[Madmartagen]

Originally Posted by Colonel

This isn't the case here because we know the outcome. If the policeman had shot the guy when he was dancing around like a lunatic it would have saved the officer's life but some folks would be screaming that he didn't have to do it. Hindsight is 20/20.

There ought to be a law that if the officer tells you to "get your hands outa your pocket" or "get back here" a certain number of times and you don't do it he can shoot you on principle alone.

The policeman should have shot the guy the moment he pulled out his gun or made a gesture that was an obvious threat (e.g. pointing, turning, pulling out the weapon, loading it, fucking it). The whole incident was on tape from the officers camera so there is no need to call out for excessive force when there wasnt any. That was my point in my original post, there was no excessive force.

You have to be kidding on the last part. Cops cant go around shooting people just because theyre too scared, bored or stupid to determine if someone is putting your life in danger. Just because people dont obey an officers every command, that doesnt qualify them for a bullet. When people get drunk, they get belligerant. When they get upset or scared, they become evasive and belligerent. Of course, by doing so you warrant yourself a good tackle by 4 or 5 officers and getting the knee in your back before ending up hog tied in the back of a squad car.

As for the gun control, this type of violence is a price we have to pay for living in this type of free society. People want guns, its that simple. There are alot of bad people here and since they have access to guns, youre gonna have this type of problem. There is no way you could effectively ban weapons in the US, there are too many of them out there. If for some reason, every gun in the US were to dissolve right now, people would still manage to get them elsewhere. The only problem in this case was that the officer should have shot sooner and better. In some cases you learn from your mistakes with your life, and that was this case. Im all for guns, owning some myself, the only problem is that just about anyone can get them. I think a requirement should be some training courses and a better criminal background checks. Like I said, im all for guns, but I dont think it should be a constitutional amendment, because then it means everyone should be allowed to own one, and I certainly dont agree to that.