The NFL’s ban on fans carrying concealed firearms has undergone new criticism in the weeks after the terrorist attacks in Paris, which included an attempted bombing of a soccer stadium. One of the nation’s largest organizations of police officers put its weight behind lifting the ban.
Chuck Canterbury, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, requested that the ban on “concealed carry” be ended in a letter to Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League.
The NFL’s policy against concealed weapons “weakens the safety and security of NFL players, personnel and fans,” Canterbury wrote Goodell on Nov. 20.
Canterbury said the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, selects targets based on the “amount of death” the terrorist group can achieve, making crowded football stadiums appealing targets:
Well-attended venues and areas are being deliberately targeted by these radical killers who do not intend or expect to survive the assault. Law enforcement, even when working actively with high skilled and trained security professionals, cannot be certain that all threats will be detected and neutralized.
The NFL did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment and apparently has not publicly addressed the FOP’s letter.
Jim Pasco, the FOP’s executive director, said the police organization believes that security is beefed up by off-duty and retired police officers who attend any sort of organized games.
“Under federal law, off-duty and retired officers may carry their firearms, and in most any situation,” Pasco said in an interview with The Daily Signal, adding:
Restricted, obviously, by the constitutional right of people to say ‘not here,’ which is basically what the NFL has done. That being said, it is our reasoning that trained, qualified personnel with their weapons are force multipliers, which was the reason the federal law was passed in the first place so that police officers would be able to carry their weapons and thereby intervene, hopefully to good effect, in otherwise life-threatening situations.
Although some might see the ban as a Second Amendment issue, Pasco said, FOP officials don’t.
“No, this is a public safety issue here,” he said, “while we have no quarrel with the Second Amendment.”
Pasco said the FOP also is trying to reach out to team owners and state governments, noting that state law, as in Texas, can override the NFL’s ban on concealed carry:
[W]e are working directly with, and attempting to get meetings with, the various individual teams, because after all, Roger Goodell is responsible to the owners. And we’re hoping to get owners to agree with us and speak on our behalf in their meetings. And we’re also contemplating working with various states on state laws.
