I completely agree with this statement. I have said many times before that if we ended the war on drugs, either complete decriminalization, or change it to a legalized and regulated industry, we would see violent crime levels drop substantially. All of the organized criminals would have their main cash cow dry up… sorta. They could just go legit and sell it legally, or move on to new ventures like the mob had to. Of course the mob was never as violent and powerful as it was back at the height of prohibition. But at any rate, the potential reward of making it big for risking your life for shit wages would no longer be there.
Is there reason to dispute the actual video proof?
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Like ‘round a corner’, or ‘behind a thing’.
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My perspective points to #3 and #4 as being most likely to exonerate the two LEOs who were at the scene, leave a grieving family with no closure except (possibly) “important policy changes were made”, and making a scapegoat of someone (whoever gave Tamir the replica) whose only crime was not anticipating the gift was basically painting a bullseye on the boy.
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Good point on using a barrier instead of a long distance 
. Positionally, was that viable in this exact situation?
No, I don’t believe so. Again: Is there reason to dispute the reports that Tamir was brandishing the replica gun (I think that’s more accurate than “toy”) at people?
‘Positionally, was that viable’? Well, they had a big ol’ hunk of police car for starters. As for the locale, I don’t know. Quite possibly. Does it matter? Sensible policing would have been to clear the area and proceed with caution to establish exactly what the situation was and carefully gain control of it minimising harm to all concerned. That didn’t happen, did it?
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My perspective (as you’ve no doubt guessed already) is that the LEOs should probably be exonerated (given the evidence that has been made public thus far), so your point is valid. I’m certainly grateful for the opportunity to share my perspective with someone with a different viewpoint than mine, and to hear viewpoints that I may not have considered, or may be concealed beneath my own biases.
Regarding your position surrounding the person who gave Tamir the replica gun, I think it touches on a critical aspect of this debate: the availability of these replicas to children. There’s some brief analysis on this in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_in_airsoft#United_States . We restrict real firearm purchase/possession for children; perhaps we should more strictly apply those restrictions to replica firearms. Although the replicas cannot inflict so much damage upon others, it opens the door for others to inflict damage on the bearers of the replicas. I’ve played with squirt guns and paintball guns, but never airsoft. I’m still unclear as to why it’s so important that they look so real.
If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one around to hear it, is anyone close enough to be killed by it?
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Another question. Have you even watched the security footage of the event?!?!?
Because you are being as obtuse as all get out.
WTF? They drove up next to Rice. They could have parked on the street, but noooo … gotta be all action hero with this entrance.
It’s not about the gun, dude.
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I’ve been in a similar situation a number of times. You literally do not know if the police car will be able to stop before it physically hits you. It is an incredibly dangerous situation even without guns involved. If I were the sort of person to “brandish a gun in public”, my immediate defensive reaction would be to aim at the windshield of the car as it was barreling off-road directly toward me. Of course, we can see in the video that Tamir didn’t do that. It’s pretty clear who is targeting whom.
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Yes I have watched the security footage. I’m sorry if you feel that I’m being obtuse. I appreciate the perspective you’ve offered, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to discuss this topic with people who have viewpoints different than my own.
Stop playing devil’s advocate/trolling.
@everyone stop replying to this fool.
He won’t stop until we all understand that cops are innocent beyond all doubt unless we have a signed confession from him saying he did it. He’s got a total of 53 comments, 15 in this thread, and most in threads where he’s telling us how we’re all wrong and the black kids deserved it.
Go away.
@falcor how is this guy left to endlessly dominate these threads?
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Hi teapot. I never said, and would never say, that “the black kids deserved it”. I don’t know if that’s more of a strawman, or race-baiting, or just inaccurate. In fact, here’s a post in which I specifically said the exact opposite: Autopsy report declares police shooting of Tamir Rice, 12, to be homicide .
^Cute that he thinks I’ve got troll food.
Egregious jerks can still find a fulfilling role as helpful piñatas.
For those willing to sacrifice their humanity for a cause, it’s a worthwhile function.
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