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by YankeeTarheel
I see a dilemma created by liberals, conservatives, and a law that says a LEO is not obligated to try to stop a crime. I will stereotype here to over-simplify the situation. Please realize that:
1) The Liberal mindset is disarm everyone, and depend solely on the cops to protect us. Many state have severely limited the right to self-defense, even if you are unarmed.
2) The Conservative mindset is that everyone (except POC) have a right to carry anything anywhere anytime, fighting a national background check, registering EVERY firearm, which means schools, courthouses, malls, and airports, not to mention planes should ALL be open for people to carry weapons. So there would be NO way to keep guns out of the hands of the Parkland or Newtown or Southerland Springs or Charleston shooters.
3) If LEOs aren't required to engage shooters, WTF are we paying them for? Ticketing speeders and jay-walkers? Arresting shooters AFTER they've murdered?
Under 1), if 3) is true, the children at Parkland, indeed everyone, has no more right to not be murdered than chickens in a poultry slaughterhouse!
Under 2), if 3) is true, we risk turning all our public spaces into Wild West shoot outs with all kinds of innocent bystanders killed, and firearms capable of spitting out far more rounds than the old-fashioned 6-shooters and lever-action rifles.
I realize my descriptions in 1) and 2) are over-exaggerations but Law is made at the "what if?" region of the margins--where do exceptions occur and not occur?
The Parkland teens, whether you agree with the solutions they are pushing for or not, don't want to be shot, in school, or anywhere. Who does? And who wants to depend, for security, on a trained LEO who balks at trying to stop a killer?
With tools and skills comes an obligation. If you're unwilling to take on that obligation, you shouldn't have the tools or take on the training.
When I was 16, I postponed training for my Red Cross Senior Life Saving certification. My eldest brother, in college, had pulled a guy out of lake or river, worked on him for 45 minutes doing CPR and mouth-to-mouth only to learn the poor guy was already dead. I wasn't ready to face that and knew I'd be obligated to. When I was, at 17, I went through the training.
I didn't seek martial arts training, being aware that, for many decades, like boxers, your hands would be considered deadly weapons if you hit someone (I have no idea if that's still true).
But after 9/11, we all started training, and both my son and I got our black belts (lowest level). My wife reached the brown belt level.
I didn't want or seek the risk of guns until Trump was elected and, as cultural Jews, realized that all forms of violent racism, including anti-Semitism, was exploding across the nation, including New Jersey.
You don't have to quote Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben to realize his comic book truth: With great power comes great responsibility.
This coward cop took on the great power: the badge, the training, the vest, and, of course, the firearm. He totally reneged on his great responsibility--to protect the children at the Parkland school. He didn't do the job he agreed to do, and represented himself as capable to do.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."