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>I'd lose my mind if some swine pointed a gun at my child.

I wonder if things like this are what honor duels were about in the past? A way to semi-legally call out someone personally with potentially severe consequences.

Pointing a gun at a kid in a situation like this seems like it should be punishable by itself.



We need to codify a right to self defense against the police. Too many situations like this exist where the police place others in mortal danger. In a situation like this were the armed party not police it would be unquestionably legal for the victim to respond with deadly force. Police no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt and they deserve no special legal protections when they run around assaulting people with deadly weapons.


An alternative is to eliminate or reduce qualified immunity.


Who was in mortal danger? The video showed no evidence of a gun being aimed at anyone, simply up the stairs. It's also not assault unless there's motive. Without a physical or verbal act indicating unlawful use or potential use of violence, it would be hard to prove assault. (You might be surprised when you look up case law on this)

Your civilian scenario isn't exactly congruent because you are missing the legal authority point. If you are a civilian with the authority to search a building (your house when you hear a noise at night for example), then you you would be justified in clearing the building in the same way the police did. The response of deadly force depends on if there are alternatives to that use of force (and greatly varies by state). In this case, the alternative to the occupant using deadly force is to comply with the warrant, and if necessary, sue in court for any damages.


Of course they do. There are plenty of developing and underdeveloped countries where that’s how it works. Go see how well that works out for them.


> There are plenty of developing and underdeveloped countries where that’s how it works.

My impression of developing countries was that police are vicious, brutal, and corrupt by default. As opposed to the US where bad cops are the exception. And they have very little oversight. Which countries are you talking about where that's not the case?




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