On Wed, 22 Jan 2020 06:08:46 +0700, John B
wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jan 2020 14:25:10 -0600, Tim McNamara
wrote:

On Tue, 21 Jan 2020 12:06:06 -0800 (PST), Tom Kunich
wrote:
On Monday, January 20, 2020 at 9:04:05 PM UTC-8, Chalo wrote:
Tom Kunich wrote:

Murder by cop. Not at all infrequent.

Fixed that for you.

The fact that you don't like cops doesn't change in the least that
people directly with police guns trained on them will make
threatening moves purposely having themselves killed. Whether you
like cops or not that is not murder.

Would it be murder if it was a police officer with gang member guns
trained on him, who then made a move perceived as threatening and got
shot? You bet it would. Prosecuted, signed, sealed, delivered to
jail. Most people wouldn't ask any questions (at least most people
who are white and middle class).

Cops get a pass on shooting people unnecessarily. The "fog of war,"
needing to make a "split second decision," "warrior" training, etc.,
etc. Not sure what the threat is when it's a kid who's unarmed, 50
feet away and facing away from the cop. Or when it's a black guy
seated in his car who lawfully informs the officer that he has a
conceal and carry permit and is armed, but is shot multiple times
within 30 seconds of that (with the victim's wife and child in the
car). Or when a woman calls the police about a neighborhood
disturbance that sounds like a person being harmed and is shot and
killed when she approaches the police car that responded to her call.
Or when it's a cop who tells his partner he's going to shoot and kill
the guy as they drive up in their cruiser, caught on the dash cam, and
then does so *and* plants a gun to implicate the victim as the cause
of the shooting.

I guess those are acceptable losses in an increasingly totalitarian
America.

Well, of course, the answer is to disarm the police.

No. It might work in London (are bobbies still unarmed?) but America is
one of the most violent societies on the planet, except for those
engaged in actual war.

Disarming seems unwise and too "one size fits all." Better training
including resources to understand and cope with problems like mental
illness in the community they serve would be a better choice. Learn to
ask questions before shooting. In our area there are social workers
paired with police officers for calls where the suspect is known to be
or is thought likely to be mentally ill. This seems to have reduced
these incidents, although it's early days and whether or not the program
works and is sustainable is yet to be seen, but it's promising.