I think it goes a little deeper than that: If everybody can get a gun, the use of guns by the police is going to increase. Here in Germany, police officers live in a privileged position of not having to instantly fear for their lifes when somebody goes or even acts a little insane, simply because there aren’t as many guns around trying to kill them.
I’m completely opposed to this use of force and the real solution to this is mutual de-escalation by disarming both sides. However, I can follow the psychology of how so many US cops end up shooting people. Their lifes are on the line, a lot more literally than our German cops.
Well that and the abysmal state that is how mental illness (or even being a little out of the ordinary) is dealt with in the US, by either ignoring it until it’s too late or medicating it until there is neither illness nor person left.
I live near DC, and don’t live in fear of it myself. I’m much more concerned about heart disease/cancer etc. If you were guarding a black president, I think your day job would be to seriously consider assassination a threat. Presidential assassination attempts and successes are not a modern development. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_incidents_of_political_violence_in_Washington,_D.C.
Within minutes of the attack, they were saying “this isn’t terrorism related”.
Umm, no, but I think cops will consider it strongly for cars apparently trying to breach barriers to the white house, and who then keep moving despite a horde of cops telling them to stop.
Well you could actually, that was a rhetorical question.
You’re also exaggerating the story, from what I’ve seen she made a wrong
turn and only came up against barriers when trying to correct her mistake.
I can’t imagine that containing suspected car bombs as close to the
restricted area as possible is standard bomb-squad procedure
I’m speaking on someone else’s behalf, but I gather that’s hyperbole presented as a joke, because police in America do kill an unsettling number of people.
Wow. Those new laws and procedures that were put in place to address mental illness after the Newtown shooting are working so so well. Finally we get something right. sarcasm
No harm in considering it as a motive - the harm came when they gunned someone down who I assume was nowhere near the president anyway.
If your comment can start with the phrase, ‘in this climate…’ then you’re likely more worried about it that you should be.
Plenty of first world countries that have politicians that are targets for assassination, but there aren’t many that would gun down a lost driver at the mere suggestion of the possibility.
Wish I could “like” that phrase a few dozen times. It’s easy to second-guess this from a distance and with time to think about it and with more information. In the moment, it’s a rapid judgement call about least risk to most people, made by trained humans who are quite aware that they may guess wrong.
The fact that she was a mother, or female, is irrelevant to the police response.
How often does this kind of situation arise in the UK at all? You have, in some ways, a significantly more civil society than we do. (Personally I think Canada beats us both.)
I don’t believe the Capitol Police have tazers. I’ve seen them with pistols, shotguns, M16 rifles, and fucking grenade launchers (I am not joking). I’ve seen them riding motorcycles, horses, ATVs, pickup trucks, Segways, and in cars. They have all the big boy toys. But I’ve never seen one of them with a tazer.
