"Hey Bob, it's your turn to take the clubbing while I try to cuff him."
It does seem to me that cops, especially two on one, used to try and take guys like this down without killing them.
Yeah, they used to use nightsticks too.
Imagine if you will, a fellow camper videotaping the "brutal assault" of "a guy vacationing with his family" .
"It was horrible, they beat the hell out of him with sticks".
Old style policing included a good dose of beatings.
"It does seem to me that cops, especially two on one, used to try and take guys like this down without killing them."
Not a guy wielding a club who attacks two cops with guns. Obviously, his problem is not going to be stopped with persuasive words. Plus, if he gets one of their guns, he's now a kook with a gun instead of a club.