Thursday, May 12, 2005

Big News, Small Town...

In my tiny little town of Nowhere, Wisconsin, seldom does interesting news ever appear. However, today's leading story may be the exception.

The SWAT team was dispatched early this morning. A few blocks of town were closed to traffic because it's evidently bad to have people driving through an area covered with officers with high-powered assault rifles. At any rate, I guess it was over a guy threatening to kill himself.

That's right, we have discovered the answer to suicide, shoot them.

The paper reports that the situation was resolved without incident. I however disagree. I guess in my mind, cops with assault rifles, is incident.

Other stories, Man gets 12 years in prison for connection in murder case (our 2nd murder is as many years), And Judges clears officers of any wrong doing in shooting (it was the same situation as today...suicide attempt.)

8 comments:

Mark said...

Sweet, some real Mark Bait.

Police are obligated to meet a situation with equal force, particularly if lives are endangered - even if it's someone threatening their OWN life. You just never know what will happen.

Don't fall into the anti-gun mantra of "high-powered assault rifles". Most departments use the M-16 as their rifle for swat teams. The M-16 and it's variants are little more than .22 rifles. Actually, they are .223's to be exact. If you know anyone who uses a 30-06 for hunting deer has a more powerful rifle.

Without even reading the story, I can almost guarantee that the officers should've been cleared for using deadly force against the guy that was sentenced to 12 years. He obviously killed or conspired to kill someone. Deadly force is an appropriate step in that situation.

The answer to possible suicide is intervention, deadly or otherwise. Did the police kill the person today?

I remember responding to a person threatening himself and others with a buck knife. I can assure you I didn't arrive at the scene with a hug and flowers.

Joe said...

The two stories in her last paragraph are unrelated. The first was a group of people that gave a guy a lethal beat-down. The second was cops responding to a nut with a gun.

I have two thoughts regarding the high-powered assault rifles thing:

"If you know anyone who uses a 30-06..." Dammit Mark, you know where we live. Those things are issued at puberty.

Second, on the efficacy of police weapons. "Three round burst." There's a reason that the army uses the M-16 instead of the .30-06. Also, there's more to consider than just caliber. Muzzle velocity, powder grains, stopping power, and all the rest of that. (I'm not a gun nut, so I'm not well equipped for this argument.)

I don't think junegirl was going anti-gun with all that. I'm inclined to think that she was focusing on the logical absurdity of threatening to shoot a man to keep him from hurting himself.

Junegirl doesn't think guns are bad. But she probably thinks guns are kind of silly. (Apologies if I'm stepping on your toes too much, Sister.)


It's a fun mental image picturing you confronting a knife-weilding ne'er-do-well with nothing but a heart-shaped box of chocolates and a Dr. Phil book. "Can we talk about what you're feeling now?" heh, heh

Mark said...

Good points about the efficiency of police weapons. I'm not sure about up there, but a lot of departments will order AR-15 verisions that are single fire only to get around this potential public relations issue. I haven't bothered to look up muzzle velocity, but the .30-06 does have greater stopping power. The problem a lot of people with police weapons is that they are black, look tough, and don't have wood stocks.

But I see what I thought her original point was, I just can't pass it up when I see "high powered assault rifles" LOL. I still maintain that confronting potential suicides with lethal force is acceptable. They are (at least for the moment) beyond counseling. Although the most important position on a SWAT team is the negotiator. It can dictate the whole outcome.

The box of chocolates image is quite funny. Too bad for him I showed up with a cocked pistol, and fully ready to add some ventilation to his head.

Girl Next Door said...

Junegirl is in no way anti-gun. I don't own one, plan to own one, or even plan on shooting one again ever in my life. (yes there was one time, and I got a squirell. I kept the shell.) Thanks to gun, and hunting season, I ate well for a long time. Quite fond of the venison. I also might mention I am a member of PETA (but I didn't tell them about the venison thing).

Junegirl is anti-stupidity with guns. And it often seems that the two go hand in hand. I believe there is a need for gun control, because if jr high kids can buy a gun out of a trunk....something is very wrong.

Girl Next Door said...

And ewww to holes in the head.

Girl Next Door said...

And digi....that's some nice salad tossing going on there.

Joe said...

Better than mandrill ass. Thank god.

Alissa said...

omg...PETA? I thought I was your friend! Ish...

Anywho...I just read an article (not saying where) called "Suicide by Cops" where this guy called the cops saying he shot his ex-wife. When they arrived he came out of the house pointing a gun at them, requiring the officers to shoot him. They later discovered the gun was a BB gun or something along those lines. Inside they found that the ex-wife was no where to be found and there was a suicide note apologizing to the cops for making them shoot him. Coward....

I hope I had all the facts correct, as I feel I certainly don't have the capacity to debate with any of you yahoos! :-)