71–80 of 107 posts
I wonder how the London police manage to keep order without carrying guns ?
Because the general public isn't expected to be armed with firearms either.
There are several armed criminal gangs in London.
Maybe what's needed are better non-lethal weapons for police.
The New York Post has just reported that Brooklyn Assembly Members Annette Robinson [D.-Bedford Stuyvesant] and Darryl Towns [D.-East New York] have introduced a "minimum force" bill that would require officers to "shoot a suspect in the arm or the leg" and to use firearms "with the intent to stop, rather than kill." This is what happens when people think TV and movies are an accurate representation of reality. Beyon…
How about loading the first round with blanks. Some times just the sound of the shot is enough to startle and stop a suspect. Shooting in the air would be an option too, but it could be a little problematic, as what goes up, must come down. The blank option would also give an officer a split second to maybe rethink his actions. And if the officer really needs to use lethal force, it's easy to quickly squeeze off 2 ro…
This has a likelihood of being a nice idea which in practice makes things worse.
On the other hand, in Germany, dogs are used more widely to stop people who don't need the orders to halt.
As long as you allow the general public to carry firearms the police will have a hard time establish a power superiority in any stand of without the excessive use of firepower. As this article talks about firing multiple rounds per encounter is the norm it nigh be worth pointing out that the whole German police fired less than 100 shots at person per year for the last decade. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffengeb…
Perhaps the solution to police killings is to disarm the police. The current default--police have weapons and can use them as they see fit--seems not to be working.
As long as you allow the general public to carry firearms the police will have a hard time establish a power superiority in any stand of without the excessive use of firepower. As this article talks about firing multiple rounds per encounter is the norm it nigh be worth pointing out that the whole German police fired less than 100 shots at person per year for the last decade. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffengeb…
Shooting to wound is absurd. However, keep in mind that Bill Lewinski is a pseudoscientist who makes his living justifying killings by police. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/us/training-officers-to...
No, it really isn't absurd. The German police do it very frequently. http://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/polizeibericht/article205518...
That said I'm a former Norwegian King's Guard, and we were told to aim for the legs first if shooting was absolutely necessary. Admittedly, since we were shooting with 7.62mm NATO rounds at the time, a shot in the leg would basically be a very crude amputation. They use 5.56mm NATO now, but I bet getting hit in the leg is still not much fun. We were stationed at posts including the palace and the fortress, which are both in the centre of Oslo, so if you're really looking for trouble the threat is not academic. I've never heard of a guard firing at anyone since ww2 though (except themselves in suicide).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. Been shooting in the military since 2006, and I just left the active duty Army after 5+ years. Was an Infantry Platoon leader...been to a bunch of shooting courses...This idea that you can "shoot to wound" is just not based in reality. Like, at all. Shoot someone in the leg, huh. Better not hit that femoral! They'll bleed out in ~2, maybe 3 minutes, depending. Better practice your tourniquet. Watch your backg…
"One thing I've noticed in watching videos of police recently is that they seem really quick to draw their weapons on a target." That is what scares me along with the use of SWAT. I would love to have stats on drawn weapons per encounter through the year (yeah, pipe dream). I'm not sure its more frequent or we just have a ton more video. My brother had a gun drawn on him by a young highway patrol officer while he was…
Brit here. Is the 'stop or I'll shoot' thing a myth or does it actually happen in the US? i.e. do police in the US shoot suspects when there is no threat other than the risk they will get away?
When I was 14 a cop drew a gun on me while I was running away and said, "Stop or I'll shoot". Actually, I think it was, "Stop or I'll pop a cap in your ass!"
Maybe what's needed are better non-lethal weapons for police.
Ideally you would want some kind of sci-fi weapon that shoots out some sort of impenetrable web/blanket that wraps around the criminal, holding them until you can safely handle them at a later point.