The shooting death of a Georgia Tech student by a campus policeman became just another example of trigger-happy policemen killing emotionally disturbed people. What often goes unasked and thus unanswered by police is the question: why do cops think they need to use guns against people armed with knives, especially when there is a considerable distance between them and the victims? In this case the situation was aggravated by the facts that the “knife” was a utility tool that merely had a knife among other tools, and that the blade was not extended.
Why Do Cops Bring Guns to a Knife non-Fight?
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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They clearly have been reading the competition’s cartoons.
That or they figured if he had a real knife on him it would save them the trouble of later planting a gun on his remains. Police too need to think of efficiency, with all those budget-cuts and whatnot.
Can anyone else remember the right-wing trope in those 80s police series where they would constantly lament “In a land where the policeman has to wait until the criminal fires his first shot…” set to melodramatic music? At least that’s no longer a thing, as it would too obviously collide with now indisputable reality. Of course it wasn’t true back then either, I’m sure, but one could still pretend otherwise. Like Colbert said (when he was still funny) those were the days, as far as we knew…
Freddie Gray was shot for throwing daggers with his eyes; cops mistook the fear in his eyes as a mortal threat.
Freddie could have been killed for that even if his hands and feet were bound from the beginning.
“Can anyone else remember the right-wing trope in those 80s police series where they would constantly lament “In a land where the policeman has to wait until the criminal fires his first shot…” set to melodramatic music?”
I don’t remember that, or didn’t know of it, but the late 70s and early 80s were an especially active time for the trigger-happy LAPD, who are so justifiably popular with Ted (and vice versa, no doubt). One of the most notable events was the 1979 shooting of Eula Love, whom the LAPD shot eight times — just to be sure? — because she “threatened” them with a butcher knife (she may or may not have been using it to prune a plant — ineffectual, perhaps, but hardly a capital crime). They had come to her house because of an unpaid gas bill, for all of about $25. Shortly thereafter I remember they shot a naked man in a tree (??? — he threatened to pitch acorns at them, or what?!), and myriad other shootings. I believe that was in Daryl Gates’ heyday, around the same time he said such memorable things as “Casual drug users should be taken out and shot,” and that “blacks might be more likely to die from chokeholds because their arteries do not open as fast as they do in ‘normal people.'”
I guess that’s why the police bring guns to knife fights. (As though that’s really an answer to the question — I wouldn’t accept it from a student.)
“When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”
There’s been a spike in cops shooting dogs recently. Fido barks at the aggressive intruder & dies for doing his job.
On the other side of reality, cops train dogs to sniff out drugs. When one of their dogs gets shot in retaliation, it’s a tragedy – but not for the reason the pigs would have you believe. Spot thought he was playing a game, he had no idea that he could get dead.
Yeah, but the real tragedy is that the shooter is then charged with killing a police officer in the performance of his duty. What bullshit!
Because most of you seem uninformed on knife danger I’l link to the 21 foot rule.
This is Dan Inosanto illustrating how dangerous knives versus guns are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYl2KCdFNgo
Mythbusters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckz7EmDxhtU
It’s also called things like “The Prison Yard Rush”.
Essentially anyone with a knife can move faster and do more damage than anyone with a holstered gun.It takes very little time for a person with a knife to cross 21 feet and stab/slice someone.
I’ve read stories of trained knife fighters working as prison guards who still get stabbed.
I’ve watched self defenses videos that CLEARLY state there is no defense against a rush attack.
Knives are more deadly than guns.
ALWAYS avoid someone brandishing a knife.
Everyone go home and test this for yourself. Arm your opponent with a red magic marker, the Systems people when they train for knives use a tack in a piece of wood leaving a nice trail of blood, buy a cap gun and holster and discover for yourself just how screwed you are. Or just Google around for more information.
Add to that that a recent study claimed more people are scared of knives than guns and it makes the situation even more complex.
Police are also trained to fire into the center of mass. Very hard to shoot to wound.
Joe Lansdale in one of his books has a fictionalized version of an encounter with a drugged man. The real encounter was related to him by a police officer he knew..
eh, I’m good up to about 18 feet with a knife … thrown.
But hey, in the interest of science I challenge you to a duel. You get a knife, I get a gun, 21 paces, turn & fire…
deal or no deal?
Because of the last-last ditch attempt to destroy Obamacare, Reddit unearthed this 2014 tape of Mitch McConnell admitting that the Koch brothers run the GOP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNOaGBec5Q0
It’s very mumbly, like it was taped from another room, so it has a running transcript. The video came from here: http://www.politicususa.com/2014/08/27/leaked-audio-tape-mitch-mcconnell-admits-koch-brothers-running-republican-party.html
«… why do cops think they need to use guns against people armed with knives, especially when there is a considerable distance between them and the victims?» Because it’s fun ? Or more accurately, because recruitment and training practices select for the kind of people who think it’s fun ?…
Henri
I posted yesterday but it hasn’t been allowed yet.
Google the 21 foot rule, or Prison (yard or bum) rush.
Dan Inosanto and Mythbusters ( Something like why bring a knife to a gun fight) have videos proving how dangerous knives are.
It takes a knife wielder a very short time to cross the 21 feet not long enough for a holstered weapon to be drawn and fired.
Now Google knife fighting and see just how damaging a knife is. A slice across your forearm or back of hand will cut the tendons not allowing your hand to close. Knife fighters bleed you. Others, untrained, stab relentlessly.
Police are trained to fire center of mass because one can not guarantee accuracy using a tighter smaller area.
How about killing a deaf man wielding a metal pipe, fifteen feet away? Oh, it looked like it might be a shotgun, I guess. There are simply too many trigger-happy cops.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahoma-city-police-shoot-kill-deaf-man-holding-pipe/
John T. Williams, native American woodcarver, shot four times because he was carrying a piece of wood and a *closed* pocket knife.
This one is an easy answer – because instead of “To Protect and Serve” being their motto, these days it is more like “Better you and me”.