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Police fighting a class war? The vast majority of those 1000 deaths are unambiguously from the justified use of force, in self-defense and the defense of others

Police fighting a class war? The vast majority of those 1000 deaths are unambiguously from the justified use of force, in self-defense and the defense of others. Believe it or not, there’s a lot of violent and bad people out there.

brohee 9y ago
There are countless youtube videos of police arresting violent individuals in Europe where they would just be gunned down in the US. If you want another comparaison, look up dog shooting in the US and in Europe, unless you really believe dogs are somewhat more dangerous in the US, the inescapable conclusion is that American cops enjoy the power trip of gunning down living creatures... And why shouldn't they, it's almost risk free for them, which is the root of the issue.
- xya3453 9y ago
  Or taking Hanlon's razor, Americian cops have been institutionalised to use force, almost as if they're operating in a country with more guns than citizens (unlike anywhere in Europe, or the world for that matter).
- raguuu 9y ago
  It's because we don't have guns. It's absurd to think police could act like that there knowing there are so many armed people. The gun thing is a chicken and egg problem, of course.
gambiting 9y ago
>>The vast majority of those 1000 deaths are unambiguously from the justified use of force There's two problems with this. 1) if you define "justified use of force" like Americans do, then yeah, of course it's justified, a guy pulling up his pants while being dragged on the ground is now "reaching for a weapon" so an officer is fully justified to shoot him dead. He was practically asking for it, and it shows up as such in all official statistics. 2) It doesn't explain how is it that other countries can get through the entire year without police murdering a single person, despite having the same or worse crime rates as US.
- JoeAltmaier 9y ago
  A significant difference is, that American police are arresting Americans. They are likely armed, while in other countries that may not be the case.
  - sidlls 9y ago
    They are not likely armed. Fewer than half of all households have even a single gun. Most of those aren't households where the gun owners carry in public: they're the kind of household where the "responsible gun owner" leaves his kit where the two year old can get it and accidentally shoot his 6 month old sister to death.
    - mschuster91 9y ago
      > They are not likely armed. But definitely way, way more likely than in any other civilized country in the world, and that's the problem.
      - sidlls 9y ago
        It's a problem, agreed. It's not "the" problem. Police in other countries don't have the same problem with individuals they apprehend that are armed. So I'd argue the prevalence of firearms is problematic, but the militarization of our police forces is much more so.

brohee 9y ago

There are countless youtube videos of police arresting violent individuals in Europe where they would just be gunned down in the US. If you want another comparaison, look up dog shooting in the US and in Europe, unless you really believe dogs are somewhat more dangerous in the US, the inescapable conclusion is that American cops enjoy the power trip of gunning down living creatures... And why shouldn't they, it's almost risk free for them, which is the root of the issue.

xya3453 9y ago
Or taking Hanlon's razor, Americian cops have been institutionalised to use force, almost as if they're operating in a country with more guns than citizens (unlike anywhere in Europe, or the world for that matter).
raguuu 9y ago
It's because we don't have guns. It's absurd to think police could act like that there knowing there are so many armed people. The gun thing is a chicken and egg problem, of course.

gambiting 9y ago

>>The vast majority of those 1000 deaths are unambiguously from the justified use of force There's two problems with this. 1) if you define "justified use of force" like Americans do, then yeah, of course it's justified, a guy pulling up his pants while being dragged on the ground is now "reaching for a weapon" so an officer is fully justified to shoot him dead. He was practically asking for it, and it shows up as such in all official statistics. 2) It doesn't explain how is it that other countries can get through the entire year without police murdering a single person, despite having the same or worse crime rates as US.

JoeAltmaier 9y ago
A significant difference is, that American police are arresting Americans. They are likely armed, while in other countries that may not be the case.
- sidlls 9y ago
  They are not likely armed. Fewer than half of all households have even a single gun. Most of those aren't households where the gun owners carry in public: they're the kind of household where the "responsible gun owner" leaves his kit where the two year old can get it and accidentally shoot his 6 month old sister to death.
  - mschuster91 9y ago
    > They are not likely armed. But definitely way, way more likely than in any other civilized country in the world, and that's the problem.
    - sidlls 9y ago
      It's a problem, agreed. It's not "the" problem. Police in other countries don't have the same problem with individuals they apprehend that are armed. So I'd argue the prevalence of firearms is problematic, but the militarization of our police forces is much more so.