General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: If Darren Wilson is innocent, why are so many white people preparing for war? [View all]TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)There's many many instances where people have been shot with tasers multiple times with little to no affect. Some departments don't even use them. My local PD doesn't and probably because they aren't very reliable. Besides, why should police officers not have the same right to self defense as a civilian? If someone comes at me wielding a knife I have the right to kill them in self defense. I'm not required to play nurse or nice with them or use some moderate weapon against them that is too high risk to my person. And as a civilian I also have the option to flee if I can. The police don't. They're required to attempt to subdue the person however necessary and take them into custody or have to kill them to stop them.
Yes, there are far too many mentally ill people that are dangerous to others who aren't kept away from the public or weapons. Problem is that a lot of the time no one knows how dangerous they are until they kill or attempt to kill. The far larger problem is violent criminals in general and people whacked out on alcohol or drugs. We live in a violent society. It didn't used to be that way, and I have no idea how it got that way. When I was a kid there weren't mass shootings, schools didn't need metal detectors or on campus police, most people that didn't lie in the city didn't bother locking their doors, etc. I clearly recall the first mass shooting anyone had experience - a shooting at a fast food restaurant - and people were just stunned that such a thing could happen. These days mass shootings are so common no one is really affected anymore.
Sorry, but it's just paranoid in the extreme to avoid police officers because of some misguided fear that they're going to do you harm. They're just people that happen to do a very thankless job that constantly puts them in harm's way. Normal people don't live in fear of the police. Frankly, being paranoid around or with a police officer is exactly what's going to stoke their radar. Personally, I like it when they're around whatever town I'm in.