Thursday, September 22, 2016

Charlotte & Tulsa

Well, what do you think?

In Tulsa an unarmed man with a stalled vehicle was shot by police, although perhaps there was PCP in the vehicle. Officers believed the man had a gun, none was found.

In Charlotte, an armed man (at least according to the police) was shot and killed waiting for his child's bus. According to the police he was observed exiting his vehicle armed and returning to his vehicle before police intervened.  

A key question is why?  North Carolina is an open carry state and the 4th circuit court of appeals has previously ruled (2013) that the open carry of a firearm does not constitute a legal reason for the police to stop a person.

Honestly, in the vast majority of cases I do not think these shootings racially motivated.  I find it hard to believe that a black officer working for a black police chief had a racist motive behind his shooting of a black suspect. The problem lies in why was he suspect at all?  The police were not there for him, he had done nothing illegal, the police had no reason to challenge him at all.

The circumstances that we are in are dire, we are afraid of the police (at least some of us are), and the police are afraid of us... nothing good can come from this situation.  On one side you have questionable police tactics and on the other, well the response doesn't help the situation at all does it?

In a free society it is not incumbent upon the people to adapt to the state but for the state to adapt to the people.  The police can not be permitted to react to an armed citizen with lethal force, they can not shoot someone simply for being armed, and they certainly can not shoot someone for simply being uncooperative.  These are the hallmarks of an oppressive police state, let us not forget that the charter of the police is to serve the citizenry, not the state, they are on the street to protect the citizenry, not themselves.  

While I disagree with the BLM movements interpretation of events we should all be outraged at how readily our police resort to lethal force.

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