Justifiable Homicides UP

I am not interested, just now, in the final debate.

Instead, I offer that a recent FBI reports says (via USA Today):

WASHINGTON -- The number of justifiable homicides committed by police and private citizens has been rising in the past two years to their highest levels in more than a decade, reflecting a shoot-first philosophy in dealing with crime, say law enforcement analysts.

I have some very serious thoughts about this topic in general, predicated upon my 33 years in law enforcement (I am still a sworn LE officer). I made this comment a few weeks ago with regard to the use of force as a general issue on American And Proud:

Well, here’s the deal:

Law enforcement went to the Tazer and beanbag shotguns because they were quantified as “less than lethal” force but NOT “non-lethal” force as some in copdom write. History is obviously showing that Tazers CAN be lethal dependent upon the individual’s health, history and, at the moment of impact, what is known as “drugs on board.” There is also the adrenaline affect known as “excited delirium” which also comes into play.

As Rangemaster of my department, I told my department that suits would become such that there would be little reason to spend all the extra dollars on “less than lethal” force as it would soon prove to in fact BE lethal in SOME cases. But, of course, that’s all it takes for the ACLU and various other “humanitarian” organizations to object TO “less than lethal” force. I said in an Exec Staff meeting that money would be better spent divesting of LTL and, instead, investing in more range time, rounds, placement and gun handling skills.

I am being proven correct. An injury tort settlement yields almost the same amount of liability exposure or money as a “wrongful death” suit. You may as well shoot them. Again, I am being proven correct.

All trainers in firearms state that officers do not utilize firearms to wound, “wing” or kill. They shoot to STOP the offender from the actions requiring the utilization of the firearm. We train to stop ONLY when the OFFENDER’S deadly or harmful actions STOP.

There is some serious re-thinking and re-consideration going on in the law enforcement training communities throughout the nation. Too many “stops” in the Force Continuum (Officer thinks: “Hmm. Should I use harsh language? Sarcasm?Empty hand? Baton? Tazer? ‘Found’ objects? Beanbag? Pepperball? My sidearm? My shotgun? My long rifle?”) result in muddy thinking or late thinking in human beings.

In truth, this is a very bad time to be stupid. It is a bad time to invade someone's home, particularly someone of modest means who happens to be armed with an aluminum bat, large caliber handgun or even a very nice Spyderco.

It is a bad time to do so because people are fed up. They are fed up with society's predators. They are fed up with "diversion programs" and "22 years on death row" and Mumia Abu-Jamal (see this excellent monograph about Jamal on Accuracy In Academia). They are fed up with watching the takers continue to take and the givers continue to be taken. They are fed up with the Predators' Philosophy of "What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine unless you're strong enough to stop me."

Worse yet, people are going to be a tad bit more irritable come November 5th, should Obama win the election. THE DEMOCRATS LIED AND THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES ECONOMY DIED plays into the hands of those of find that Life is difficult enough to live without having one's daughter date-raped, without having one's sacrosanct home burglarized, without having one's vehicle damaged or gas tank purged of fuel.

Further, again from the article:

The NRA and other analysts say most laws allowing gun possession have existed for years and would not likely account for a recent spike in self-defense killings.

Instead, Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president and chief executive officer, says the 9/11 attacks and the widespread looting and violence after Hurricane Katrina spurred some people to take more responsibility for their own safety.

Immediately after those events, LaPierre says, the group's gun-safety trainers reported "big increases" in NRA-sponsored courses. "Americans are simply refusing to be victims," he says.

I completely concur. This trend will continue and rightly so. Juries and their potential nullifications may become a rule with regard to violent suspects, rather than an exception.

There is the slight smell of actual revolution fomenting in the air, my dearest readers. If there is one thing with which Shoprat and I manifestly agree, it is this.

BZ