Paraquat wrote on 07/19/16 at 09:25:08:Calm down with the crickets.
I've been trying to formulate a response.
Which came first?
People with guns or the militarization of the police force.
As one escalates, the other escalates. Almost like that Betari Box (see, I read the article).
The 2nd Amendment is meant to level the playing field. Police need an advantage. It builds...
... and lunch is over. Bye, Felicia.
--Steve
I haven't studied the article much, but I remember that it not only had to do with the lack of weapons, but the supposed fact that these British police officers carry a different sort of philosophy.
Although the cop interviewed would change his perspective against the wholesale carrying of weapons if the citizens started carrying weapons, he also was of the opinion that many officers shouldn't carry guns.
Perhaps our police force needs a paradigm shift.
Also, I work with a fellow who is a martial artist of sorts. If I remember correctly, he can supposedly take just about any weapon away from you and use it against you. Told a story about tossing a knife for an opponent to pick up and fight him, then warning him that once he did he would use it against him. The point is that our police officers shoot and kill people over a so much as a knife, even so much as a
screwdriver, if you remember that incident. However, it is THEIR JOB to apprehend people, and, naturally, some will fight. Isn't it a significant problem that these officers have to kill people to do their job? Shoot them, kill them, and then read the corpse his rights, and throw the rotting skeleton in prison. Stupid, ain't it?
Have we come to the point where our police are like the Roman soldiers of old? Have we come to the idea of "OBEY OR DIE"? I don't know exactly how the Romans dealt with things, but I do remember something of this: A Roman soldier would be traveling through a territory, and he could legally order someone (probably a young man) to carry his load a mile. If he refused, the soldier would kill him. I think the Bible mentions (perhaps Jesus himself) carrying the soldier's load an extra mile. This is where that axiom "going the extra mile" comes from.
What's next? "You're under arrest!" ... "But I don't wanna!"... BANG!... You're dead.
Is the fear of imminent death as a result of disobedience the kind of way we want to run our justice system?
There are effective ways of disarming well armed and very dangerous people without killing them. Skilled martial artists can demonstrate this. In the blink of an eye, one of them will have taken the gun right out of your hand, cocked it and be pointing it between your eyes. And we can't demand that our police practice these techniques? Lives depend on it. It's part of their job, is it not?