Kentucky FOP ‘devastated’ by Louisville shooting, open to ‘commonsense’ gun reform

WEKU | By John McGary

https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s362/audio/2023/04/fop-louisville-reax.mp3

An officer with Kentucky’s Fraternal Order of Police said they’re devastated by Monday’s mass shooting in Louisville that claimed five lives. The gunman also injured eight others, including two Louisville police officers, one of whom is still in critical condition. Ryan Straw is the FOP’s vice president.

“But also, we’re thinking about our officers to the trauma, the mental health trauma of being a part of something like that, is just devastating to them and to our profession. And so we’re, we’re heartbroken.”

In Kentucky, most anyone can purchase most any kind of weapon. People can buy guns without any training and, if they purchase them at a gun show, flea market or privately, without a background check. Straw is also the FOP’s government affairs director, meaning he’s probably in the room when the FOP meets with state lawmakers and members of Congress. He said while the FOP is still figuring out its position on gun reform, it is open to a discussion about what he called commonsense gun reform.

“We know that we’re in support of the Second Amendment, we’re in support of folks having that ability to carry firearms, I don’t think it’s out of line to want the public to have the opportunity to get some training behind it, if you have a desire to have a firearm, you know, we would love to see you take a class.”

Straw said the FOP is not ready to say those classes should be mandatory.

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Republished with permission from WEKU.

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