And Take Away Guns from Most Cops, Too
Stanley Heller, Promoting Enduring Peace
In the March 24, 2018, “March for Our Lives” the emphasis was on taking military rifles out of the hands of civilians and other measures to curb the lust to sell weapons from the out-of-control gun industry. Absolutely right. Yet, there’s another demand that should be made: Sharply limit the number of police with guns.
A few days before the march a young man was shot to death in Sacramento. He was in his own backyard. It was dark and police were looking for someone suspected of break-ins. A policeman said he saw something and yelled, “Gun, gun, gun.” Police shot Stephon Clark 20 times. All he was holding was a cell phone.
Last May in Bridgeport, Conn., 15-year-old, Jayson Negron, evidently stole a car and went joyriding with some friends. He was chased by police almost immediately, drove the wrong way down a street, was stopped, a policeman challenged him and within a few minutes Negron is shot dead and a passenger wounded.
Angry protests broke out after these killings as they did after Michael Brown and so many others were shot. Demands were made for severe punishment of police, but in all but a few cases, the police were found by prosecutors or juries to have used “reasonable” force.
Read the whole story on Peacenews.org: And Take Away Guns from Most Cops, Too | Stanley Heller – peacenews.org
Take guns away from “most” cops? Which cops should be disarmed? Even disarmed, rogue cops have brutally abused or murdered people by kicking, stomping, using nightsticks or flashlights to crush heads, or some other method. We should keep in mind that “some”—not most—cops keep their jobs on the force because good cops don’t report bad cops or act to get them fired. (Good teachers don’t report bad teachers; good doctors don’t report bad doctors. It’s the same for lawyers, airline pilots, and other jobs. But we’re quick to report a bad restaurant on Yelp, aren’t we?) A bad cop is one who is quick to shoot rather than use martial arts to stop suspects from harming themselves or the cop, or others. Perhaps cops with poor or no martial arts skills should be fired and transitioned in a job where violence is not part of the workplace.