The San Diego Padres have continued a disturbing trend in major league sports by banning off-duty and retired cops from carrying firearms at Petco Park.
Major League Baseball and the National Football League have both put themselves at odds with police around the country by instituting policies banning cops from carrying. They are facing pushback from police in places like Minnesota, New York and especially Texas, where state law allowing cops to carry trumped league policy at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium and Houston Texans’ Reliant Stadium.
The Law Enforcement Officer’s Safety Act gives officers the right to carry anywhere in the country, partly because they often face threats from criminals they’ve encountered. The leagues argue that they already have adequate security in their stadiums, but how does that justify disarming at-risk cops? In denying gun rights to police, the leagues are simply solving a problem that doesn’t exist.
