Would have thought the issue here should be not that he was shot, but the fact he was shot 7 times in quick succession.
If you remove ‘unarmed’ it looks like almost as many white men get killed by the police. the shocking and entirely relevant fact is that unarmed black men are disproportionately killed. Removing one of the criteria for that statistic changes the story. That’s fine if you want to ignore a very real problem of cops murdering a segment of society.
And there’s far less chance that gun will be in the hands of a black man. The NRA isn’t full of young black criminals fighting for the right to protect their drug deals.
In 5 and half years 124 unarmed black men have been shot and killed by police out of a total of 356 according to the Washington post's database but there is always a story behind every one. This year there have been 9 unarmed black men shot and killed. 1 was reaching into a car for something after resisting arrest. 1 was attempting to ram police in his car, one was escaping a police car and actually trying to get into the drivers seat, one was hitting police, one was unarmed but the police in question said he was raising his arms as though he had a weapon and they were mistaken (yeah I know), one was accidentally caught in the crossfire when her boyfriend drew a weapon at police, in one the gun went off accidentally during a struggle, in one the cop completely got the wrong guy (the same cop had already killed another man) and in the other the officer claimed there was a struggle, evidence suggests there wasn't and so the black officer was charged with murder.
We also have to consider other causes of these regular occurrences.. 1 Primarily 2nd amendment involving ease at which guns can be licensed and bought by virtually anyone with minimal checks meaning many members of the public carry guns often concealed or readily 'to hand' in their vehicles . This is critical as it impacts on points 2 and 3. 2 Selection process for recruitment and including psychological assessments for suitability for the role. 3 Lack of comprehensive thorough training of police officers prior to letting them loose fully armed on the public. Many have no skill in defusing situations, risk assessment and are already under stress given what confronts them every day i.e. point 1 above. 4 Powerful police unions /lobbyists meaning many officers escape any punishment greater than dismissal from their jobs when any civilian committing the same act in similar circumstances would be on murder or the very least manslaughter charges. This emboldens many officers as they are less intimidated by the potential for serious repercussions resulting from their actions. 5 Authorities in States and Central Govt. in Washington reluctant to grasp the nettle and take on the unions, not to mention the NRA. Nevertheless, there are clearly elements of institutional and individual racism, not to ignore basic thuggery, from a minority of rogue officers, in some of these incidents, regardless of how you slice and dice statistics. The danger is though, that if trial by media and social media every time someone is shot by police continues before all the facts are known, as it is now often the case, then the racism argument risks being devalued through exaggerated claims when it transpires that was absent. There are enough legitimate examples to highlight it but some cases where the facts exonerate the police become a distraction from those.
You're confusing legally registered open carry firearms, many of which are kept in the home, with concealed carry and the more significant number of illegally owned firearms which are owned by criminals of all races
Not sure why you’re winking at me like you’ve won an argument? There was no argument to win. Merely having an honest and open discussion. Which I’m still not convinced you’ve fully answered, but this is an internet message board so intricate conversations are difficult to have. More suited to being able to speak back and forth.
Thanks for thinking of me. But; No I’m not confused. I’m illustrating the fact that people keep suggesting this issue is caused by ‘too many guns’ when it’s unarmed men who are at risk.
Feel free to show the figures for illegal gun ownership then. Or the figures for weapons drawn on police by race Or for once try not replying with such a dismissive condescending tone
And blocked again Some people are not worth the hassle as they bring nothing to a debate except condescending belittling remarks with nothing behind them
I think this is a real danger and contributes to a lot of issues we see. The media rush to report something with zero context, zero background info, and if delivered in a certain way causes some of the frenzies we see. Take the example we're talking about in this thread. I've since seen reports that he was waving a knife around, the police were made aware of a warrant out for his arrest as they drove to the scene, he was tasered but the taser failed, and when he walked to his car he told them he was getting his gun and refused to stop. Now, this might not be 100% accurate as you can't believe anything you read these days, but the news broke without any of this as all the media cares about is people clicking links, watching videos, sharing, and commenting.
You're both as bad as each other, to be honest. For example, your pleasant retort to me over the weekend:
I think the real issue is the number of guns in the states. There are around 150 cops shot each year in the US. Now if you were a cop and someone clearly wasn’t complying with instructions. And was either looking like they were reaching for something, or reaching into their pocket/waistband, would you wait to see if it was a packet of chewing gum they wished to share? Tasers are effective, if they hit correctly... are you going to take that risk when they could be pulling a gun? Seriously, who would want to serve and protect in that country? The wages aren’t that good. Coupled with the fact that you’re vilified by half of the population. Your family and home are in increased danger. It just seems like a job no normal person would want. Race may be an issue, but this media frenzy of all police are bstards is causing more deaths. Some police are, but the vast majority are just normal folk trying to get by. The attitude of f the police, brings about the thought that the cop has his gun drawn to shoot them, not protect themselves from attack.
tacking a slightly different tack - why is the black guy always portrayed as the 'victim' - why do some people 'take the knee' - support the BLM movement. By dominating the agenda the white guy is in danger of adopting a supremacist position. Is there anything more patronising towards black people that white people condescendingly telling them their 'Lives Matter' The debate on Race issues is always taken over and controlled by the white guy who knows what is right for the black guy and who controls the narrative - and rarely resolves the problem. Look at this police shooting - the 'victim' is a black guy - and the next step is all black people are seen as 'victims' - and the white guys rush to protect these 'victims' because it satisfies their agenda that these victims need our support because the white guy is in the superior position to give this support.
It's not whites who came up with the BLM slogan or taking the knee though. Doing it together shows the support.
So you have a bloke who has a warrant out for his arrest who is known for assaulting the police resisting arrest and carrying concealed weapons. The same bloke who prior to being shot had been apprehended by the police but again resisted arrest and escaping from their custody before heading round to his car. Guns were not drawn until he made off from the aborted arrest and attempted to enter his vechle. He refused to comply again. What would you have done different?
Poverty has a massive influence on what we are seeing in America right now . It's easy to fall into " The police kill more blacks than whites so it must be racism " trap but the reality is most blacks live in poor neighbourhood s where federal and state governments spend less money on things such as education , pro active policing , social programs etc and the result of those policies are an increase in crime that then results in " on edge " policing . It would be interesting to see the crime stats for the 20% poorest white Americans who live in similar areas where the state has pretty much abandoned them . I would add anyone thinking that getting trump out and biden in will resolve the situation I'd say think again as the problems in America are far more systemic .
Not shoot him is the answer to your question. How many folk with violence markers (including weapons) have I arrested? Answer lots. How many did I shoot? No one How many did I use excessive force on? Non Use of taser? Nil Use of parva? Twice Policing and the justice system in the states is a joke. Again this to me is attempted murder, again fatal excessive force is used without thought.