And what if you don't have a gun but a small 3-4 inch knife, and what if you don't pull it on a cop at all, but are pointing it at people in a clear case of mental illness, because your are a mentally ill homeless person. Are cops justified in shooting you on site with up to 10 bullets and killing you. Happened a few weeks ago. This society doesn't have a @#$# clue how to deal with mental illness (I have little doubt this was of the poorly in touch with reality sort) and de-escalate it.
Trees don't grow on money
You say "small 3-4 inch knife" like it's a spork. It's not. A 3-4" knife is a tremendously effective killing tool. People with training understand this. We used to lose officers all the time because they didn't understand the threat a person with a knife presented to them.Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tueller_Drill
I agree there. Don't lay the blame on the officer on the street, at the point in time where the situation has escalated to the point where lethal weapons are involved. The failing occurred much earlier in the process.This society doesn't have a @#$# clue how to deal with mental illness...
On edit:
Edged weapons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWmRWjDhYw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwCl9bfz-8Y
Ever since we thought it was a good idea to save $ & empty the mental hospitals we have had so many MI people with no treatment. No I do not think the cop should have killed the guy with the knife. You can shoot someone in the leg & then disarm them.
In the case of threatening people with a knife, it depends on how close the knife wielder is to people and the context. The Tueller Drill is very applicable to this very case. Just because someone has a knife doesn't mean they're harmless. http://www.theppsc.org/Staff_Views/T.../How.Close.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tueller_Drill
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/my...duel-dilemmas/
From the Wikipedia article about the Mythbusters show, At 20 feet the gun wielder was able to shoot the charging knife attacker just as he reached the shooter. At shorter distances the knife wielder was always able to stab prior to being shot.
I've taken part in the Tueller Drill as part of several firearms self-defense classes I've taken. A normal able bodied person can close the distance of 21 feet in about 2 seconds. Even someone with some physical limitations will take just a second or so longer. I've got a bad knee and still did it at a very fast walk in 3.5 seconds. A young healthy male coming at me covered the 21 feet distance in two seconds. We did this with Airsoft guns, so we were able to shoot at each other (with proper protective equipment). I was just able to draw and get two shots off when the "attacker" reached me with his big hard rubber knife (you can't draw this fast without some practice).
That's not how guns work.
First of all, shooting someone precisely in a small target area is quite difficult, especially if the target is moving and you are under stress.
Second of all, leg wounds can easily be lethal - look at the arteries and other goodies in there. I clip your femoral artery, and you are going to bleed out before the paramedics get there unless I happen to know how to slap a quality tourniquet on you, and happen to have one on me, rigged to apply rapidly.
Thirdly, handguns are not particularly good at stopping people, which is why we train to use multiple rounds until the attacker stops.
Firearms aren't stun guns, they don't work like the movies show.
Have you ever tried this yourself? Do you have any idea how difficult it is? Police have a "hit rate" of about 17% from the figures I've read.
http://bearingarms.com/professionals-dont-shoot-wound/
and
Merry Christmas from St. Louis!
Oh yeah, we also had a black kid shoot a cop last week, just walked up to his car and shot him, but that didn't make the news and that's fine with me. I'd prefer to keep the media idiots out of town.
Tradd,
Vonderett Myers, the black kid who was shot and killed by a cop here near my house me a few weeks after the Michael Brown incident, was described by his family as holding a "sandwich." Not a gun. He didn't even own a gun they said, despite his own photos showing off a handgun. The same gun found at the scene.
Sigh. Facts don't matter, it's how you feel that counts, and if you even for a moment think "but wait! Vonderett Myers shot at a cop and he was out on bail tethered with an ankle bracelet" then you would be guilty of WrongThink and MSNBC will set you straight with this article:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/why-vonderrit-myers-matters
Are you sure it wasn't a sandwich he'd bitten into the shape of a gun?
ETA: I did hear about the cop who was shot.
That was depressing. It's no wonder the cycle continues when people are that out of touch with reality.
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