Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site uwmacc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!rick From: rick@uwmacc.UUCP (the absurdist) Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics Subject: Lethal force used by police Message-ID: <494@uwmacc.UUCP> Date: Wed, 28-Nov-84 13:56:33 EST Article-I.D.: uwmacc.494 Posted: Wed Nov 28 13:56:33 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 30-Nov-84 07:04:36 EST References: <3@vax2.fluke.UUCP> <259@spp2.UUCP> <365@whuxl.UUCP> Reply-To: rick@maccunix.UUCP (Rick Keir) Distribution: net Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center Lines: 60 Xref: godot net.flame:3288 net.politics:3288 Summary: Who are you kidding? In article <365@whuxl.UUCP> orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) writes: (various comments about gun control, criminals getting off due to "technicalities", and the "Bastille Mentality" discussion omitted). >Personally I see no reason that policemen should have guns. >They could accomplish the same objectives with tranquilizer guns --besides >saving many innocent people killed by policement with guns ,tranquilizer >guns would make policemen less hesitant to fire at fleeing suspects. Gee, three statements to disagree with in one sentence! (1) Policemen (and policewomen, and policethings in general) do not carry guns as some sort of butterfly net to make it easy to capture criminals. They carry guns as a way of killing people who are about to try and kill someone else. The courts have long taken a very dim view of shooting people simply for running away when a policeman says "stop". That's why there is no training to "shoot to wound" or "fire over their heads". If you point a gun at someone you should be planning on killing them, because it is very likely that's what you are going to do. (2) Do you really believe that TRANQUILIZERS are going to work all that fast? I've worked with tranquilizers; they take a while to affect the body, even when you inject them into a vein. And tranquilizers are DANGEROUS; anything that is capable of knocking you unconscious is capable of killing you. What dosage should policethings carry? Enough for a skinny 14-year old gang member, or for a 250-pound mugger? If there's a cop near me, I don't want him or her thinking it's ok to shoot someone with a tranquilizer when they are not an imminent threat. (3) "Many innocent people killed by policemen". Where? Most policethings retire without ever having FIRED a shot at anyone, let alone having killed an innocent person, even in New York City. In fact, the number of people killed by policethings is quite small, and there are very few case of the person being "innocent": the usual reason is because they are trying to kill someone at the time they are shot. >Certainly it would be possible to develop such a device if our society put >its mind to it. But our society's only approach to violence is to promote >further violence rather than applying ourselves to creative ways to actually >*prevent* violence. > >tim sevener whuxl!orb It's always nice when someone destroys their own argument. Now it becomes clear that you are merely WISHING we had some kind of technology that could stop people without killing them. Phasers, right? :-) -- "But Dinsdale...Dinsdale usedsarcasm!" we all know where this quote came from, don't we? Rick Keir -- MicroComputer Information Center, MACC 1210 West Dayton St/U Wisconsin Madison/Mad WI 53706 {allegra, ihnp4, seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!rick