@oralloy,
Quote:Your point was that these mistaken shootings by police are due to everyone being in fear for their lives.
No, my point was these mistaken police shootings are due to
police being in
excessive, and increasing fear for their lives from guns.
Quote:Since guns are not the cause of people being killed, they are not the cause of everyone being in fear for their lives.
Hmm...you say this like normal citizens get shot at multiple times / get shot at as part of their job.
In any event, I had thought all parts of this were obvious: Police being in excessive and increasing fear for their lives, which stems from:
-the number and accessibility of firearms in the US populace & criminal element, and
- is exacerbated by the distance + ease of killing granted by firearms, and
- is driven by the number of people using them against police.
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In terms of distance & ease of killing granted by firearms - this is the major difference between a firearm and a knife. This too should be obvious, which is why the firearm is the weapon of choice among criminals, and the saying 'never bring a knife to a gun fight':
- A motorist intercepted by a police officer, who is still in his/her a car and has a knife isn't anywhere near as able to kill a police officer as a motorist in a car with a gun. Aren't a lot of your police officers killed in such intercepts by firearms?
- a criminal 10m away with a knife isn't the threat to an officers life that a criminal 10m away with a pistol is (so, with a knife - less likelihood of being shot, less excuses for murder <if corrupt>, less suspicion / anger / more trust from public, safer police, less trigger happy police)
- it is the threat of a firearm, rather than a knife, that results in police shooting people from a greater distance (so, with a knife - less likelihood of being shot, less excuses for murder <if corrupt>, less suspicion / anger / more trust from public, safer police, less trigger happy police)
The the advantages of distance & ability to kill of a firearm over a knife aren't deniable. They must, and do play a part in officers fears.
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So if you return and look at my original post (regarding this conversation), you will see that the slowly deteriorating situation does start with the number & accessibility of firearms in particular.
Were it knives, the initial situation would not be the same as criminals are less likely to attack a gun wielding officer with a knife (again, never bring a knife to a gun fight), which results in much less trigger happy police
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As an example of the difference in situation, based on the difference in gun cultures:
- Australian
- New Zealand
- UK
Police Officers don't wear body armour (any visit to the countries, or even viewing news or TV shows will tell you this). I don't have any knowledge of other countries police forces, I have neither visited others, nor seen their news or TV.
None of those countries have the firearms accessibility issues that the US has.
These countries too have minority cultures, and none of those cultures are in fear like in the U.S. I've run into 2 different well spoken african americans (by that I mean, they were educated, spoke well, and appeared quite law abiding) who were in fear of your police. I found it surprising the first time, not quite so the second.
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