[quote=no_such_reality]Yes I do. I grew up guns. I’ve known since I was six that you KNOW what you are shooting at before you shoot. Mistakes happen. Pulling the trigger fifteen times is not a mistake.
Their job is tough isn’t an excuse to kill people because they are over their heads.
I know it’s a sh*t job. Go watch the video of Ramos spoiling to beat Kelly Thomas.
Quit making excuses for excessive behavior.
What you are saying is when a cop stops me because he think I did a rolling stop late a night, I need to fear for my life because he deals with shit and is justified to have a hair trigger that he assumes I’m a deadly threat to him.
Not acceptable.
Even more dangerous is your attitude only cops can judge cops.
The attitude you display is the attitude that has tolerated the escalating militarization of our police forcec. The civilian public is the enemy.
I know most of the cops are good people. That truely want to help the community. Doing a sh*t job.
But the tolerance for the police training and relying on the overwhelming force is dangerous for our Republic and the population at large.[/quote]
You must have missed all my posts where I rail against the militarization of police departments. And you must have missed where I’ve said that police abuse and unreasonable force does exist, and that we need to take steps to eliminate it whenever and wherever possible.
That being said, owning a gun is nothing at all like being in the position that cops find themselves in when dealing with violent criminals who have proven to be armed and very dangerous.
Do we need to demilitarize police departments? Yes!!! (Funny how they don’t have money for pensions or capital improvements, but there is plenty of money for this militarization, no? Even if it’s federal money, the money seems to find its way into the coffers when the PTB want it there.) Do we need to train cops to better respect people’s civil rights? Yes!!!
Do we also need to explain to criminals that if you don’t obey a police officer’s command, bad things might happen? Yes to that, as well.
Sorry, but the life of a criminal does not trump the life of a cop.
FWIW, I’m not the biggest fan of a lot of cops. I think too many of them have power trips and feel as though they are above everyone else. I dislike these cops rather intensely, but I also respect their right to defend themselves against violent criminals.
