Truly Very Sad - The Florida Shooting

[ScarletBlood31]

Its hard to blame the police officer, because your natural instinct when someone points a gun at you is to defend yourself, especially given the situation. You would have liked to hear the officer being able to do something to keep them both from being seriously hurt, but in the heat of the moment it is something that is difficult to ask.

I have a high respect for our law enforement, and the kid, while young and troubled, had put himself in that situation to endanger his well-being. The police officer is just doing his job to protect a school full of kids, so if the tables would have been turned and the officer being killed, you would definitely have yourself a different kind of tragedy.

It is still a shame that the kid had to go like that, and I feel for his family who is obviously devastated right now. What a horrible situation all-around.

 

[BuckStocksHere]

I personally could care less about kids like that. You put yourself in that position, there are consequences to pay.

If I had to choose between the officer and this kid...I'd take the officer pulling the trigger 100% of the time.

I dont' understand the sympathy for this kid, but hey...to each his own.

The kid wanted to die. He painted the gun so he could fool the police. He got what he wished for - death.

 

[Buckin' A]

Why don't you stop talking about the what-ifs and worst case scenarios and actually read the articles?

I did read the article...and I also do the job everyday. So, I am quite sure I understand what the officer felt.

How about if I stand 10 feet from you and point guns at you...identicle looking ones (one real and one fake). In a split second, you have to decide if you want to use less lethal rounds or live rounds. Now, if the gun I am holding is real, and you use less lethal rounds, you are dead and you don't get to go home to your wife and kids.

Oh, and by the way...while you have about a split second to make that decision....someone like you will then spend the next few weeks passing judgement on that decision.

 

[BuckBackHome]

Our town recently passed a law making it illegal to brandish these pellet guns. Some of the local police chiefs had a press conference a bit ago and took about a dozen real and pellet guns that had either the colored plastic tips removed or painted over and showed them to the press. No one in the press was able to correctly identify the real from the fake ones, and they were looking at them from a couple of feet away.

 

[Buckin' A]

Our town recently passed a law making it illegal to brandish these pellet guns. Some of the local police chiefs had a press conference a bit ago and took about a dozen real and pellet guns that had either the colored plastic tips removed or painted over and showed them to the press. No one in the press was able to correctly identify the real from the fake ones, and they were looking at them from a couple of feet away.

Exactly. And that is not a chance that I am willing to take. And nothing pisses me off anymore than people standing on the sideline criticizing people on the front lines.

 

[vrbryant]

The eighth-grader is clinically brain dead and being kept on life support to harvest his organs, attorney Mark Nation said.

Well, at least there's that.

 

[ScarletBlood31]

Our town recently passed a law making it illegal to brandish these pellet guns. Some of the local police chiefs had a press conference a bit ago and took about a dozen real and pellet guns that had either the colored plastic tips removed or painted over and showed them to the press. No one in the press was able to correctly identify the real from the fake ones, and they were looking at them from a couple of feet away.

Yeah, I've seen this "Air-Soft" guns, and trust me, they look like the real thing. Unless you are actually holding it, and can feel the plastic that it is made out of, and the orange tip is concealed, it would be next to impossible to identify the difference.

In my opinion, these Airsoft guns should not be made to look so much like the real thing. Yes, I know there is the orange tip, but as this case proves, that can be worked around. Kids can still use them in their Airsoft gun fights, but something has to be done to distinguish the difference to limit kids being allowed to wave one around and it pass for a real thing.

The real thing

The fake Airsoft gun



Could you tell the difference with either of these waved at you from even a short distance, with that orange tip covered up? Yeah, me neither.

 

[martinss01]

Um, the kid probably would've dropped the gun. Rubber bullets aren't paintballs. Sand bags could've been another effective and non-lethal alternative to live ammunition.

are you sure the kid would have dropped the gun? how do you know he wasn't on drugs? we're talking about a student that forced another kid into a closet. then when cornered in a bathroom didn't cry for his mommy. he charged officers pointing a weapon.

I'm sure the media would be making just as big of a deal if the cop was the one who was murdered. In fact, highschools all over Florida would probably have metal detectors in the front doors by next week.

metal detectors are likely at this point period. but if the cop had died because he didnt' fire his weapon the media would be blasting law enforcement for the officer not responding correctly to the situation. the trick is, if the cop fires the cop is wrong. if the cop doesn't and he/she or another is injured the cop is wrong. every situation like this for law enforcement is a loose loose scenario.

What do you mean "always"? I don't think I've ever spoken out against the police on this forum before. Why don't you stop talking about the what-ifs and worst case scenarios and actually read the articles?

i don't think he means you specifically. i have a lot of friends in law enforcement and some family. the "its the cops fault" is nearly 100% of the time the first thing out of peoples mouths. thats why i posted my first response. it really pisses me off to hear the father say something along the lines of "i haven't come to any conclusions as to whether or not the officer was at fault". my question is "where the hell was daddy when the kid was talking about offing himself?" the kid didn't just wake up one day and decide to take a gun to school. all to often we see the outcome of something and try to fix the symptom. the symptom in this case being a dead kid killed by an officer in a justified shooting. you don't treat symptoms. you treat causes. noone seems to give two shits about WHY this kid felt this way. all we seem to care about is why an officer used deadly force when rushed by an individual brandishing a weapon who just physically assaulted other individuals.

Buckeye513, so don't take any of the responses personally. expecially any of mine. they certainly aren't ment that way. it just really frustrates me to see the focus of something like this on how the situation ended and to see the blame being placed on the officer.