Yesterday there was a rather spectacular shooting in a beauty parlor near our “home subway stop”. One of the injured innocent bystanders happened to be an off-duty cop, a female, shot in the leg while sitting in a salon chair having her hair done.
In the blogosphere there is some criticism of this off-duty officer for not having her gun at the ready. Some people believe off-duty cops are required to have their weapons with them at all times. I did a google search and this was the law in New York City until 1981 when some drunken off-duty cop shot someone. (Yes it would be a really good idea for 20-somethings on a St. Patrick’s Day pub-crawl not to carry loaded weapons.)
The concept of requiring someone, a woman, to carry a weapon at all times baffles me. Does this mean women, who happen to be officers of the law, should carry a gun into the delivery room? I’m sorry but I think, if I’d had the option available to me, I might have shot the nurse who put the fetal monitor on my belly after I pushed it off for the umteenth time while in the throes of labor. I’m not saying having your hair done an experience of that magnitude. But, come on. There are some moments when a girl just needs to be a girl. Sitting in a salon chair in a beauty parlor is one of those times!