THE POLICE PROBLEM
The police problem is that police are policed by the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all.
99.9999% of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct is never investigated, never punished, never makes the news, so it's not on this page.
When cops are caught breaking the law, they're investigated by other cops. Details are kept quiet, the officers' names are withheld from public knowledge, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release — often nothing at all.
When police are fired — which is all too rare — they leave with 'law enforcement experience' and can easily find work in another police department nearby. It's called "Wandering Cops."
When police testify under oath, they lie so frequently that cops themselves have a joking term for it: "testilying." Yet it's almost unheard of for police to be punished or prosecuted for perjury.
Cops can and do get away with lawlessness, because cops protect other cops. If they don't, they aren't cops for long.
The legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" renders police officers invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do. In practice, getting past 'qualified immunity' is so unlikely, it makes headlines when it happens.
All this is a path to a police state.
In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.
Police who break the law must be prosecuted like anyone else, promptly fired if guilty, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.
That's the solution.
♦ ♦ ♦
Our definition of ‘cops’ is broad, and includes prison guards, probation officers, shitty DAs and judges, etc — anyone who has the authority to fuck over people’s lives, with minimal or no oversight.
♦ ♦ ♦
RULES
① Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.
② If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.
③ Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.
④ Please don't dox or post calls for harassment, vigilantism, tar & feather attacks, etc.
Please also abide by the instance rules.
It you've been banned but don't know why, check the moderator's log. If you feel you didn't deserve it, hey, I'm new at this and maybe you're right. Send a cordial PM, for a second chance.
♦ ♦ ♦
ALLIES
• r/ACAB
♦ ♦ ♦
INFO
• A demonstrator's guide to understanding riot munitions
• Cops aren't supposed to be smart
• Killings by law enforcement in Canada
• Killings by law enforcement in the United Kingdom
• Killings by law enforcement in the United States
• Know your rights: Filming the police
• Three words. 70 cases. The tragic history of 'I can’t breathe' (as of 2020)
• Police aren't primarily about helping you or solving crimes.
• Police lie under oath, a lot
• Police spin: An object lesson in Copspeak
• Police unions and arbitrators keep abusive cops on the street
• Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States
• When the police knock on your door
♦ ♦ ♦
ORGANIZATIONS
• NAACP
• National Police Accountability Project
• Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration
view the rest of the comments
What else do you do? I get the point but who else deals with that if you can't? At a certain point you have to roll those dice right?
But a gun, learn to use it, call a lawyer then cops. Or gamble on the cops and going fisticuffs with a knife like this poor guy did.
a bunch of guys breaking into your house and you with one gun will probably have the same outcome
especially if you store it safely, locked in a safe, unloaded, ammo separate
Then store it safely, fully loaded, with one in the chamber.
I thought that you are supposed to leave the chamber empty, preventing accidental discharge?
Fair question. Not pulling the trigger prevents accidental discharge.
Having one in chamber saves time. It's one less thing to do in a stressful situation when every millisecond counts. If it's got a safety, train with it engaged and flip it off as part of any exercise.
that's not how responsible gun owners are meant to store it
I agree that cops aren't responsible gun owners.
Uh, no. Firearms are nearly pointless if they cannot be used.
Store it loaded in a quick release safe or hidden in such a manner that it will not be accidentally accessed.
Something like this
per the Justice dept - that is not the "official" advise, but a layman opinion https://www.justice.gov/media/1337981/dl?inline
while I understand your emotional reaction in the context of the story, my personal belief is that "well regulated militia" does intend the safe and responsible use of firearms under specific circumstances, and not to be a .44 under your pillow or duct taped to the back of your armchair
while it's not illegal per se, if anyone else picks up your gun not stored correctly you could (depending on the state) be on the hook for illegal transfer of a weapon (+ to a minor if relevant), or brandishment laws.
As it's much more likely that an unstored firearm (quick access safe aside), could be stolen, picked up by someone else, or seen by a visitor (postal worker, jehovas witness, canvasser, guest...) than a full scale home invasion by a militia - it might be worth weighing the likelihood of trying to take down multiple assailants in a firefight against these outcomes