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Not trying to start a flame war here, but its not a fantasy. There are 36,000 gun deaths, and over 100,000 gun related injuries in the US every year (thats roug

Not trying to start a flame war here, but its not a fantasy. There are 36,000 gun deaths, and over 100,000 gun related injuries in the US every year (thats roughly 3000 per week). There was an armed man who lead a high-speed chase and shot at police. The odds are very high he will injure or kill another person, its not a fantasy to think the police are thinking worst case. https://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-america/ https://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-america/ We are looking at this article with hindsight that his only crime was taking the belt, but you can't know that _at the time_, and given that these officers see shootings, robberies, and murders on a regular basis, its impossible to make the assumption that "well he's probably just harmless, lets wait this out". I pose this simple question -- if someone broke into your house, armed, and fired shots. Would you wait it out, or assume the worst? If you assumed the worst, and that meant sacrificing your property to possibly save your life and the life of your family, but then it turned out the guy was just looking for a few items to sell, and wasn't really that bad, would you say you made the wrong call?

magashna 7y ago
Police shouldn't engage in high speed chases if you're concerned for innocent's safety Police in the US are responsible for about 1000 firearm deaths each year, and getting increasingly aggressive towards innocent Americans Police militarization increases this aggression at no benefit to the public If the police blew up my house and offered a snarky apology after escalating the situation far beyond what was necessary, I'd be angry. Your question isn't simple, it's leading. "Let me ask you a question that is totally different from what happened and will give me an answer I'm satisfied with"
jack_h 7y ago
That 36,000 number isn't really the entire story. The majority of those are suicides. In the year that this incident took place (2015) there were 9,616 murders with a firearm of some kind. Source: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-2015/tables/expanded_homicide_data_table_8_murder_victims_by_weapon_2011-2015.xls https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-...

magashna 7y ago

Police shouldn't engage in high speed chases if you're concerned for innocent's safety Police in the US are responsible for about 1000 firearm deaths each year, and getting increasingly aggressive towards innocent Americans Police militarization increases this aggression at no benefit to the public If the police blew up my house and offered a snarky apology after escalating the situation far beyond what was necessary, I'd be angry. Your question isn't simple, it's leading. "Let me ask you a question that is totally different from what happened and will give me an answer I'm satisfied with"

jack_h 7y ago

That 36,000 number isn't really the entire story. The majority of those are suicides. In the year that this incident took place (2015) there were 9,616 murders with a firearm of some kind. Source: https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-2015/tables/expanded_homicide_data_table_8_murder_victims_by_weapon_2011-2015.xls https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-...