The police chief of San Jose, California—America’s 10th-largest city—reportedly believes that the Second Amendment is outdated; that semi-automatic rifles “should be for military and police use only;” that lawful citizens exercising their right to carry do not make police feel safer; and that the “status quo” on gun control in the U.S. is “absolutely” unacceptable.
In a wide-ranging interview with San Jose Inside, Police Chief Eddie Garcia claimed to “agree with the right to bear arms,” but said he suspects that if the firearms available today were available in the late 1700s, when the Second Amendment was adopted, that amendment would not look the same.
Garcia also likely raised eyebrows among many of his fellow officers when he said Black Lives Matter—at whose march five Dallas policemen were murdered in July—“is a very valid movement” and asserted that “this badge didn’t always stand for what it stands for today.”
