I heard this terrible report last night. I think most of us can agree it was unwise of the civilian hero to pick up the rifle. Was he perhaps concerned there was an accomplice?
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As the old saying really goes “never bring a pistol to a rifle fight”. This gentleman was lucky enough to win in that fight. Once you do, you have to go to the rifle, because there may be more bad guys, and you are clearly in a rifle fight.
I believe this hero did nothing wrong. The mere sight of the rifle is not justification for the outcome we have here.
Essentially, what we have here is a tragedy, but we must not forget that this was a hero killed by an agent of the state. We must change our views on arms in the public domain, or the 2A is doomed.
This is almost certainly a case of the cop not giving the guy a chance to surrender the rifle.
I witnessed a police shooting from my office window years ago. Cops yelled “put the gun down” while their drew their weapons. The guy hadn’t dropped it by the time they leveled their sights so they shot him. It was that bang, bang, bang. It looked like a Hollywood movie with brass flying everywhere.
Police are not executioners. The don’t shoot first then find out what’s going on. The PoPo deserves a shoot first response.