"Just a Citizen"

[MrBi11]

When ask if your a cop, reply: "No I'm they're employer"

[Philbert]

I hear you, OP, though I don't think people necessarily mean to convey any self-deprecation. I also find "just a civilian" awkward. Cops are civilians too. We're lucky enough to live in a country where civilians police civilians, and the military fight foreign wars (albeit too many of them) instead of their fellow citizens. There's been a very unfortunate trend of late to militarize the civilian police, something I think ought to be resisted.

[MrBi11]

Agreed Philbert, the 'paramilitary' PD is getting way to far out of hand.
(But I don't wanna hijack the thread)

[F16vipers]

Just an AMERICAN citizen.

[PA Traveler]

No- I'm an ordinary citizen, just like you.

[BioHazard74D]

I have given that response before.

When I tell someone I am "just a citizen", it means that I am an American and I live in what is still the freest country in the world with a rich heritage of liberty, which most of my fellow citizens neither understand nor exercise.

It means I do not have to produce a certificate, license, badge, uniform, orders, instructions, directive, statute or job description to justify my actions. I do not need to show "evidence" that a harmless activity I am indulging in is allowed to me.

In short, as stated before, being "just a citizen" is ultimately the highest position in the land, with the highest responsibility as well, and I have never considered it demeaning in any way.

Just last week I was out with my wife and her sister, someone saw my open carried M&P9 and asked if I was a police officer. My wife and her sister hear this and one says "he's a nuclear security officer" while the other says "he's in the Army" (Reserves) at the same time.
Both of which are true but that's not the point. Ever since I got my LTCF I've wondered why we have to justify our actions for OC/CC. I personally like being "just a citizen". To me it brings more importance to my other jobs.

[Emptymag]

I'm not sure if I'm seeing/hearing it exactly the same way as the OP, but yeah, those replies sound goofy to me.

"just" gives a negative feel to the whole thing, and the "citizen" thing, while sounding super-patriotic on a gun board, sounds weird in real-world, on the street chats with strangers.

I guess I "just" don't understand the need to say more than "no" when asked if you're a "cop".

I probably shouldn't have even typed this because I'm tired and I know it didn't come out quite the way I intended it to. Maybe I'll think of a better way of saying this later on.

All I know is that it sounds goofy.

[MDJschool]

"I'm just a citizen and you can too!"

It happens to be that we are 'just citizens' in a nation where police have been made into a select militia, offered special powers to not only carry firearms in their own jurisdictions when 'just citizens' cannot, but also in other jurisdictions (see LEOSA, for example.) and special powerful people are the only ones to receive licenses in the most restrictive states who license carry/ownership/acquisition. It's something that is making a second-class out of 'just us citizens'.

In Pennsylvania we may be in a special position to say 'just a citizen', given the wording of article I, section 21, regarding the right of the citizens to bear arms, but I can agree that the words is really not given much more weight on that fact.

And then there is 'just a civilian' which presents the same issue with the police as one with the military, signaling that they appear to have some special right to arms, which, by at least the appearance of statutory law, they do.

It may be lost on some people if you use 'citizen' as a (positively) loaded word and just leave it at that, and some of the responses on this thread offer pleasant alternatives. You could "I'm simply a free person" even though it's a lie. Maybe the civic connotation on 'citizen' is not so bad -- in defense of oneself and one's state.

[sjsufer]

To go a bit off track and a random connection; "Citizen" takes on a completely different meaning in the movie Starship Troopers involving possibly military service and a great sense of responsibility. It becomes a great idea to strive for and have to earn.

Forgoing the military service necessary part, many forget the responsibility that comes with being a Citizen in this country and are happy just being sheep and being entertained instead of actively pursuing knowledge and holding themselves to a higher standard. The American dream has now become putting in the minimal work possible for the maximum reward, instead of working hard for the betterment of yourself and your society.

I'm pulling at straws here, but I just feel there is so much more to this country and its citizens. In the end, I am gladly just a citizen, but I also know that my father and his father and others in my family gave me that right by joining the military and serving this great country. It is my responsibility to be the best Citizen I can.

[Steve in PA]

When I was a police officer they would call a non police officer a civilian. Funny thing is that municipal, state and federal police unless they are military police are also civilians.

Its a term that police/fire/ems, etc use. Nothing more, nothing less. Anything else is purely on you.

As for "just a citizen"......I guess saying something like "just a gun owner" would be no good either???

Again, if your hung up on "just" thats your issue.