CrankyBuddha
Member
I was listening to another radio show and they made, what I think, is a valid point. They theorized that many police departments have essentially trained officers to shoot anyone with a gun that is not in uniform. In shoot houses and training scenarios, the non-shoot targets are all unarmed or uniformed and the shoot targets are armed. This creates a trained reflex of shooting when you see a gun. In a high stress situation,as we have discussed before, you revert to what you have learned by repetition so when a couple of cops in a fairly small, peaceful town (no, Jason this was not LA but a small town in northern CA) roll up and the the adrenaline dump kicks in because they see a guy with a gun they shoot, unfortunately, that can happen whether the suspect shows any indication of violence at all. The simple fact of having a gun makes them a threat. Bottom line, some departments may be training police to shoot armed citizens on sight.
I don't believe this is a purposeful action (except maybe in Chicago or NYC) and is likely an unintended consequence but it is something that should be looked at.
-Cranky
I don't believe this is a purposeful action (except maybe in Chicago or NYC) and is likely an unintended consequence but it is something that should be looked at.
-Cranky