Death prompts Boston petition to ban 'less-lethal' weapons

AP ^ | 11.05.04 | Mark Jewell

[Laurita]

There were no more school takeovers after Kent State!

Exactly!

When the mob knows the police have non-lethal weapons and will get a lot of heat if they hurt people, the mob is more likely to take the fight back to the police and accelerate the violence.

On the other hand, if the mob believes there is a real danger, they at least have some fear of repercussions against them.

The most effective scenario is that the mob not really know one way or the other whether the bullets are real or "non-lethal".

Load alternating rounds live and blank and see who wants to try their luck.

[timbuck2]

It was not that bad. Isolated pockets of bad behavior. The people responsible were the bottle throwers. They got the police unsettled, which led to the accidental shot in the wrong direction.

-T

[The Turbanator]

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/3839442/detail.html

I guess they got it wrong too?

What would you do if it happend on your street to your car? Oh well kids will be kids I guess.

I'm sorry I'm not that easy going. Call in the cops or take matters into your own hands.

[timbuck2]

Again, I was right there. There were a bunch of morons running around throwing bottles, jumping up on cars, burning stuff, etc., but it was nto one big riot. It was a celebration.

I have no problem with the cops smashing some skulls when necessary. I am just telling you that it was not a huge riot. I do not take part in riots. I went to celebrate on my way home from school. It was fantastic!

The girl's death is tragic, but it was an accident in my opinion. The bottle throwers are to blame and, in part, the lack of training that caused the errant shot to be fired.

-T

[jriemer]

Look at it from this perspective:

One person in Boston is killed at a protest by a pepper ball and people hold the police responsible.

Thousands of people in Iraq were killed in their homes by poison gas and people don't hold Saddam responsible.

Crazy world

[Chode]

ok, fine... it's back to the RIOT GUNS then!!!

[ClockworkNinja]

Well, if they disapprove of rubber bullets, beanbags, pepper balls, and all the other progress we have made since the 60's, we could always go back to beating rioters about the head and neck with sticks until they stop moving.

Which, of course, would be followed by a national outcry to ban wood 8P

[freepatriot32]

I saw an episode of cops in boston years ago where this arragent s**t dont stink rambo wanna be spent pretty much the first half of the show just absolutly terrorising the citisens of boston becasue i geuss he thought he could.He didnt seem to be even slightly fazed by a camera recording everything. He would be hassleing someone over something that was so minor it would be laughable then if somone stopped on the sidewalk to watch he would get in thier face and start screaming at the top of his lung at them then arrest them for interfering in a police matter and let the other guy go that h e stopped originally and i though to myself then if this is how even a small percentage of the boston pd act I never want to step foot in that city