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Ask HN: Should the police be banned from saying whether a shooting is targeted?
Although the intent is not to threaten, calling a shooting "targeted" is tantamount to using death threats to coerce the public into not harassing, bullying, or cheating others.
- NightmareLives2 1y agoAlways against banning and infringement of the 1st Amendment. If they choose to use "targeted" in their verbiage, they must accept the consequences of perception.
- bigyabai 1y agoGiving a police officer a service weapon is tantamount to using death threats to coerce the public into not harassing, bullying, or cheating others.
- bell-cot 1y ago??? If the police say that the shooting victim was targeted by her ex - who is now in custody, or killed himself as the officers closed in on him - then who exactly is being coerced with death threats?
- amichail 1y agoEveryone is being coerced by death threats. You don't need to be threatened by the same person who killed the victim for it to be a death threat.
- bell-cot 1y agoFrom a logical point of view, I'd say you're moving toward a tautology. Even if you were the only human in existence, you'd still be under such coercion - since if you did not bother to eat or drink, you would die of starvation or thirst. From a practical point of view, your focus on death threats seems a bit concerning. You might want to speak with a trusted elder or mental health professional about that. (If you've tried doing that, and gotten poor results - yeah, the quality of such people varies. But there are some very good ones.)