(January 5, 2018 at 12:54 pm)Khemikal Wrote: Easy solution.  Take the guns away from 9 out of 10 cops.   That way, if somebody really needs shootin, you  call that guy.  The rest of them won't have any opportunity, then, to piss their pants in fear and pull the trigger.  Say, the next time a 12 year old points a sandwich at them.  Or if someone's being threateningly black within their general vicinity.

Maybe let's not do this in areas where there isn't rampant racism. In the split second it takes for someone to shoot you, you don't have time to call number 10 and wait for him to show up. Tasers aren't always effective, either. To be clear, I want lots and lots of regulation on firearms. I just want them to be logical. Police officers need to do better. They need better screening, better training, better equipment, etc. They need to make sure there are at least two cops in every patrol car, since it's often lone cops that panic and do something stupid. I know it isn't always, but addressing some problems is better than none.

I'm of the opinion that no matter how many culprits get away no innocent man should be punished. Same way with cops, I'd rather have 5 dead cops and 1 innocent person than 5 dead people and 1 "innocent" cop

The thing is, cops are trained to be prepared for the worst, which frequently involves a criminal who's got a gun and is willing to use it. In the previous year alone, we've had 11 incidents of mass shootings where at least three people died. Trying to take them out without a gun is going to be a lot harder. When it comes to self-defense, it's clear that killing is likely the only good option in many cases. That said, even in the best of cases, the line between legitimate self-defense and killing an innocent person can be shockingly thin. I can remember watching the movie "Over the Edge." It features a scene where Matt Dillon points a gun at Doberman, a cop and the main villain. Dillon is shot and killed and it turns out the gun was unloaded. As much of an uproar as this rightly caused among the townsfolk, he makes a damn good point: there is no way you can tell for sure whether a gun that's pointed at you is loaded or not without inspecting it yourself. There's a lot of factors that have to be taken into account, and, in situations like this, you have to try and take them all into account within seconds. Blink features a dissection of the shooting of Amadou Diallo, how a young Guinean immigrant was shot in the middle of the night for matching a general description and pulling out a wallet that the police assumed was a gun. If it was a gun, they could very well have been killed. But it wasn't, and so, he was shot at 41 times (hitting 19.)

Let's face it, as a cop, you have to deal with the worst parts of humanity, and a lot of the time, that includes a disproportionate number of minorities, which will likely colour your views of said minorities. And then, when all those aspects and others combine, we get a situation where 987 people got killed by police last year, some for legitimate reasons, and an inexcusable number for absurdly minor reasons. It would be so nice if police didn't have to be armed, but clearly we don't live in an America where that's a viable option. And I strongly suspect we won't be able to change that anytime soon.

So the cops life doesn't matter ? He has no family that cares about him ? You sound like a teenager.

(January 5, 2018 at 10:23 am)mlmooney89 Wrote: I own a gun, my sister just got one for Christmas, my father in law has a bunch, we are always around people with guns. We aren't in danger of shooting people nor are most of the law abiding gun owners in America.

I think what CL said was perfect about cops. Every group has a set of bad people, we can't handicap cops all over the country because some are bad. No cop would feel safe enough to work and the system would break.

I'll take it one step further. Not every cop that shoots and kills (when it appears to be unnecessary) is a bad cop. It may have been a bad action/poor decision from a good cop caught up in a bad circumstance. Not walking in their shoes, I'll take a slow to judge position.

Let's try to keep everyone alive, yes? Let's try to keep incompetent and racist cops out of uniform. Let's do better for everyone, even cops.

(January 5, 2018 at 1:19 pm)mh.brewer Wrote:

(January 5, 2018 at 10:23 am)mlmooney89 Wrote: I own a gun, my sister just got one for Christmas, my father in law has a bunch, we are always around people with guns. We aren't in danger of shooting people nor are most of the law abiding gun owners in America.

I think what CL said was perfect about cops. Every group has a set of bad people, we can't handicap cops all over the country because some are bad. No cop would feel safe enough to work and the system would break.

I'll take it one step further. Not every cop that shoots and kills (when it appears to be unnecessary) is a bad cop. It may have been a bad action/poor decision from a good cop caught up in a bad circumstance. Not walking in their shoes, I'll take a slow to judge position.

Yeah I feel the exact same way.

(January 5, 2018 at 1:16 pm)pool the matey Wrote: I'm of the opinion that no matter how many culprits get away no innocent man should be punished. Same way with cops, I'd rather have 5 dead cops and 1 innocent person than 5 dead people and 1 "innocent" cop

Bigoted much?

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How many of you have been on police ride-a-longs? Know where the police review board meets? Have spent any time at all with a police officer?

And yes, some of you will lie about the above.

(January 5, 2018 at 1:24 pm)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:

(January 5, 2018 at 1:16 pm)pool the matey Wrote: I'm of the opinion that no matter how many culprits get away no innocent man should be punished. Same way with cops, I'd rather have 5 dead cops and 1 innocent person than 5 dead people and 1 "innocent" cop

Bigoted much?

I think a better question is "pool, did you or someone that you know run afoul of law enforcement recently?". This thread smells of knee jerk reaction.

(January 5, 2018 at 1:28 pm)mh.brewer Wrote:

(January 5, 2018 at 1:24 pm)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: Bigoted much?

I think a better question is "pool, did you or someone that you know run afoul of law enforcement recently?". This thread smells of knee jerk reaction.

Nothing new here, however. It would be interesting if the families of five dead cops could post here.