Speaker Identification

Speaker 1: Chip DeBlock, host of LEO Round Table
Speaker 2: Ken Appianco, attorney with FOPLawyer.com
Speaker 3: Sponsor/ad narrator
Speaker 4: Davison Township police officer in bodycam clip
Speaker 5: Teenager in bodycam clip
Speaker 6: San Diego police officer in bodycam clip
Speaker 7: Bystanders / people near San Diego incident
Speaker 8: Dispatch/radio traffic where audible

Speaker 1:
Welcome to LEO Round Table at LEORoundTable.com, the law enforcement talk show. My name is Chip DeBlock, and I’m your host. We’re joined by attorney Ken Appianco with FOPLawyer.com. Thanks for being back on the show, Ken.

Also, a shout-out to our sponsors. Guys, please support our sponsors. They go to great lengths to bring this good-quality content to you. We have our title sponsor, Galls at Galls.com. And don’t forget that discount code to get 15% off your next purchase. It’s RADIO15. Remember that code.

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Shout-out to the guys carrying our content and helping us get it out there: Brian Burns with the Tampa Free Press at TampaFP.com, Ray Dietrich, and Travis Yates with LawOfficer.com. Thanks to all those entities.

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To whet the appetite for what we’re going to be talking about today, we are going to start off talking about the FBI releasing officers killed and assaulted in the line of duty stats for 2025. There are some interesting records.

Then we’ve got a sergeant and sniper, the one who took out the shooter in Butler, Pennsylvania. He’s been honored by the NRA, but the real story is coming out now, and I thought it was important enough that I saved it. We’re going to talk about it on the show.

We’ve also got a Davison Township officer who nearly shoots a teenager during a Water Wars game. It’s some challenge they’ve got for these kids, and this kid almost got shot and killed — and it would have been justified. We’ve got a woman shot by San Diego police officers after she stabs a man multiple times with a ballpoint pen. We’ve got Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier threatening to personally sue officials after police tried to ban guns at a local festival here in Florida. We’ve got Pickaway County sheriff’s officers who shoot an armed suspect when he raises his gun. A Virginia gun ban ignites a firestorm as a local prosecutor refuses to enforce it and lawsuits start to fly. Finally, Davenport police dashcam shows two squad cars colliding into each other while responding to the same call. It’s not pretty, and then the chief is bragging about how they have yearly driver training. That’s not the thing I would have been bragging about.

If you’re ready, Ken, let’s go ahead and cover the first one here. The source is FBI.gov. The FBI releases officers killed and assaulted in the line of duty for 2025. It’s a special report, and they also have law enforcement employee counts as well.

On Monday, May 11, 2026, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program — UCR, all cops know what that is — released the Officers Killed and Assaulted in the Line of Duty 2025 special report. In it, they provided preliminary counts of law enforcement officers who were killed or assaulted in 2025. They also did an in-depth analysis of law enforcement officers who were killed or assaulted from 2016 through 2025 so they could make comparisons.

That’s based on the data — and here is the key word — voluntarily provided by law enforcement agencies to the FBI’s UCR program. They do not all do it, so we really don’t know what we don’t have. But we do know what we do have.

In 2025, we had 53 officers feloniously killed in the line of duty. That number is fewer than the number of officers feloniously killed annually in the previous two years. But the rate of assaults against officers actually increased from 2023 to 2025. Firearms were the most reported weapon used in fatal incidents.

Now, information about the offenders: if you were going to try to do a profile of the kind of people attacking the officers, there were 53 officers feloniously killed in the line of duty. The report says there were 49 offenders reported for the felonious deaths. Out of those, 95.7% were male, so almost 100% of these offenders were males. Sixty-four percent were white. Twenty-nine of the offenders were reported to have prior criminal records.

For each of the 10 years under consideration, the South region of the United States had the most line-of-duty deaths, which I thought was interesting. There was a 25% decrease in deaths in that region in 2025. It said 21 deaths compared to the 2024 stats of 28. So in 2025, it went from 28 the previous year down to 21 deaths.

Agencies reported over 90,000 officer assaults in 2025. That indicates a rate of assault — listen to this — 13.8 assaults for every 100 officers, and it’s the highest officer assault rate in the past 10 years. Most accidental deaths of law enforcement officers from 2021 through 2025 are attributed, as most of us would probably guess, to motor vehicle accidents. Of course, we’ve got a video of a spectacular one.

Ken Appianco, your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2:
Yeah, I really didn’t find too many astonishing facts that came out of there other than assaults against law enforcement have increased dramatically. To me, the deaths of law enforcement have gone down. I’d like to think that’s because our tactics, our equipment, and our training have offset a lot of the bad situations, where now we have different approaches to those scenes.

But to me, the most disturbing part is that assaults have gone way up. As an active law enforcement officer, I have seen it in my own agency. To me, that’s extremely disturbing. Respect for law enforcement seems to have dwindled over the years, and that is one of my concerns.

Speaker 1:
Well, thanks. I will keep watching the stats as they come, but I’m glad the FBI is getting the data out there. Before, they used to hold on to the data for quite a while before they would release it, so I love the new FBI.

Moving along here and keeping things moving because we’ve got some good stuff we want to cover. We do have an update article. This is from NRA Media’s American Hunter. We’re talking about Sergeant Aaron Zaloponi. Now, that name may not ring a bell with a lot of people. He’s being honored by the NRA right now.

Here’s the deal. We’re talking about Butler, Pennsylvania. Adam’s Township Police Department Sergeant Aaron Zaloponi is the team leader for the Butler County Emergency Services Unit. His mission for that day in Butler, when President Trump was there at the rally, was to be the counter-assault team leader for the local unit — not for the feds, not for the Secret Service, but for the local unit.

He grew up hunting deer and small game with his father and brothers in western Pennsylvania. He served in the infantry in the Army National Guard for 14 years. He was deployed to combat zones three times. He came home to serve in law enforcement. He’s part of the American fabric of service and responsibility, and he views guns as tools for self-defense and sport.

On this particular day, he had an AR-15 that he built himself, and he kept it hands-free as he was surveying the indoor and outdoor rally and commanding his team. At 6:09 p.m., his team was notified about a guy on top of the roof of an agricultural building. There were communication issues with the U.S. Secret Service security apparatus, but he and his team were aware that the individual had already been spotted and listed as a potential problem several times.

When the alert reached him, he deployed his team to the building in question, but he held his position. Moments later, the first shots echoed over the rally. Zaloponi saw officers scrambling to respond. As the fourth gunshot ripped through, he looked at the top of the building and saw this guy lying in a prone position at the apex of the roof.

He did not see the guy pop up onto the roof. The individual had apparently hopped between roofs and then crawled into this position. All Zaloponi could see was the man’s head and part of his upper chest. The assassin then fired a fifth, sixth, and seventh shot. This is an account I had never really heard before.

Within two seconds of the fourth shot, Zaloponi brought his rifle to his shoulder and acquired the gunman with his red-dot optic. He said he saw the gas following the bullet as the murderer’s eighth shot went toward the stage. Using a red-dot optic — an EOTech EXPS3, if anybody wants to know — not magnified, and at 115 yards away, he fired one shot. That was just under six seconds after the assassin’s first shot.

He only fired one shot, and it was the ninth shot at the rally. Immediately after he fired, he observed the gunman on the roof jerk and slowly slump over his rifle. The gunman slid down the backside of the roof, and Zaloponi kept his rifle on target to fire a follow-up shot. At that point, he could only see a small portion of the suspect’s head.

Just as he was about to fire a second shot, about 16 seconds after the murderer’s first shot, a U.S. Secret Service counter-sniper fired a round that struck the suspect’s head. At this time, Zaloponi gave the Secret Service sniper team a thumbs-up and said, “Good hit, good hit.”

The would-be assassin never fired another round after Zaloponi fired his initial shot. Zaloponi, who is an NRA benefactor member and an NRA-certified law enforcement patrol rifle instructor, likely saved the life of President Donald Trump, according to the article. For these reasons, the NRA named Sergeant Aaron Zaloponi the 2025 NRA Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. I think that’s pretty spectacular. Ken Appianco?

Speaker 2:
It’s amazing. I never heard this story until I read the article today. Is that crazy? With all the publicity this shooting got, you would think you would have heard this before today. For me, anyway, I had no idea there were additional shots like that.

The way I understood it was that Secret Service took the guy out as he was actively shooting. But according to this article, it sounds like the guy was neutralized before the Secret Service ever got a shot off. If that is actually accurate — and I have no reason to doubt that it isn’t — the guy did a marvelous, outstanding job. What else can you say? Congratulations. Excellent shot.

The funny part of the article to me was that he built his own AR-15 from a Palmetto State Armory lower, which a lot of people would drag on. So I thought that was kind of like, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1:
Good. We’ll take a break. We’ll be right back, guys.

Speaker 3:
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Speaker 1:
Welcome back to LEO Round Table at LEORoundTable.com, the law enforcement talk show. My name is Chip DeBlock, and I’m your host. We’re joined by attorney Ken Appianco at FOPLawyer.com.

We just talked about how a local cop saved the day in Butler, and Ken and I are hearing most of this information for the first time when this story came up yesterday. Any final words on this, Ken, or are you ready to roll into our video component?

Speaker 2:
No, I think we pretty much got it covered.

Speaker 1:
All right. So, at Rumble.com, from our favorite law enforcement video channel, This Is Butter, we’re in Davison Township, Michigan, in Genesee County. A Davison Township officer nearly shoots a teenager during a Water Wars game.

Speaker 4:
Hey, what’s up, dude? Sorry. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Get on the ground.

Speaker 5:
I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

Speaker 4:
You’re good. You scared me. I’m looking for people stealing cars. Oh my God. Oh my goodness. Bro, you just scared the absolute dog out of me. I’m not mad at you. You are a very lucky guy.

Speaker 5:
I’m so sorry. Oh my goodness.

Speaker 1:
I had never heard the term Water Wars. I didn’t know what it was. I do now. If I had a kid, I’d make sure he wasn’t participating in this crap. It’s going to get somebody killed.

A senior prank caught on police bodycam video in Genesee County is raising fresh concerns about the end-of-the-year game known as Water Wars, where students use squirt guns to eliminate opponents in a bracket-style competition that can include cash prizes. What could go wrong?

Davison Township Police Chief Jay Rendon said one of his officers responded to a 911 call — first flag, it’s a 911 call — about suspicious activity. The officer believed he may be walking into an active burglary, a burglary in progress.

It’s nighttime. The officer is walking through a yard, then up a driveway between a couple of parked cars. It appeared to me that he had his gun out in his right hand. He had his department-issued duty pistol in his right hand. Then this kid jumps out from around the corner of the car right as the cop gets up to the front of the car. The kid pops up and squirts the cop with what ended up being a water gun.

Chief Rendon said the officer had only moments to assess the threat. A quote from the chief said he had fantastic reaction not to fire and shoot this kid. He said he had milliseconds to make that decision.

Davison Community Schools sent a letter to the parents of seniors urging students to stop playing the game, saying police have responded to other incidents tied to Water Wars, including speeding, trespassing, and disruptions at local businesses.

I can tell you that when this went down, I don’t even have to go to my show notes. The cop pointed his gun at the kid and told him to get down on the ground because he was trying to process everything. Then he finally realized that it was some kind of kid. The kid was distraught. He knew he had screwed up and was lucky to be alive. I don’t know if he didn’t realize it was a police officer. Ken, I don’t know what your thoughts are, but I think the kid’s life flashed before his eyes, and he realized what he had done and the position he put the cop in. The officer was compassionate at the end because he was grateful to God, I think, that he did not shoot and kill this kid. It could have happened and likely should have happened. It’s just crazy. Ken Appianco?

Speaker 2:
After watching this video multiple times, I can say that probably 999 officers out of 1,000 would have taken that shot. As you pointed out, it is so quick on this video.

First of all, as you pointed out, it’s a 911 call for a burglary. You’re crazy not to have your firearm out if you’re looking for a burglar. Therefore, the officer obviously had the right to have his firearm out while looking for the bad guy.

He’s using his flashlight. How this kid didn’t see that and just put the water gun down or put his hands up, I have no clue. But when this kid popped up as fast as he did and squirted the officer, again, at nighttime, I don’t know if the officer intentionally didn’t act or if he was so surprised that by the time he realized it was water, he just gave the kid directions to get down on the ground.

I don’t know which one it is, but I can tell you this kid better thank God for the rest of his life that he’s alive. If the officer had discharged his weapon, that would have been an absolutely 100% justified shooting.

It’s a shame these kids play these stupid games even though they know bad things can happen. Think about it: you’re at my house with a water gun that I don’t know is a water gun, and you’re at my front door trying to open my door. In Florida, we have a right to shoot through the door and prevent that. You’re asking for a whole lot of problems with this scenario, but this kid is lucky he’s alive. It’s amazing to me that the officer didn’t shoot.

Speaker 1:
We haven’t touched on it, but could you imagine being involved in it? Let’s just say you take that shot and you are completely justified, but you have to live with that for the rest of your life. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I can tell this officer cared and was grateful, but I can only imagine having to deal with shooting and killing a kid with a water gun, even though it would have been completely justified. Thank God this officer did not have to go through the rest of his life having to live with that.

Speaker 2:
I agree. Also, another thing: a lot of officers aren’t too keen on body cameras, me being one in the early parts of this stuff. But think about it. If this officer didn’t have a body camera, the media would have put out that this officer shoots a kid with a water gun without giving any other facts and circumstances. Thank goodness for video, because this shows how difficult our job can be under extremely stressful situations. Like you said, thank goodness the officer didn’t fire because that would have weighed on his mind for the rest of his life.

Speaker 1:
No doubt. Let’s put our training hats on, because people may not understand or realize that Ken and I are both trainers. We’re trainers at heart, and we do not go over the stories ahead of the show. I’m getting ready to ask this question for the very first time, and Ken is trying to figure out where I’m going with this.

I’ve got a really good question for you, Ken, and I just thought of it. Let’s put our training hats on for a second. I think it’s valuable to show this video, but if you were going to try to create scenario-based training, I’m thinking this wouldn’t even be fair. It wouldn’t be fair to run a cop through a scenario like this because I would expect the cop to shoot the person. I don’t care whether it’s a ballpoint pen or a water gun or whatever. I would expect whoever was doing that to get shot, even if they didn’t have a gun in their hand and were just pointing their finger. You can’t really train that. Do you agree?

Speaker 2:
No, this is not a scenario you would want to do to officers for training. This is not fair. This is a ridiculous scenario. Honestly, my response to this officer would be, “Why didn’t you shoot?” I’m telling you, because if the kid had a real gun, the officer would be dead. Luckily for the officer, it was a water pistol. So my question is, why didn’t you shoot? You don’t have time to assess that. Bad scenario to train with, no doubt.

Speaker 1:
All right. Thanks. We’re up for our second commercial break. We’ll be right back.

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Speaker 1:
Welcome back to LEO Round Table at LEORoundTable.com, the law enforcement talk show. My name is Chip DeBlock, and I’m your host. We’re joined by attorney Ken Appianco at FOPLawyer.com.

We were just talking about the story where we have a high school kid who probably should be dead. He jumps out and ambushes a cop with a water gun. The kid had the water gun, the cop had a real gun, and the cop was responding to a burglary in progress. The cop had his gun out in his hand at the time he gets ambushed and sprayed with water. The kid actually pulled the trigger and hit the cop with water, and the cop didn’t shoot. It was just a wild story. Any final words on that, Ken, before we move on to the next one?

Speaker 2:
No, I think the story speaks for itself. Wow.

Speaker 1:
All right. So Rumble.com, and we’re still at This Is Butter, our favorite video channel. A woman was shot by San Diego police officers after she stabbed a man multiple times with a ballpoint pen.

Speaker 6:
Drop the pick! Get out of the way! Drop the pick! Drop the pick in your hand right now! Sir, move! Drop the pick or I’ll shoot you! Drop the pick! Drop the pick!

Speaker 7:
It’s just a pen! It’s a pen!

Speaker 6:
Shots fired. Drop the pen! Drop the pen right now! Get on the ground! Stop! Drop the pen! Drop the pen! You’re under arrest! Drop the pen now!

Speaker 8:
Facing westbound, 1600 Island.

Speaker 1:
This moves pretty quickly, Ken. What I like to cover about this is that the backdrop is changing. From the moment the cop starts, he’s talking to construction workers in the background. He sees the backdrop and realizes it before things go bad. He’s trying to control the scenario so that when he does pull the trigger, he’s got a good backdrop. It’s the little things, and I know you pick up on those too.

We’re in San Diego, California. They released this video on Thursday showing an officer shooting and wounding a woman after she allegedly stabbed a man multiple times in the East Village. Officer Jan Gervala, a six-year veteran, shoots San Diego resident Denise Guzman, age 32. It looks like they implied that both people were homeless. The man she was chasing could barely walk. He had a bad limp and was not going to be able to get away from her. She was gaining ground.

She was actively attacking a man with a ballpoint pen on April 15. Guzman survived and was later booked into jail. The video says police dispatchers received a call about an assault with a deadly weapon in progress. The caller told the 911 operator that two homeless people were fighting and one appeared to have a knife or pick.

When our officer rolls up, he gets out of the car. He has her at gunpoint and is telling her to drop the weapon in her right hand. He raises his handgun in her direction and says things like, “Drop the pick.” He thought it was a pick. He says, “Drop the pick in your hand right now,” and, “Drop the pick or I’ll shoot you.” He is also yelling at the construction workers in the intersection to get out of there.

She is approaching the homeless man, who has a really bad gait and a bad limp. When she runs toward him, he has every incentive to get away, but I think he was literally going as fast as he could. The poor guy couldn’t move any faster. She was overtaking him, and it was only seconds before she was going to stab him again.

At that moment, the backdrop is moving just as quickly as she is moving. The officer opens fire and hits her. It says multiple times, striking her at least twice in the chest. You would never know it from her reaction. She stops running, turns toward the officer, stands there looking at him, and appears unfazed from the gunshot wounds.

He starts yelling at her multiple times to get on the ground and surrender. This is where it kind of goes a little sideways, and maybe Ken can address this. The cop starts backing away from her as she advances on him. She still has the red ballpoint pen in her hand. He stops when another cruiser or backup officer shows up. The officer stops just before he would have hit her and puts the car kind of between her and the cop she’s advancing on. They get out, start doing the Taser thing, get a good Taser connection, and she face-plants on the ground. They take her into custody. She goes to the hospital and is treated for injuries. That’s the way it ends, and no one dies. Ken Appianco?

Speaker 2:
I’ve seen a lot of shooting videos in my day, and I’ve worked a lot of shootings. I have never in my life seen anybody get shot at least twice in the chest and just look at the cop and stand there like, “Oh, what’s going on?” She continues her intention of attacking, and they take her out with a Taser.

He shot — I didn’t count the rounds — but at least seven or eight times. The article said he hit her twice in the chest. I’ve had someone shot four times in the chest at point-blank range with a .40 caliber, and they lived. You have to hit something vital, no doubt about it. But I’ve got news for you: this lady acted like nothing happened. I’ve never seen anything like it.

It was a good shoot, obviously. Tactically, with the Tasers and all that after she’s been shot twice, she’s still furthering her attack. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, she lived and they took her into custody.

It was tough. There were a lot of people driving and walking. The backdrop wasn’t the best. But honestly, officers have tunnel vision when they’re involved in a high-stress situation, and 99 out of 100 times, they don’t see the backdrop anyway. They just pull the trigger. That’s my experience representing them.

Speaker 1:
I agree. I found it refreshing that this guy was multitasking in a high-stress environment. Tactically, it’s easy for us to Monday-morning quarterback. I hate to see cops give up ground and back up because I see way too many cops go down. I’ve seen them fall over curbs. Most of the time, they fall over their own feet. I guarantee that the moment this cop went down, she would have advanced on him and gotten to him before he would have been able to get the first shot off.

That’s what I worry about. I don’t know why cops do that. How many videos do we cover where we’ve got a cop who gets out and is behind cover, normally his cruiser, and for some reason, even if you’ve got a dude with a rifle, the cop wants to back up and create distance from the bad guy. But when they create distance, they lose the cover. It drives me crazy.

There’s so much stress. You can’t have your eyes in both places at the same time. You can’t see what’s behind you while backing up and keep an eye on the person advancing on you with the weapon. I would much rather see cops draw that line and hold their ground. If that person advances, you go lethal. That’s tactically the most sound option you have. We just don’t have enough people doing it.

They ended up going Taser, and I’m glad she lived. But she’s lucky, because if it had been Ken or me, that line would have been drawn, and it would have been a fatal shoot.

Speaker 2:
Incredible video. I’ve never seen a reaction like that from someone getting shot. I’ve seen people get shot in the foot and act like they got shot in the head. This lady is just looking like, “What’s going on?” It’s amazing. You’ve got to watch that video. It’s crazy.

Speaker 1:
It will be attached. The live show is live and will stay, but we can’t really show you the live videos during the live show. The producer will take a copy of the live show, and at 9 o’clock the next morning on our Rumble channel called LEO Round Table, he’ll upload it at 9 Eastern time. All the videos will be embedded into that copy of the live show. You can watch it in real time. We’ll start talking about a video, then you watch it, then you come right back to Ken and me critiquing it. It’s really a great option.

Two interesting stories back-to-back. I don’t want to spoil you and get you used to this kind of treatment, but we just kind of lucked out.

This next one is from the Tampa Free Press, owned by our buddy Brian Burns, at TampaFP.com. The Florida Attorney General threatens to personally sue officials over police trying to ban guns at a local festival.

Attorney General James Uthmeier is threatening public officials with personal lawsuits — you’ve got to love it — after a local police department tried to ban firearms at an upcoming street festival.

This started with the Atlantic Beach Police Department. They posted a notice on Facebook detailing the rules for the Dancing in the Street 2026 event scheduled for Saturday, May 16. In the posting, they talked about road closures and parking restrictions. They also had a bullet list of prohibited items within the Beaches Town Center event zone, and they specifically said no firearms, no weapons, no ammo.

Florida law strictly prohibits local governments and police departments from creating their own gun regulations. The legal principle is called preemption, and it reserves firearm legislation exclusively for state government.

Uthmeier responded directly to the police department’s restrictions on the social media platform X. He warned that local authorities would face severe legal repercussions if they attempted to enforce the ban. He wrote, “I don’t think so. Not on my watch.” He said, “If anyone’s right to carry under Florida law is denied, contact my office. There will be serious consequences, including personal liability for public officials for violating any Floridian’s constitutional rights.”

Under Florida’s preemption statutes, local officials who knowingly violate state firearm laws can be removed from office and held personally liable for fines up to $5,000, with public funds barred from being used for their legal defense.

Governor Ron DeSantis also signed House Bill 757, legislation that talks about the state’s Armed Guardian program, college campuses, and related issues. We’re coming up on our commercial break right now, Ken. When we come back, we’ll talk about this Uthmeier thing. I can’t wait to cover it. We’ll be right back.

Speaker 3:
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Speaker 1:
Welcome back to LEO Round Table at LEORoundTable.com, the law enforcement talk show. My name is Chip DeBlock, and I’m your host. We’re joined by attorney Ken Appianco at FOPLawyer.com.

We left off talking about a story where Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened to personally sue officials after police tried to ban guns at a local festival. It was the Atlantic Beach Police Department and the Dancing in the Street 2026 event on Saturday, May 16. Ken, a $5,000 fine and removal from office — that’s got some teeth to it. And suing them personally? What do you think?

Speaker 2:
You pointed out the law in Florida that prevents local government from contradicting state law when it comes to firearms. It’s called preemption. You can’t make these laws up. Atlantic Beach Police did something they shouldn’t have done.

However, there’s an easy fix. Although government can’t be involved in restrictions that Florida state law does not allow, a private entity can. The organizer of this dance-off, or whatever you call it, could put parameters on it, and that’s perfectly legal and fine.

That’s what these organizations normally do. They’re hosting the event, and they don’t want liability issues with firearms, fights, guns, or whatever. So they put information on the pamphlet saying no guns, no firearms, no drugs, whatever. That’s perfectly legal.

Where they ran afoul is that the Atlantic Beach Police Department got involved, and that makes it a state issue. I understand the Attorney General’s position. It’s a no-brainer. The Atlantic Beach Police were absolutely wrong in getting involved.

What they should have done was suggest to the event organizers, “You may want to think about some restrictions on what people can bring in and what people can’t bring in.” Just like going to a Bucs game, they have restrictions on what you can bring in and what you can’t bring in. Of course, no firearms are allowed under state law in many places anyway, but get with the organizer and suggest it. You can’t tell them. You can merely make suggestions. That’s what should have happened.

Speaker 1:
I would think when it comes to insurance for these events, because these guys have to get insurance, if I were the insurance carrier, I would say, “This is what you need to do in order for us to insure the event.”

We’ve got another one here, Ken, and we’ll probably close on this one. We’re going to jump to Virginia real quick. Tampa Free Press at TampaFP.com: Virginia gun ban ignites a firestorm as local prosecutor refuses to enforce it and lawsuits fly.

A major legal battle has erupted in Virginia hours after Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger signed new restrictions on modern semi-automatic firearms into law on Thursday evening. Moments after the bills were signed, pro-Second Amendment groups filed lawsuits to strike down the bans. A local prosecutor also announced he will outright refuse to enforce them.

So, the governor signs these new restrictions, and you’ve got a prosecutor saying he’s not going to enforce them anyhow. On Friday, Spotsylvania County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ryan Mehaffey sent a letter to the county sheriff’s office and Sheriff Roger Harris declaring that the new legislation cannot be lawfully enforced based on recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

The assault weapons ban and the public carry ban, according to his letter, are inconsistent with the historical tradition of Virginia as articulated by Miller and are thus unconstitutional under the Bruen decision. He also added that Heller secures the right of Virginians to keep and bear the most popular rifle in America, the AR-15.

The prosecutor’s stance received immediate backing from local county leadership, which had previously designated itself as a Second Amendment sanctuary. I thought that was pretty interesting.

Lastly, the resistance to Virginia’s new laws is also drawing attention at the federal level. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon signaled via social media on Thursday night that the Trump administration intends to sue the state over the legislation. So the governor may be in a little bit of hot water. What do you think, attorney Ken?

Speaker 2:
Slam dunk against Virginia. They can’t do that. This has already been tried in several jurisdictions, and it’s all been struck down.

The only issue I saw in the article is high-capacity magazines. That’s up in the air. I don’t think the Supreme Court has actually said high-capacity magazines are legal or not legal. However, we all know that so-called assault weapons are perfectly legal to own and possess for lawful purposes.

If this case goes to the Supreme Court, it’s a slam dunk. I think because of this particular governor, who is politically on one side and catering to the voters — or at least the loudest voters on one side — calling for a ban on assault weapons, she did it to save face with those groups. But at the end of the day, this is not going anywhere.

What’s interesting is the dynamic. In Florida — I can’t speak to Virginia — the governor has the right to remove a government official if the governor feels they are not enforcing the laws correctly, like DeSantis did to the state attorney over in Hillsborough. It’s funny to me to see this prosecutor say, “No, we’re not going to enforce it,” yet the governor has the ability to pull that prosecutor out of office. It will be interesting to see how the governor responds to a prosecutor saying, “This is illegal, it’s unconstitutional, and I’m not going to enforce it.”

I agree. There’s no way Virginia will be able to keep the statute on the books. What did the article say — 32 million AR-15s? That’s what they estimate are on the market. I own a bunch of that percentage, but nonetheless, you’re not going to turn millions of people into overnight felons.

They tried that with arm braces, if you remember. The ATF said, “Now arm braces are illegal.” Well, wait a minute. I have eight of them, so am I an eight-time felon now? Ridiculous. It will not hold water, and Spanberger is doing this for political reasons and nothing more.

We all know firearm bans do not work. Criminals don’t follow laws. The only thing you’re doing is taking guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens who were meant to protect themselves. That’s all you’re doing. You’re not doing anything to the criminal.

That’s the theory. Of course, if you talk to people on the other side, they say guns kill people and all that other stuff. You know my position. I’m a staunch Second Amendment supporter. This law is garbage. They’ve already tried it in many other jurisdictions, and it has failed. I don’t know why she thinks she’s special in her state.

Speaker 1:
It’s interesting that you talked about Ron DeSantis, because remember, he got rid of Sheriff Scott Israel. He also got rid of State Attorney Andrew Warren in Hillsborough County, my county, and also the Orange County prosecutor who would not enforce the death penalty. So he’s been a little busy.

Of course, they had good legal standing. I know Scott Israel really challenged that in court and through the legislature. He went anywhere anyone would listen to him, but he wasn’t able to pull it off.

It is very interesting that the prosecutor has some stones going up against the governor on this. I am impressed with what I read. We’ll be watching the news as everything comes out of this. That will be interesting.

Speaker 2:
Interesting case. I don’t know how this case will proceed in the courts or if she just rescinds the law. I don’t know. But it will be interesting to follow up and see what happens. At the end of the day, whether it takes six months or six years, it will be deemed unconstitutional. That’s what’s going to happen.

Speaker 1:
I wouldn’t want to be a prosecutor pushing cases like this. Prosecutors, state attorneys, DAs — their successful prosecution percentages are important when it comes to reelection time. We all know how they play the game. They only take cases to court if they think they can win.

I would not want to be a prosecutor pushing cases like this. I don’t think ethically you could do it anyhow. But even if you did, you don’t have any reasonable expectation of being able to win. Even if you got the conviction at the local level, the appellate courts would almost certainly turn it around.

Speaker 2:
Absolutely.

Speaker 1:
Well, it’s been a great show. I’m so glad we had you back, Ken. Welcome back, and hopefully we’ll be seeing more of you. Thanks so much for being on the show.

Guys, if you want more information about Ken Appianco, go to FOPLawyer.com and check him out there.

I also want to mention Wounded Blue at TheWoundedBlue.org. Lieutenant Randy Sutton’s 501(c)(3) is helping cops out who are hurt or suffering from things like PTSD and other issues. Please check it out.

Also, don’t forget that we started the new LEO Affairs at LEOAffairs.ch. If you want to talk about work-related issues but do it anonymously without fear of repercussions from your agency or anyone else, we’ve got it back online for you. LEOAffairs.ch means it is being hosted in Switzerland for your protection.

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