The suspect is turning to face you with this in his hand. Think quickly.
The suspect is turning to face you with this in his hand. Think quickly.
1) Cops are hired to work a dangerous profession. That's the core of the job. They now seem to want to gun down dogs and civilians at a moment's notice so that the cops face only a minimum amount of danger. That's a real bad deal for anyone who is not a cop.
2) Having a gun is not a crime. If the person hasn't fired the gun at anyone, then it is possible they have not committed any crime. In some cases, the cops are predicting future events and appointing themselves judge, jury and executioner, based on what they think is going to happen. That's a real bad deal for anyone who is not a cop.
I’m not a firearms expert and I didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night — but I can tell the difference.
How about you???
Gelhaus is a firearms expert training the police in the use of their weapons and you are saying that he couldn’t tell the difference???
He didn’t quickly notice the cheap gray metal, the screws in the shiny plastic stock with screws in it, the absence of a sight on the barrel which is indicative that it’s a pellet gun with the orange tip cut off, and that it was lightweight being carried in the left hand — the offhand???
He mustn’t have been close enough then to see and thus not close enough to be in fear of his life.
Or he didn’t see the toygun because the kid still had his back turned.
He didn’t want him to turn around completely because then his partner might have yelled “it’s a toy” and he would lose his excuse to empty his weapon into him.
Yep, thinking is the important part. Not getting carried away with your emotions and starting shooting before you really know what is going on. I have personally had a few sudden encounters with armed people, including one instance where a guy came running towards me down the alley I was parked in with a pistol in his hand. I was alarmed, but I certainly didn't think shooting at him was the proper course of action, and he was facing me and had a drawn and obviously real weapon.
Don't let your fear overwhelm your logical thinking. Otherwise the guy with the gun in the alley might not have the chance to say "don't worry, I'm a police officer" like the guy did as he went past me.