by Simon 551 Replies latest social current
citing a blog as a news source seems kind of desperate.
Yeah, Mr Blog writer wants some traffic.
If you have forensic evidence and eye-witnesses against you though, a blog written by someone thousands of miles away who wasn't there and didn't know anyone involved is the best you have.
'Is it too much to expect that police officers who are trained with using guns to use these guns in a non-lethal way like shooting at the legs or shoulders of perpetraters who they are trying to subdue . ?' - yes, it is. Pistols are difficult to aim, and limbs become a blur. Adrenaline/nerves also make things difficult. The torso is the easiest target.
Is it too much to expect that police officers who are trained with using guns to use these guns in a non-lethal way like shooting at the legs or shoulders of perpetraters who they are trying to subdue.
I think you are basing that off TV shows and movies, it doesn't work like that in reality - it's not clint eastwood whipping a pistol out and shooting someone's hat off. If you watch police training it takes good reactions to just pull your weapon and fire in the time someone can cover 20 ft (why the rule). You do not have time to pick off limbs - it's simply too risky and no one is that good of a shot under that kind of pressure. Even in training situations at a shooting range it isn't that easy.
If you are drawing your weapon and firing then you shoot to stop the person and the best odds is to aim for the torso.
In the incident though it seems like he did hit his arms first, then his body and finally his head. So even with the ideal effort and response it still doesn't end well.
Is it too much to expect that police officers who are trained with using guns to use these guns in a non-lethal way like shooting at the legs or shoulders
of perpetraters who they are trying to subdue . ?
Hmmm....if some nutjob is charging me with a weapon, I don't think I'll be deciding how to wing him just hoping it stops him. What if he's on PCP? Shooting him in the leg will just piss him off.
Let's consider:
option 1: shoot him in the leg, hit the femoral artery, and he bleeds out in 3 minutes.
option 2: shoot him in the shoulder and hit the subclavian artery and he bleeds out in 3 minutes.
----
In boxing there's a saying: "Everyone has a plan until het gets hit".
It's very easy to think that while being attacked and your life is threatened that you'd be a compassionate, well-aimed shootist.
Bottom line is: if you don't want to get shot by a police officer (or anyone else) don't be an a**hole.
Adrenaline/nerves also make things difficult
Precisely. It's one thing that can't be simulated at a shooting range, no matter how good of a shot you are.
In Brown's toxicology report, he also had what is considered twice the legal DUI limit (in states like Washington where it is legal) of marijuana in his system. Pot isn't usually associated with aggressive behavior, but it does make some people very paranoid. And it probably explains why he was walking down the center of the street oblivious to traffic. Dude was high as a kite.
Bottom line is: if you don't want to get shot by a police officer (or anyone else) don't be an a**hole.
and as if there is mental health issues involved ?
.
Its been realized in some of these situations similar to the one I mentioned, that people have gone on to a psychotic episode. ???
It was said in this thread that Wilson was only 5' 7" , this is false information.
He testified in Court himself that he is just short of being 6'4" approximately 210 lbs. the same height as M Brown.
Yep.....prior to the grand jury testimony report all internet chatter had Officer Wilson at 5-7or8 170. I was quite surprised when I read he was 6-4 210. He is decent size man, but slightly built, and still much smaller than 6-4 292 Brown. (some reports now saying Brown was 6-6) The block I lived on in HS was mainly black and I was in many fights, but I would not want to be on the receiving end of a surprise attack by someone Brown's size.
Why defend criminals? Why extol them as being wonderful citizens? I am tired of this bs.
Its been realized in some of these situations similar to the one I mentioned, that people have gone on to a psychotic episode. ???
If I'm being attacked and my life is in imminent danger, I'm not going to ask my attacker for his meds list or the name of his psychiatrist before I defend myself.
If I have one or two seconds to decide my fate, I err on the side of saving my own life rather than a thug's.
Whether you're killed by a nutjob or a sane person, you are still dead.
[edit]:
finklestein, I see your view and appreciate it. If there is a non-violent, non-lethal option in a self-defense situation, then a person should take that avenue first. However, it's very easy to be an "armchair quarterback" and assert what you would, or wouldn't do, if your life is threatened. Fear, adrenaline, etc. all change the game, and what we think we'd do and what we actually do are often worlds apart.
Self-preservation wins everytime.
