation.
Followers of Texas politics perhaps remember Acevedo. He’s been a seasoned advocate of gun control laws during his time as police chief in cities like Austin and Houston. Before he assumed his position as police chief in Miami, Acevedo was Houston’s police chief for five years.
During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation”, Acevedo highlighted that “constitutional carry” would make law enforcement’s work more difficult.
“Look, there’s something that God gave us and that’s common sense,” Acevedo said to host John Dickerson. “And common sense tells us that that is ridiculous. Law enforcement, police chiefs, sheriffs, police labor stood up together and made it real clear we do not support constitutional carry here in Texas or anywhere in this country.”
Constitutional Carry is the simple concept that any law-abiding citizen can carry a firearm without a permit. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has promised to sign HB 1927 into law. Law enforcement figures like Acevedo are convinced that Constitutional Carry is potentially harmful to law enforcement.
“Most American gun owners don’t support constitutional carry,” Acevedo declared. “They only support the Blue in word,” added. “It’s now time to support the Blue indeed by vetoing that bill. You’re either with law enforcement or you stand with the fringe that believe that everybody should have a firearm regardless of their character, their capabilities or their mental capacity.”
In light of a recent mass shooting in Miami where assailants killed 2 people and wounded over 20 people, Acevedo demanded that Congress and state officials take action on gun control or risk a spike in gun violence.
“They need to come out of their own corners ― the left and the right ― and come to the middle, which is where most Americans are,” Acevedo remarked. “We need to have universal background checks. We need to make burglarizing these licensed gun stores a federal crime with mandatory sentencing.”
“And we need the federal government and both sides to address this issue,” the Miami Police chief added, “because without legislation … we’re never going to get through this summer without much more death and destruction.”
Police chiefs like Acevedo are glorified politicians. Unlike many rank-and-file police officers, police leadership feels obligated to opine on political matters. And they usually do so from an anti-freedom perspective.
In an ideal world, lower-ranking police officers would be standing up to their highly-political superiors and offer dissenting views on issues related to gun rights. For now, liberty conservatives should work to combat propaganda coming from corrupt police unions and seek partnerships with receptive police officers and police leadership in rural areas who are not as indoctrinated as their urban counterparts.
