Re: The Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread [2]

[Pettytyrant101]

I think training everyone is not going to be very effective. I mean those two cops were New York cops and neither had ever had to fire their gun in the line of duty before- so I assume therefore the vast majority of cops, even in the US rarely have to resort to shooting at someone.
Seems more efficient to me given that to have in each police area (or even station) a small group whose only job is armed response.

[Mrs Figg]

sometimes you have to make split second descisions.

[Orwell]

So a bit of target practice and basic safety wouldnt be too difficult surely?.

That's what cops do get. A lot of training is better. Might save you shooting the wrong people. Shooting people is such a small possibility though. A cop has to be unlucky to ever pull a trigger. I don't know if it helps put things in perspective (it does me), but think of all the things a cop is expected to do, and to do well, what's more, then think of the ongoing training that is required to be good at all the things we do.

[David H]

All our officers are required to do periodic range practice, but that doesn't prepare you for how you'll respond when a lunatic starts shooting at you first.
I think that was probably the problem in the New York case.

[Orwell]

I think training everyone is not going to be very effective. I mean those two cops were New York cops and neither had ever had to fire their gun in the line of duty before- so I assume therefore the vast majority of cops, even in the US rarely have to resort to shooting at someone.
Seems more efficient to me given that to have in each police area (or even station) a small group whose only job is armed response.

Double the personnel at each station, then half could train train and train and be (most probably) a safer option with guns. I'm 100% behind you on that, Petty.

[Orwell]

All our officers are required to do periodic range practice, but that doesn't prepare you for how you'll respond when a lunatic starts shooting at you first.
I think that was probably the problem in the New York case.

Targets - in my experience - dont shoot back. The worst that can happen is you might miss the target and get laughed at. It's infinitely better than missing and getting one back at you!

[Mrs Figg]

there is probably nothing so dangerous as a lethal weapon in the hands of someone who rarely uses it, or who has never been trained. Its like these guards I see outsides banks, they have guns, and I dont know who they are or what background they have. If it kicks off, I wouldnt like to be around to see the end results. The other day a pickpocket was shot dead by a guard in an amusement arcade. Its scary.

[Orwell]

I do get to shoot every six months or so. That's why I'm so confident! I'm also highly trained in other things violent like.

My daily kit:

Smith and Wesson .38 Semi-auto and taser in leg holsters (I look like a two-handed gunslinger!) Capiscum streamer and baton on my IOEV vest.

Which one would I use in a dangerous situation? Depends on the situation. With a few seconds to choose, the choice between four options can be tricky.

[David H]

If you and I ever meet, Orwell, I'm hoping you choose "non of the above"!

[Mrs Figg]

yeah me too!

[Pettytyrant101]

I reckon if Orwell and I meet it will be a case of 'all of the above, at once'!

[Mrs Figg]

[David H]

[Orwell]

I like talking my way through things. If I have a skill, it's talking to people. Whether it's crazy peopple or attractive young women. Very rarely have I had to use other options, and I'm thankful for that. I've got into a few wrestles though. Recently I got my wrist scratched by a mad woman. It was terrible, but I was brave. I was also present when two of my comrades got shot back in 1999 - not fatally. Very lucky I was. I'm not complaining.


(We released a song actually about it! Not the scratch, the shooting. I'm still working on the song about being scratched, but it's still too close, if you know what I mean.... )

[Orwell]

If you and I ever meet, Orwell, I'm hoping you choose "non of the above"!

I'm keeping another piece of my personal kit in reserve for Mrs Figg - just in case! (I'm not sure if I'll use the handcuffs or not - maybe I'll see what Mrs Figg prefers, as that would only be polite ).

[David H]

I'm still hoping for "none of the above".

[Mrs Figg]

[Orwell]

Mrs Figg, thanks to old Anon from the Archet Bugle, I've been given an insight into Julia the child! Opened my eyes, I can tell you. You little cutie, you!

[Orwell]

I'm still hoping for "none of the above".

I think that's wise on your side of things, Dave!

[Pettytyrant101]

Israel continues to lose what little sympathy I had left for them;

'An Israeli court has ruled that the state of Israel was not at fault for the death of US activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli army bulldozer in 2003.
She had been trying to stop Palestinian homes being pulled down in Gaza.
Judge Oded Gershon, presiding at the court in the town of Haifa, said Ms Corrie had been protecting terrorists in a designated combat zone.
He ruled the state of Israel did not have to pay any damages. The Corries had requested a symbolic $1 in damages and legal expenses.
After the ruling, Mrs Corrie told a press conference they wanted to see more accountability from the state of Israel, saying they had been "deeply troubled by what we heard today".
"From the beginning it was clear to us that there was a process of investigation, operational investigations, military police investigations, and it was confirmed to us today that that extends through the court system in Israel - a well-heeled system to protect the Israeli military, the soldiers who conduct actions in that military, to provide them with impunity at the cost of all the civilians who are impacted by what they do," she said.
In 2003, Ms Corrie was in the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip as part of a group of ISM protesters.
They were acting as human shields to try to stop the Israeli army demolishing Palestinian homes and clearing land around Rafah.
The army's investigation found that Ms Corrie was not visible and that she was killed by debris falling on her.
But Ms Corrie's supporters say it is impossible that the bulldozer driver did not see her.
Pictures taken on the day Ms Corrie died show her in an orange high-visibility jacket carrying a megaphone and blocking the path of an Israeli military bulldozer.' -BBC

[Pettytyrant101]

Interestingly (but not suprisingly) the exact same story reported on Fox news leaves out the bit where the judge says she was protecting terrorists and focuses its report on the Israeli soldiers being 'exonerated' by the judge.

[David H]

Sad. Rachel was kind of a local girl here. I didn't know her, but I knew people who went to school with her. She was killed just a few days before the US invasion of Iraq. I can't believe that was a coincidence. I was traveling south through eastern Europe at the time, meeting the floods of refugees coming north. It was a scary time. Nobody knew what the rules were anymore.

I believe that up until that point, both sides tried to be very careful not to have international casualties, for fear of the consequences. This was a key to our international policy at the time: " Play nice or we'll be angry, and you really don't want to get us angry, do you?" The Bush administration threw decades of policy out the window and basically gave a green light to all the atrocities of the Second Intifada. Sadly Rachel was just "collateral damage".

I could really rant on this one, but it wouldn't change anything.....
Just sad....

[Pettytyrant101]

Sad indeed David, tragically so in this case.

[Mrs Figg]

Seventeen Afghan partygoers beheaded by Taliban

Reuters in Kandahar

guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 August 2012 12.41 BST

Officials say 15 men and two women killed as punishment for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing
Fifteen men and two women have been found beheaded in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. Officials said the victims were killed by Taliban insurgents as punishment for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing.
The bodies were found in a house near the Musa Qala district, 46 miles north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, on Monday, said the district governor Nimatullah, who goes by only one name.
"The victims threw a late-night dance and music party when the Taliban attacked," on Sunday night, Nimatullah told Reuters.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility.
Men and women do not usually mingle in Afghanistan unless they are related, and parties involving both genders are rare and highly secretive affairs.
For the Taliban, flirting, open displays of affection and the mixing of men and women are vehemently condemned. During their five-year reign, which was ended by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, the Taliban banned women from voting, most work and leaving their homes unaccompanied by their husband or a male relative.
Those rights have been painstakingly regained but Afghanistan remains one of the worst places on earth to be a woman.
A spokesman for the Helmand governor, Daud Ahmadi, said a team had been sent to the site of the beheadings to investigate


So having a party and drinking a Buckie can get your head chopped off. the fucking nutters.

[Pettytyrant101]

I have never understood really what it is about the idea of independent women that so terrifies some religous groups. Its baffling.