Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Taser or 9mm
Here in Michigan over the last few weeks two teenagers were killed when police used Tasers on them. Naturally the kid's families are up in arms. However, they need to look at both sides here. All I know from the news is that the police used a Taser on one drunk teenager resisting and one teenager who resisted while being searched and detained after a car and foot chase -- and that's about all the details I know. Both families are talking about lawsuits and police brutality.
Here's my take on the situations. One is that a being teenager doesn't make you a helpless weakling. Even if they don't have a concealed weapon, a teenager is strong enough to do real harm to another person - even an adult policeman. Both the teenagers were resisting which means they were fighting back. The police have to deal with people everyday who plan on doing some harm to the police or the public at large. The policeman's job is to control the situation, not act as jury. There's no way a policeman can tell if the teenager is just having a bad day, or has just come from a Columbine shooting and has a .357 tucked in his waistband - and he shouldn't have to take that chance.
The way I see it, the police have several options. They can let the poor little teenager go and hope he isn't on his way to a massacare. They can wrestle him to the ground and hope he isn't carrying a razor or a needle full of infected blood. They can shoot him with a firearm. In real-life people don't shoot to wound, they shoot to hit. In the heat of a fight, you're lucky to hit the target at all, let alone shooting him in the arm. Or they can do what they did in these cases and use a Taser. In this case the suspects died, but I'm betting there's a lot more folks survive a taser than survive a 9mm in the stomach.
I feel the sorry for the kids, but I'm glad there's cops out there putting it on line for me and my wife. If my wife is getting assaulted in a parking lot I'm hoping there's a cop near by with a Taser or a 9mm and isn't afraid to use either one.
