>"cops don't harass people in your opinion?" "Cops can do literally anything they want to you with minimal/no repercussions." "If I defend myself against an agg

>"cops don't harass people in your opinion?" "Cops can do literally anything they want to you with minimal/no repercussions." "If I defend myself against an aggressive cop I'm getting a felony and going to prison for decades." That's not my opinion, and harass is not the same as attack. Unprovoked/unreasoned encounters are incredibly rare as to not be an issue for the vast majority. Have you even looked at the case law and statistics of police encounters? Also felony does not mean prison for decades, and defending yourself in court does not lead to a felony in the first place. Unless you mean defending yourself through violence, but then again that's against the law. > "Someone removing me from a place I'm living would think twice if they knew I was armed/had weapons." Really? Do you intend to tell all those people in mentioned in the article to just shoot back next time? How do you imagine that's going to go for them? The police is not just a single person but part of an entire apparatus that has far more reach and resources than you which is where their ability to combat crime comes from. You're not really a match for motivated criminals, but even if you were, this is clearly not the preferred solution for the majority of the population. > "You can make a guess at that and assume what you want.... you know nothing about me, where I've been, or how I've lived." Why use such vague statements then? But since you said so, I'll go ahead and assume (with extremely high confidence) that you have no experience with violence and lawless environments. I have history with both sides of the law and know career criminals with less hostile police interaction than you seem to have. In fact, police are the least of their concerns, similar to anyone who lives in dangerous places, but then again you would know that if you were familiar with such areas. Police violence is definitely an issue, but this thread is a comparison to not having any state protection at all, and just about everyone in the latter situation would happily switch places with you. But I'm pretty sure you know that, and would never take up such an offer.