July 14 was the last day Police Officer Jake Wallin went to work. And it terrified the loved ones of police officers all across the country.

Jake was killed in the line of duty as he struggled with others to bring order to the streets of Fargo. 

Jake and his fiancee, Winter, had just bought a house together with plans to share their lives for years into the future. Winter didn’t know that she would get her last hug when he went to work that Friday morning.

While few police officers get killed in the line of duty, they know that a look behind any door may be their last. The killing of Jake just magnified the possibility that a police officer may not be home for supper. 

According to a report by Travis Grimler of the Echo Journal, the outpouring of grief and compassion was astonishing.

Not only did the well-wishers grieve over the loss of Jake but they sensed that the killing of a police officer was violence against society that could not be tolerated in a democratic country.

The main challenge for the police is holding a public in a free society at bay when its inclination is to rebel against every form of accountability. 

And as people have become more educated and prosperous, they have become more individualistic and assertive – meaning that today’s citizens are more willing to rebel against accountability. 

In the minds of too many people, their relationship is more adversarial than supportive of the police. In the last 50 years, our society has experienced a greater affinity for chaos than order, making police work even more dangerous. 

Unfortunately, the death of Jake has brought back historical facts about the gun used in the murder. The 2019 legislature just passed the law that permitted the use of this rapid-fire weapon in North Dakota.

In this revelation by Forum Reporter April Baumgartner, House Bill 1308 was carried to the floor by Rep. Mike Lefor, now House Republican Majority leader, who said that the “bill was proposed because some companies” want to sell this weapon in North Dakota. 

Everyone who was near the decision to legalize this rapid-fire weapon is now running for the hills, trying to save their asses in the mess they created. The chickens have come to roost.

As for Lefor, he is guilty of bearing false witness about the issue. According to Baumgartner, Lefor claimed “it would be difficult to make North Dakota ‘an island’ that bans the binary trigger when federal law allows it through the Second Amendment.”

Wait a minute! This is pretty shabby logic. 

North Dakota law did not permit the binary trigger. Regardless of the Second Amendment, the federal government had nothing to do with House Bill 1308. Because the binary trigger was already illegal, the Second Amendment did not apply. 

Then Lefor digs a deeper hole. He alleges that “this is something that has to be replaced on the federal level because it is legal federally.” The state had already dealt with the issue but Lefor is running for cover with vague inapplicable references to the federal government. 

Governor Doug Burgum signed the bill into law with his chief legislative spokesman using the argument that it was okay because it had bipartisan support. The truth is that the governor does not sign all bipartisan bills. 

Meanwhile Attorney General Drew Wrigley avoided the issue, claiming that the trigger law requires “a broader discussion down the road.” His solution is kicking the can.

The House passed the bill 80-12 and the Senate approved 42-3. According to Baumgartner, no one spoke against the bill.

If this measure had been on the ballot, the people of North Dakota would have killed it. 

Lloyd Omdahl is a former lieutenant governor of North Dakota and former political science professor at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.