Posted on 08/20/2014 12:21:07 PM PDT by WhiskeyX
Police are often harshly criticized for their lethal use of firearms, giving many reason to wonder: Why don't police shoot to wound? That was CNN's Wolf Blitzer's question to legal scholar Jeffrey Toobin when discussing the shooting death of Ferguson, Missouri, teenager Michael Brown. "Why can't they shoot a warning shot?... Why can't they shoot to injure?" Blitzer queried.
To answer Blitzer's (and your) questions, here's a general overview of why police don't shoot to wound:
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.findlaw.com ...
The Lone Ranger was so good, he could shoot the gun right out of a bad guy’s hand with his Colt, from 50 yards, from the hip.
Too bad the police aren’t as good as the Lone Ranger, using their handguns with sniper-like precision.
Secondly he was taught that you only unholster your weapon if you intend to use deadly force, i.e. kill.
Police aren’t supposed to shoot to kill, they’re supposed to shoot to incapacitate. The truth is, you have to shoot more destructively to incapacitate than you do to kill.
That being said, I’ve come to distrust all employees of the government, and I fear for my life when I have to deal with armed ones. They are not on our side.
The reason there were 4 bullets to the right arm was not due to “shooting to wound”, but due to having a blown eye socket due to a knockout punch from a 275 pound thug.
Think what it would do to your reputation! I can’t imagine being known as a “wounder”. Yeah man, that dude is bad. He’s a real wounder.
Then there’s the added cost in ammo. You would have to wound and rewound and rewound and rewound, on and on. It would just never stop.
They shoot to STOP, meaning until the perp is on the ground and not able to get back up. They use lethal force to o do.
A “wounded” criminal who is able to move around, is a criminal who can kill you.
Once you know you need to shoot your firearm, it is because someone’s life is in danger and you use lethal force to make sure that threat is stopped.
Wilson did precisely that, and against an already proven mortal threat.
Brown was a violent criminal and thug, who had lready shown his ability o severally injure Wilson, and already shown his intention to get Wilson’s gun.
The problem with this is availability of good vests by anyone. I'm sure any 'New Black Panthers' heading into the St Louis area to cause trouble should have laser sights printed to their noggins.
Even if you were a precise enough shot to hit an arm or leg, hit an internal artery and it's a kill shot.
But under duress the most the average shooter can hope for is to aim center-of-mass and hit some random part of the body.
Maybe Wolf would like to run the Tueller Drill...
“The reason there were 4 bullets to the right arm was not due to “shooting to wound”, but due to having a blown eye socket due to a knockout punch from a 275 pound thug.”
And possibly jerking the gun in a high stress situation.
I’d think that’s not part of the decision logic process when you have a crazed, violent 300-pound ghetto thug — who has already caved in your eye — running at you full speed.
Mark Fuhrmann made a great point Monday night on Greta’s show... cops don’t have a duty to die while on the job.
This strikes me as a corollary of a major gun safety rule: never point a gun at anything you do not intend to destroy. If you have to use a gun destroy the target. To paraphrase the schoolmarm in Blazing Saddles, Blitzer has once again demonstrated that he is indeed one of the leading a$$holes in the news.
5 wound shots to bring that beast down didn’t work...Sometimes it takes 6!!
What a moron Blitzer is. Even if you fire a warning shot, you still have to be worried where it's going to land. What goes up, must come down. You could fire a warning shot, and kill an innocent bystander. We were always told that if you fire your weapon, you better know where that bullet is going to end up. Plus, if you could get the perps to stand still like a target, it would be easier to shoot to injure. But Wolfie, life ain't like that.
Anyone with A BRAIN knows cops are taught and trained to “shoot to kill” because pulling the revolver is a last resort.
Admit it. You didn't read the article.
A warning shot or a “shot to wound” shot that misses has to go somewhere. No cop wants to fire his weapon and have the round hit an innocent. Aim center mass.
Hmmm, what should lethal force be used for Wolfe?
Hey Wolfe, is an officer just as dead if he gets shot by a wounded enemy?
What happens to a warning shot? Does it just vaporize like the intelligence of a reporter asking a stupid question? No, the lead slug comes down. When it does, it can as easily end a life as the shot fired directly at the threat. The only problem is, it will be an innocent victim instead.
People make choices. If they threaten an officer, the officer is forced into responding. The officer is not required to lay down his life to the person attacking. His job is to return disorder to order as quickly as he and his fellow officers can, to protect life and property.
He is not required to allow people to harm him or the assets of the community.
Why don’t thugs just pay for the merchandise? Why don’t they just shake the officer’s hand instead of attack him?
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