Do the police in America need firearms?



Harry Angstrom said:
100% they do.

The narrative seems to be that cops are racist killers.
They need a lot of training and recruitment of more stable characters but policing the ghettos of USA will make you extremely jumpy. They are dealing with a lot of really wacky, dangerous often drugged up individuals.
There is racial bias in policing. Black people are profiled more but my impression is that the place is breaking down and the cops are now just a sticking plaster on a massive gunshot wound.
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I always say similar. The idiotic gun laws are massively to blame for the amount of police shootings.

However, surely there's a link to racism if we're both using this argument as to why there's so many police shootings, as a higher percentage of white people in the US own guns than black people. 36% of white people to 24% of black people in 2017. 50% of white men own a gun. Despite this, the rate that black people killed by police officers is considerably higher than white people: 35 per 1 million of black people are killed by police shootings, 14 per 1 million of white people are killed by police shootings. 36% of white people own a gun, compared to 15% of Hispanics, almost double the amount of Hispanic people per 1 million are killed by police officers compared to white people. Links at the bottom for these stats. There's definitely a link to race mate.

Every single person they speak to/arrest could potentially be carrying a firearm, no wonder they're jumpy as fuck.

As you say, they need more training. I'd hazard a guess if you put a US Marine into an American Police Officer's shoes they wouldn't be as jumpy as the vast majority.

www.pewresearch.org

1. The demographics of gun ownership

Understanding gun ownership in America is not as simple as knowing who does and does not own a gun. Some Americans who don’t personally own guns live with
www.pewresearch.org www.pewresearch.org

www.statista.com

Police shootings: rate by ethnicity U.S. 2024 | Statista

The rate of fatal police shootings in the United States shows large differences based on ethnicity.
www.statista.com www.statista.com
 
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Out of 197 countries in the world there are only 18 which do not routinely arm there police and 11 of them are tiny countries in the Pacific Ocean so why would the USA not arm its police routinely like most other nations. Unarmed police forces like the UK (Northern Ireland not included) are the exception and many of those that don't are linked to the UK historically.
 
I was told the same when I lived in Mississippi , one night I drove away from a shopping mall didn't switch the lights on go stopped wound window down both hands on the wheel, watched him get out of his car his hand on his gun soon as I started talking he relaxed and was toldto take care and switch my lights on , might have been different if I had been one of the black locals think I got away as I was white and English.
 
If I was a policeman in Florida I'd want a gun in case got attacked by an alligator, same in Rockies if were Grizzly Bears around. Plus if you had a patch like Chief Brody I'd want a weapon in case sharks around
 
Yes as long as the stoopid public have them. That recent story is so tragic 13 and shot down, but what the news fails to mention very often is he DID have a gun as well as his marra in the Car, and they had been shooting at passing cars.

now that copper knew all this, and in the moment definitely made an error of judgment and a fatal shot was fired, but come on if the copper got shot or one of the passenger in cars they were shooting would it make the media like this? Would it fuck.

i wouldn’t want their job for a fecking gold pig
 
cornish mackem said:
The police should be better equipped than the baddies
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They have tanks man, they are better armed than the army
Marty Moose said:
That's a good point. In order to protect yourself and your home (as that argument for arms goes) you should be allowed a little six shooter, and some sort of regulated limit of ammunition quantity you can stockpile at any one time. Absolutely no need for anything heavier. Wouldn't put a stop to gun related crime altogether, but would surely minimize the amount of times nutters can go postal with laser sighted semi automatic weapons and wipe out folk tens at a time.
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Yes but you should earn your way up. Once you've had the spud gun for a year we can talk about a bb gun
 
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cluffy said:
They need to stop murdering people for minor traffic incidents imo.
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There was a video doing the rounds the other day where a black American serviceman was eventually pepper sprayed in his car.
The scenario appeared to be he had committed a minor traffic offence but had not pulled over when he had been told to as he wanted to drive to a well lit location to do so as he was afraid he would be shot by the police.
He eventually pulled over on a petrol station forecourt.
He was told on several occasions to take his seatbelt off and get out of the car with his hands up. He continually refused.
Who was at fault?, I don’t know. The black man was indicating he was scared to undo his seatbelt i case the cops thought he was reaching for a gun.
The cops were obviously quite wary that he had a gun and they were potentially in danger.
 
Invictus said:
There was a video doing the rounds the other day where a black American serviceman was eventually pepper sprayed in his car.
The scenario appeared to be he had committed a minor traffic offence but had not pulled over when he had been told to as he wanted to drive to a well lit location to do so as he was afraid he would be shot by the police.
He eventually pulled over on a petrol station forecourt.
He was told on several occasions to take his seatbelt off and get out of the car with his hands up. He continually refused.
Who was at fault?, I don’t know. The black man was indicating he was scared to undo his seatbelt i case the cops thought he was reaching for a gun.
The cops were obviously quite wary that he had a gun and they were potentially in danger.
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Body camera footage shows Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, dressed in uniform and with his hands held in the air outside the driver’s window as he tells the armed officers he is “honestly afraid to get out” of his SUV.



“Yeah, you should be!” one officer responds during the stop at a gas station
 
Hue Jorgan said:
Yes as long as the stoopid public have them. That recent story is so tragic 13 and shot down, but what the news fails to mention very often is he DID have a gun as well as his marra in the Car, and they had been shooting at passing cars.
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His mam never knew he was dead for two days.
 
Without a doubt. They must be paranoid as fuck any time they pull anyone over.
It’s tragic seeing a 13 year old boy being shot, but what the fuck is someone that age carrying a gun for?!
And now there’ll be more protests/riots, blaming the police.
But in reality, as long as you have a country that makes carrying a weapon so normal, then people will continue to be killed by them.
 
Ghandi Floss said:
Without a doubt. They must be paranoid as fuck any time they pull anyone over.
It’s tragic seeing a 13 year old boy being shot, but what the fuck is someone that age carrying a gun for?!
And now there’ll be more protests/riots, blaming the police.
But in reality, as long as you have a country that makes carrying a weapon so normal, then people will continue to be killed by them.
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He didn't have a gun, but I'd question why he was out at like 3.30am ffs.
Hue Jorgan said:
Yes as long as the stoopid public have them. That recent story is so tragic 13 and shot down, but what the news fails to mention very often is he DID have a gun as well as his marra in the Car, and they had been shooting at passing cars.

now that copper knew all this, and in the moment definitely made an error of judgment and a fatal shot was fired, but come on if the copper got shot or one of the passenger in cars they were shooting would it make the media like this? Would it fuck.

i wouldn’t want their job for a fecking gold pig
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No gun in his hands when they shot him.
 
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