I totally agree. But you can’t expect cops to just take EVERYTHING we throw at them (pun not intended). Bunch of pissed off protesters start throwing rocks and shit at cops in Ferguson, and shit got heated. Didn’t require tear gas at that point. Start throwing glass and (supposedly, according to virtually all news that are present) shooting, and yeah, they’re allowed to defend themselves, even if innocent people get caught in the crossfire.
Unarmed angry man, whatever race or creed or religion, doesn’t need to be dealt with with weapons, but the moment you start weilding a dangerous weapon, all bets are off. To just blindly flip the fuck out over the cops killing somebody WHO WAS A LEGITIMATE THREAT just because they’re police, and expect them to be capable of nearly superhuman feats, is just irresponsible and flat out retarded.
It’s not up to cops to waste their time all day hoping a nut will eventually calm down and not stab somebody. Don’t wanna be shot by cops? Don’t come at them with a weapon. Seems pretty fucking simple to me. I can see how that would get confusing if you were still learning your ABC’s like Foolcades dumbass is.
shoot the knife out of his hand.
threadwinning suggestions are just this simple.
Bragging rights and license to demean all the stupid americans have been earned.
hahaa
Look, man. Dude, deserved to get shot, but I don’t know if he needed to get shot twice after he already hit the ground. I also don’t think he needed to be cuffed after he was already done. It just looks worse than it is, man.
Was he asking for it? Abso-fucking-lutely. But dawg. 9-10 shots, two of which were after he was fried already? Y’all gotta chill, bruh.
*Edit: I mean, Michael Brown ain’t even get hit that many times and he had already (allegedly) assaulted the cop. And as far as I know, he didn’t get cuffed afterward.
As someone who shoots a lot (as in at least two trips to the range a month, with regular dry fire practice in between), I can tell you that even the really good competition shooters (the kind punching the same hole over and over with a handgun at 75 feet) will tell you to shoot center mass if you ever have to fire at someone, because even a skilled marksman is going to be effected by nerves and adrenaline in that situation.
As for how easy/difficult it is to learn shoot a handgun accurately in a non conflict situation, it varies wildly person to person, and I’ve seen new shooters who do decent one day go to shit the next. I took a co-worker who had never fired a gun to the range last week, the guy was only able to hit the very edge of a 7" target at 21 feet once in probably 10 magazines-most of his shots missed the silhouette altogether. A different guy I took who was new to handguns shot almost as well as I did (and this was after I had been regularly practicing for a while) his first time. Another friend has been shooting much longer than me (albeit less frequently over the last coupe of years) is still all over the place at 10 yards. So yeah, it’s harder than it looks. Some people get lucky and have it come naturally, most don’t (it definitely didn’t for me).
Another thing on the topic: shooting a rifle or shotgun is quite different from shooting a handgun accurately.
The bold isn’t yelling, it’s just bolding so that the importance of what I just said is irrelevant.
You also cannot have police firing to incapicate, that opens up lawsuits that would bankrupt a department, FACT.
Even shooting in the legs, you can easily strike an artery, which results in death before the medics come in.
He is way to close, anybody with a knife within a 15 feet radius is a threat comparable to one with a firearm, why should people take the chance that somebody who’s doing his job even get hurt in any way or form. I’m sorry, but that sort of behavior warrants your death.
Secondly, the risk of missing and hitting somebody else is much to relevant, police shouldn’t have to worry about shooting randoms because they where to busy trying to incapacitate somebody so feel good warriors can cheer “JUSTICE!”
I only addressed one point, and that is the sheer stupidity and naivity of individuals who say shoot in the leg! shoot in the arms!
There should be only two questions asked when people die at the hands of the police, or at the hands of citizens.
WAS IT JUSTIFIABLE, AND DID HE CONTINUE USING DEADLY FORCE AFTER THE INDIVIDUAL IS INCAPACITATED
The only legitimate question here is. Did he the cops really need to shoot him 2-3 more times after the hesitation, and if not, why did they.
Fine, I’m a race-baiter. I screamed racism from the beginning and I had my biases from the beginning. But dude, I have a news flash for you even if I am all of that it is true it doesn’t change the fact that from all the information; you’re the flip side of the same coin.
-I’m the guy who screams racism at the top of his lungs because of my prejudice towards the police.
-You’re the guy who thinks this shooting was not based on racism because of your own prejudices against the “black community’s” need to claim racism at everything.
Just do us all a favor and stop trying to pretend that you came into this conversation without your prejudices because just like me and the other race baiters, you had done everything in your power to convince everybody that race was the least likely explanation for this murder.
BTW, no matter how you slice it or try to clean up your explanation because of our debate; your original statement regarding the “black community” tolerating violence was bigoted because it is a wide sweeping overgeneralization among every single black community and when you say words like “drowned out,” it means in my ears the following: those people don’t count because they don’t confirm my prejudices. I don’t know what city you live in, but in my city this debate and argument about black reliance and autonomy happens daily and the community outreach programs are a way of life.
Plus I will leave you with this:
If anybody in 2014 automatically views a black person as a thug just because of the image they see on TV then yes they are a racist. It’s as stupid and narrow minded as equating every Arab as a Turban wearing extremist who hates Americans because you don’t see them in regular life and all you see of them is in the media.
BTW Your libertarian beliefs aren’t the least bit racist in fact alot of black people are attracted to libertarianism, especially the economic principles, because they think it is the best way to run our communities.
The eye bone fracture was a story that was paraded by an ultra-right wing website with a history of factual errors. Then it go picked up by FOX NEWS and then you had the very same website trumpeting Fox News’ mentioning them as a source as confirmation of their source.
tone down the tough guy act. even if people are protesting on faulty grounds they don’t deserve to get their asses kicked by police, no more than the reporters who are stuck in the middle deserve to be arrested, no more than the people who don’t even appear to be protesting deserve to have tear gas shot into their property.
I think we’re done here. I’ll just leave it at this: I don’t think “the black community”, as in the generalization I threw out, is all inclusive, and I sure as hell don’t think all black people are thugs or stereotypes. For the last 7 years, I’ve lived in a pretty high crime neighborhood of Columbus, OH (not the worst, but on the edge of the worst 25%) that has a large thug and wanna be thug problem. It infuriates me that this shit has been made “cool”, and I wish more people would publicly mock, ostracized, and shun that behavior to the point of oblivion. Instead, I see rabble rousers, the media, entertainers, local politicians, and college know it all hippies blaming everything and everyone but the thugs (and the pop/sub-pop culture that glorifies such buffoonish stereotypes) for their behavior, all the while crying racism, and people seem to gobble it up. If the voices actually fighting that lifestyle are as common as you say they are, I’ve barely heard them, and it’s not for a lack of trying- believe me, I want to hear them, and I want to back them up. That said, it seems like you can’t back those voices up unless you’re black (and non-conservative, as two economists I regularly cite are always written off as uncle Toms), or you will be called racist for criticizing behavior you would criticize in anyone else. It’s frustrating as hell. So yeah, I have my biases too. I want the problems black America has to go away as much as you (as a black man) should, and I don’t think they will as long as the flames are fanned at every perceivable opportunity. It pisses me off when thuggish behavior is defended rather than attacked by people who should be the first ones to throw thugs under the bus, and I’ll even admit that the knee jerk circus reaction in Ferguson made me less likely to accept the possibility that Brown was gunned down for more malignant reasons.
Apologies for spamming the shit out of the word “behavior” there, I kept pulling back to it in effort to clarify that the choices those I’m complaining about have made are the cause of my anger towards them. And I saw your edit about libertarianism and economics after posting my response, I’m glad to hear that.
What goes through a policeman’s head before he shoots
The phone video shows the cops opted for lethal force, when you have two cops on scene, why can’t one of them attempt to taser? If the criminal goes down then that’s it, a job well done, nobody died. But if he doesn’t go down and he tries to attack the other cop already has his gun on him and can shoot, nobody would say the cop was wrong to pull the trigger.
It’s clear from all these killings and excessive number of shots, cops are extremely undertrained and it’s probably that fear that makes them go straight for the gun. Do you remember that guy who called the police outside of a restaurant, he was homeless & mentally ill (which they knew), 6+ cops put 40+ bullets into him, they didn’t stop shooting even after he went down from the initial hit.
They said the same exact sorts of things about the Berlin Wall, the Blitzkriegs, and the United Nations lasting more than 20 years, unlike it’s predecessor the League of Nations.
@mechwarrior, you assume people actually care about these issues. The tipping point for the use of actual violence only exists within a very small minority today. Any changes that are pushed will be minimal, but enough to placate the masses.
Police in general need better training. I hear the phrase, fear for my life all to much.
Especially when dealing with mentally ill people. There should be no excuse in this day and age.
Regardless of what is found out at the end, when all the facts come pouring, will people be able to use this as an opportunity to discuss fairly about underlying issues? And when I say fairly I mean that people should recognize that institutional racism still exists in some places on some levels, but ALSO that the need for self inspection in the black community about some of its social trends is heavily needed. (It won’t come from politicians since politicians only tell you things you like hearing, treating you like a little child.)
As long as words like “Xphobe”, “racist”, “sexist” etc. are used as conversation blockers, people lose on the opportunity for self reflection and improvement, and these same people will end up in a worse position.
Even if Michael Brown was unjustifiably killed, we still have here a young man who was supposed to go to college and have a future, screwing up his own life with violent culture, drugs and robbery. We can’t pin this one on racist cops…
By robbing any person off their personal moral agency you are essentially robbing them of their humanity, which is the true form of racism, sexism, etc. IMO.
I don’t think we’ll see this type of thinking dominating any time soon, but at least more and more people are starting to wake up.