The reason cops are becoming militarized is that the crooks are packing automatic weapons now and have no fear of capital punishment so they do not hesitate to kill cops. Remember the Bank of American holdup in California?
We have no idea what happened here.Friends of Mr Brown will say the cop(for unknown reasons) decided he wanted to execute a black kid.The cops say that Mr Brown attacked an officer and tried to grab the officers gun.Thankfully liberal toonists don’t decide what really happened.Just calm down people and wait for the results.
The biggest problem with Rand Paul’s piece in Time is that he carefully blurs the distinction between the different levels of government involved. His libertarian “brand” is that the most power should be in the most local hands; the feds should exercise little influence, while your state and city governments affect you the most. Unfortunately, that is exactly the problem in Ferguson and elsewhere. The racist punishment problems he points out primarily come from local law enforcement, and historically we can see that the feds have to step in when the locals abuse their power. Gosh, if you look at it that way, it’s almost as if the federal government acts as a check on local fiefdoms. Checks and balances…remember when we used to USE those to make things work, instead of abusing them for partisan gain? As for the laughable statement that we have no idea what happened…we have multiple eyewitness accounts. We have video. Soon, we’ll have the coroner’s report. The story that has emerged so far is that the cop initiated the incident by telling Brown and a friend to get out of the street. What immediately followed is admittedly fuzzy, but the eyewitnesses all agree that a shot was fired while the policeman was still in the car, but it did not kill (and may not even have hit) Brown. Brown then started RUNNING AWAY from the policeman, who exited his car and pursued on foot while firing. Brown stopped and turned around, hands up, and the policeman continued firing until Brown was dead. I have yet to hear any justification for anything that cop did from the point he decided to get out of his car. There is no indication that the officer was in danger or that Brown had committed any crime…so why was any pursuit, armed or otherwise, called for? What possible excuse can there be for firing on an unarmed man whose arms are raised in the universal “I surrender” posture?
The Age of Terror. / The Age of Paranoia.We live in an age when armed policeman can be afraid of an unarmed teenager. When cops fear the people they serve and the people fear the cops who protect them. When every strange-looking person is feared to be carrying a gun if not a bomb. When normally decent people stockpile arms and ammunition for self-defense against their fellow citizens and even against their own elected representatives. When we voluntarily see our civil liberties eroded for the sake of safety. When desperate refugee children are considered a threat. We live in an age when fear-mongers of all types flourish. Can you imagine the line “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” being used today?
The witnesses will never be able to tell you what happened when Brown had his head in the car window. Only the cop could, and given the outcome his perspective might be suspect. I doubt there’ll be any answer that satisfies anyone unless there’s dashcam / audio involved.
I have not seen any official report on what happened, just a lot of fuzzy “eye witness” accounts. It will probably be another month before the investigators provide an account. In the mean time, burning down buildings, looting and rioting is not an acceptable response.
Over a hundred million armed households. (Some heavily.)
200K – 300K armed “law enforcement” of various types – state & federal.
If/when it hits the fan, and the L/E’s actually fire on the citizens in numbers – it won’t be pretty. Do the math. Even if they all had military vehicles (They don’t) – you have to get out to eat & poop at some point.
Governments where the “authorities” are the only ones armed, always seem to end up the same way. Read your history books.
You had a “preview” the other night – if you were watching..
The NRA doesn’t have a dog in this fight. Privately, many NRA members believe police generally need to demilitarize, and they are completely mystified by the open carry movement. There’s just no need for either of those.
More on topic, If this young man did assault the policeman, and if the policeman was responding to a strong-arm robbery, it was a very dangerous context. Once any shooting starts, any semblance of restraint is gone and adrenaline has control.
On a final note, another comment referenced criminals having “automatic weapons” when that is rarely the case, simply because it would get way too much attention from ATF and FBI. Many people – criminal, police, and ordinary citizens – have semi-automatic weapons. There’s a huge difference in legality and lethality.
“What if the kid was already subdued without being strong armed?”What if? How many people do you think will change their mind about the cop or the guy he shot after being revealed he wasn’t resisting. Some people honestly feel that if a cop shoots someone, he must have deserved it.
@Night-Gaunt49:Perhaps you should reread my comment; I’m solidly on the side of the protesters, and I’m so white I can get sunburned driving down the road. This behavior is outrageous, and I’m glad to see that someone’s finally taken some action to de-escalate the situation over the past couple of days..@curtisls87:It’s a local problem in that these cops have obviously received little, if any, training in the proper use of that equipment. They need to leave their toys alone if they can’t play with them responsibly, and that’s a purely local shortcoming..@Various commenters:Whether the kid stole some cigars or not is wholly irrelevant. The cop used deadly force on someone who was standing still, hands in the air, unarmed and posing no threat. If this was about some stolen cigars – or anything else, really – that’s when the cop should’ve cuffed him for questioning. Shooting him dead in that circumstance is inexcusable.
So the “Innocent kid walking down the street” turns out to be a thug who commits robbery and brazenly intimidates a much smaller store owner just hours before the incident.Once again, like with Trey-Von, the race-card folks jump to conclusions and end up looking like clowns.That includes you Barry!
@MangeyMoose:Nope, never been there. However, I have read almost everything Stephen King’s ever written, and I think that oughta count for partial credit. ;).@louieglutz and Michael Moreno:18 years old is a kid, the alleged theft is irrelevant to the shooting, and the cop could easily face a first-degree murder charge. After all, they call it premeditation when you gun down someone who has surrendered and is explicitly posing no threat..But, hey – way to put your racism on display, pinheads. You could hardly have been more obvious about it without putting on a pointy white hat and carrying a CSA flag.
hawgowar over 9 years ago
The reason cops are becoming militarized is that the crooks are packing automatic weapons now and have no fear of capital punishment so they do not hesitate to kill cops. Remember the Bank of American holdup in California?
jnik23260 over 9 years ago
Was this kid a heavily armed crook holding up a bank?uh…no,
ConserveGov over 9 years ago
We have no idea what happened here.Friends of Mr Brown will say the cop(for unknown reasons) decided he wanted to execute a black kid.The cops say that Mr Brown attacked an officer and tried to grab the officers gun.Thankfully liberal toonists don’t decide what really happened.Just calm down people and wait for the results.
RevBobMIB over 9 years ago
The biggest problem with Rand Paul’s piece in Time is that he carefully blurs the distinction between the different levels of government involved. His libertarian “brand” is that the most power should be in the most local hands; the feds should exercise little influence, while your state and city governments affect you the most. Unfortunately, that is exactly the problem in Ferguson and elsewhere. The racist punishment problems he points out primarily come from local law enforcement, and historically we can see that the feds have to step in when the locals abuse their power. Gosh, if you look at it that way, it’s almost as if the federal government acts as a check on local fiefdoms. Checks and balances…remember when we used to USE those to make things work, instead of abusing them for partisan gain? As for the laughable statement that we have no idea what happened…we have multiple eyewitness accounts. We have video. Soon, we’ll have the coroner’s report. The story that has emerged so far is that the cop initiated the incident by telling Brown and a friend to get out of the street. What immediately followed is admittedly fuzzy, but the eyewitnesses all agree that a shot was fired while the policeman was still in the car, but it did not kill (and may not even have hit) Brown. Brown then started RUNNING AWAY from the policeman, who exited his car and pursued on foot while firing. Brown stopped and turned around, hands up, and the policeman continued firing until Brown was dead. I have yet to hear any justification for anything that cop did from the point he decided to get out of his car. There is no indication that the officer was in danger or that Brown had committed any crime…so why was any pursuit, armed or otherwise, called for? What possible excuse can there be for firing on an unarmed man whose arms are raised in the universal “I surrender” posture?
Doughfoot over 9 years ago
The Age of Terror. / The Age of Paranoia.We live in an age when armed policeman can be afraid of an unarmed teenager. When cops fear the people they serve and the people fear the cops who protect them. When every strange-looking person is feared to be carrying a gun if not a bomb. When normally decent people stockpile arms and ammunition for self-defense against their fellow citizens and even against their own elected representatives. When we voluntarily see our civil liberties eroded for the sake of safety. When desperate refugee children are considered a threat. We live in an age when fear-mongers of all types flourish. Can you imagine the line “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” being used today?
meetinthemiddle over 9 years ago
The witnesses will never be able to tell you what happened when Brown had his head in the car window. Only the cop could, and given the outcome his perspective might be suspect. I doubt there’ll be any answer that satisfies anyone unless there’s dashcam / audio involved.
Theodore E. Lind Premium Member over 9 years ago
I have not seen any official report on what happened, just a lot of fuzzy “eye witness” accounts. It will probably be another month before the investigators provide an account. In the mean time, burning down buildings, looting and rioting is not an acceptable response.
avarner over 9 years ago
Actually the NRA does have a solution.
Over a hundred million armed households. (Some heavily.)
200K – 300K armed “law enforcement” of various types – state & federal.
If/when it hits the fan, and the L/E’s actually fire on the citizens in numbers – it won’t be pretty. Do the math. Even if they all had military vehicles (They don’t) – you have to get out to eat & poop at some point.
Governments where the “authorities” are the only ones armed, always seem to end up the same way. Read your history books.
You had a “preview” the other night – if you were watching..
BTW I don’t belong to the NRA or even own a gun.
echoraven over 9 years ago
To my knowledge the NRA is there to protect the 2nd amendment, not to comment every time a gun is fired.@Doughfoot – great post.
bob.cloninger over 9 years ago
The NRA doesn’t have a dog in this fight. Privately, many NRA members believe police generally need to demilitarize, and they are completely mystified by the open carry movement. There’s just no need for either of those.
More on topic, If this young man did assault the policeman, and if the policeman was responding to a strong-arm robbery, it was a very dangerous context. Once any shooting starts, any semblance of restraint is gone and adrenaline has control.
On a final note, another comment referenced criminals having “automatic weapons” when that is rarely the case, simply because it would get way too much attention from ATF and FBI. Many people – criminal, police, and ordinary citizens – have semi-automatic weapons. There’s a huge difference in legality and lethality.
Jason Allen over 9 years ago
“What if the kid was already subdued without being strong armed?”What if? How many people do you think will change their mind about the cop or the guy he shot after being revealed he wasn’t resisting. Some people honestly feel that if a cop shoots someone, he must have deserved it.
RevBobMIB over 9 years ago
@Night-Gaunt49:Perhaps you should reread my comment; I’m solidly on the side of the protesters, and I’m so white I can get sunburned driving down the road. This behavior is outrageous, and I’m glad to see that someone’s finally taken some action to de-escalate the situation over the past couple of days..@curtisls87:It’s a local problem in that these cops have obviously received little, if any, training in the proper use of that equipment. They need to leave their toys alone if they can’t play with them responsibly, and that’s a purely local shortcoming..@Various commenters:Whether the kid stole some cigars or not is wholly irrelevant. The cop used deadly force on someone who was standing still, hands in the air, unarmed and posing no threat. If this was about some stolen cigars – or anything else, really – that’s when the cop should’ve cuffed him for questioning. Shooting him dead in that circumstance is inexcusable.
ConserveGov over 9 years ago
So the “Innocent kid walking down the street” turns out to be a thug who commits robbery and brazenly intimidates a much smaller store owner just hours before the incident.Once again, like with Trey-Von, the race-card folks jump to conclusions and end up looking like clowns.That includes you Barry!
RevBobMIB over 9 years ago
@MangeyMoose:Nope, never been there. However, I have read almost everything Stephen King’s ever written, and I think that oughta count for partial credit. ;).@louieglutz and Michael Moreno:18 years old is a kid, the alleged theft is irrelevant to the shooting, and the cop could easily face a first-degree murder charge. After all, they call it premeditation when you gun down someone who has surrendered and is explicitly posing no threat..But, hey – way to put your racism on display, pinheads. You could hardly have been more obvious about it without putting on a pointy white hat and carrying a CSA flag.