List Members:
>
> I have practiced with a handgun similar to that used
> by law enforcement
> and I found it terribly difficult to hit bullseye
> with any regularity in a
> controlled environment with a completely stationary
> target, even at a
> fairly close range. Under circumstances involving a
> moving target who
> might attack me, I am certain that I would shoot
> rapidly at least three to
> five times before I would ascertain whether or not I
> could stop shooting.
Sorry, this just seems to be another excuse for a lot
of potential "accidental murders." IMHO if these guns
are so hard to control, maybe there needs to be
another type of gun issued for police officers so they
don't have to shoot to kill. You cannot tell me that
somewhere in the world they don't make a gun like
that.
> > <sigh>
> >
> And this is unfortunately likely to continue to be
> the best we can do,
> unless someone equips the officers with a whole
> arsenal of various tools
> like slime guns (which are still developmental and
> not something I want to
> encourage the police to use yet-- given such a tool
> they may use it for
> crowd control instead of their ever-present billy
> clubs and chemical
> sprays). In fact, the wider the arsenal the less
> effective the police
> might be in emergencies because of the time spent
> figuring out which tool
> they have to use next and equipping it for use.
> Switching weapons even
> once is a vulnerability.
I don't buy this either. Our government uses all
sorts of experimental stuff on us, even without us
knowing they are doing it. I am sure people would
rather have slime all over them than to be plugged
full of bullets. And look at the arsenal now, and we
have experienced how ineffective they are with that.
Minority communities can write a book on how
ineffective they have been.
And, if they are trained correctly for all types of
situations, they should not have to fumble around for
the right tool to use. If they are fumbling around,
and are so indecisive, they don't need to be on the
street because we need to be worried about their
mental capacity. They would be considered armed and
dangerous!
> Let's walk a mile in the officer's shoes before we
> condemn them.
The community has done that. The police seem to walk
away from any responsibility for the killings time
after time. The community would like to walk away
knowing that they did not cause the officers to do
anything simply by virtue of their color, nor the
state of their mental abilities at the time. They
would like to be able to walk away alive. True, the
man was waving a machete, but who had he killed? He
was dangerous, but I still do not believe that killing
him was the only way to apprehend him.
> > Seriously, hitting somebody in the leg (or arm,
> > or hand) is damned difficult shooting under the
> > best of conditions except for a trained sniper,
Maybe they need to be trained like a sniper.
Otherwise, we get these killings that are called
accidents.
> > The deaths of mentally ill people shot by
> > the MPD are not the sole responsibility of the
> > "trigger-happy" police. All of us who supported
> > deinstitutionalizing the insane bear partial
> > responsibility for their deaths. These people
> > needed close supervision in a supportive setting,
> > and instead they wound up being shot to death
> > because the police are simply not equipped to
> > deal with them.
Which is why the community is in an uproar. Why
haven't the police been trained to deal with mentally
ill citizens? This is not a new situation. Have they
not heard the calls to such action before from the
community?
And I am so tired of folks saying lighten up on the
MPD. I don't want to hear that we might force the
good ones to leave. Sometimes they leave because
there is so much corruption within the force
themselves, they leave to protect themselves and their
sanity.
I don't revere police any more than any other
profession. It is the job THEY chose, good or bad.
MY TAX DOLLARS go to pay for this service, so it is my
right to expect them to get their acts together. If
the Chief does not want to comply with OUR JUDGMENT,
GET RID OF HIM! If, in the end we have officials who
don't have the guts to serve the people they were
elected to serve by guaranteeing and protecting our
rights, then we ought to take a good hard look at
them, too.
I am so tired of hearing folks sympathize with the
minority communities. I would really like to see some
action this time. I am sitting in Tampa, and I am
outraged. Since I cannot be there to do anything, I
would like to hear on my local news station, a story
that states "in Minneapolis today, THE ENTIRE CITY,
SOMALIANS, WHITES, ASIANS, ETC., MARCHED ON CITY HALL
DEMANDING JUSTICE, AND HAVE PLEDGED NOT TO REST UNTIL
IT OCCURS. WE WILL BE FOLLOWING THIS NATIONAL STORY
UNTIL IT REACHES IT CONCLUSION."
I want the marches and so forth of the sixties rivaled
and surpassed by the justice and outright indignation
and compassion of the 21st century. I want to hear
about committed bodies and not merely fast fingers on
the keyboards posting. The real war on terrorism is
not being played out in Afghanistan, it is right in
our own back yards. The other war is merely the
scratch on an already broken leg.
I marched in the rally for Abuka Sanders, and I will
say now what I said then. Nobody shows up, not the
media, etc, when we march in our own backyards. It is
just another day of black folk getting together in
their eyes. Now if we were to march in THEIR
backyards, disturb their idyllic peace, different
scenario altogether. Well folks, THIS IS YOUR BACK
YARD!!! Bodies are piling up, and the stink is way
too bad to continue burying them in the back yard.
What are you going to do about it?
When I come home this summer I don't intend to step
over any more bodies.
Pamela Taylor
(A Minneapolitian Pissed off in Tampa)
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