Is it illegal to carry a real rifle? What difference does the orange tip make? 10 seconds (or less) for someone to react positively in a situation like this especially a young teenager is stretching things. If the cops had received a report of someone shooting people I would give a little more leeway but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
No leeway, because they fall under the same “rules of engagement” that I do. Imagine if I, or any citizen, had encountered this boy and killed him within seconds... I would be in the cell BELOW the prison for the rest of my life. Cops, and sorry to all the Mark Levin fans, have lost their minds thanks to the “go home at all costs” training videos. This is precisely why I could never be involved with law enforcement today, in the collective mind of cops it’s US VERSUS THEM. You can’t convince me otherwise, I deal with them all the time.
You’re right. No, it shouldn’t have made a difference. Well, except maybe if the tip WAS still on, because then the cop had clear evidence it was a toy.
But I get what you all are saying and I agree: merely carrying a weapon is not enough for deadly force.
The orange tip shouldn't make any difference. If cops are being trained to shoot - or not - based solely on orange tips, then something is drastically wrong here.
And what about BB guns? BB guns don't have orange tips. Are kids with BB guns now legitimate shoot-on-sight targets? If so, I had better warn my rural relatives.
I'm guessing the kid in this story heard a commotion behind him. He simply turned around to see who was doing all the yelling. And that was enough to get him shot.