Veteran police Lt. Morton Feldman, Executive Vice President of the National Association of Chiefs of Police (NACOP), is the designated recipient of the CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender of the Month Award for September.
In nominating Feldman for the Award, John Michael Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director, said that “Mort, by his outspoken defense of the individual right of law-abiding American citizens to keep and bear arms, demonstrates effectively the truism that there is a natural alliance between law-abiding, gun owning American citizens and the thousands of fine American law enforcement officers who work and sacrifice to provide for the public safety in our society.
“Mort certainly is most deserving of this Award.”
Feldman told POINT BLANK, in fact, that the great majority of law enforcement officers in the United States support the individual right of law-abiding American citizens to keep and bear arms. Practically the only police spokesmen and officials of police organizations who do not, he said, “are those who get government money.” NACOP does not receive government funding.
Feldman states flatly that “no written law has ever prevented a criminal from doing what he wanted to do.” He adds further that “all gun control does is impede the honest citizen from being able to defend himself or herself.”
Feldman is a 30-year veteran of the criminal justice system who retired from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to join the NACOP staff in 1993. The holder of an Associate of Arts degree with a thousand hours of additional law enforcement training, Mort, a Certified Instructor in Law Enforcement, Corrections and Security, has worked with the Broward County Juvenile Court in Fort Lauderdale, as well as the Dade County Sheriff’s Office in Miami and the Family Corrections Program in North Miami.
He writes that “all trained, qualified, age appropriate people who wish to own and/or carry a concealed firearm must not be hindered by laws designed to prevent criminals from obtaining them. There are some 20,000 gun laws and none have prevented a criminally bent individual from getting a gun.
“The time has come to concentrate on criminal control, not gun control.
“To quote a famous line from a movie: We the victims of revolving door criminality are ‘sick and tired of it and we won’t put up with it any longer.’
“There is more than ample evidence that a properly armed citizenry can and does help themselves and law enforcement.”
At NACOP’s Miami offices, Feldman is responsible for research and response to law enforcement agencies and the media with respect to law enforcement and security issues. He has developed and implemented a 40-hour training program, in accordance with state requirements, for the basic security officer’s license.
From 1984 through 1993, as a Lieutenant in the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, Feldman was responsible for the development and implementation of a training program for 600 new employees. He supervised a staff of 112 deputies and sergeants, 600-1,500 inmates and a 50 million dollar maximum security facility.
His experience prior to that included basic line duties in a maximum security jail, group and individual counseling with youth and family as referred by juvenile court, evaluations of subordinates, and as a probation/parole officer investigating the offenses, backgrounds and histories of juvenile offenders.
His scores of articles have appeared in the DAYTON LAW REVIEW, CHIEF OF POLICE MAGAZINE, POLICE TIMES, WOMAN’S DAY and other publications. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, “Good Morning America,” the Arts & Entertainment Network and numerous radio shows.
Feldman is a critic of the Lautenberg Amendment, which prohibits the owning or possession of a firearm by any person convicted of a misdemeanor offense of domestic violence.
“This is clearly a high profile, well received, well intended concept that seeks to provide protection for the victims of domestic violence,” he writes.
“This law needs correcting. There are a number of ways to correct this law and still provide ample protection for the victims of domestic violence. One, make the effective date 30 September 1996, with no exceptions. Two, make all domestic violence offenses, as described in the Gun Control Act of 1968, felonies, with no plea bargaining to a lower level. Three, combine suggestions one and two. If we fail to act quickly and effectively, we are on the way to a new national police force for firearms.”