Police brutality or marketing morons?
Disturbing news keep feeding the news machine. Today police shot a 15-year old who was brandishing a pellet gun (a.k.a BB gun, airsoft gun, etc.). I have no doubts that some eager attorney will cook up a lawsuit, probably some "community leader" will start bitching about another case of police brutality as well.If they will do that, for a change, I will be on police's side for this one. I do not think our "finest" are that fine, not just because of quite a few case abuse case, but especially after I shared a house a few years ago with a cop. However, I do not blame them a bit for taking no chances. How can they know if the gun that the suspect is holding is not a real one? Look at this picture, can you tell which gun is a toy and which one is real? I know I can't. Imagine if you're 20 yards away, probably not in a well lit area - it's even harder!
I say sue the gun manufacturers. Why do they need to make toy guns that look so real? Does the real look of a toy increase a child's pleasure from the game? I remember growing up, we made "guns" out pieces of wood. The only resemblance to a real gun was the shape (barrel and handle). We would also take elastics from underwear and tree branches and make arches. And we had fun, because we acted as if they were real, it was our fantasy which pleasured us.
But now? Look at this other pic. This kid is holding a full-size air soft gun (shoots pellets) that looks very much like the infamous AK-47 (although it looks a bit more like AK-74, the barrel is shorter). I'm sorry, call me a crazy Albanian if you want, but if I see some punk pointing that thing at me, I am not taking any chances!
I wonder how do his parents feel, who are they going to blame? Will they blame the police (very likely)? I'm sure they'll blame the toy manufacturer as well. Well, I guess it would be an OK move. But wait a sec, the manufacturer didn't force them to buy that gun for their kid! Why don't they blame themselves and their kid instead?
This entry was posted
on Saturday, January 14, 2006 at 10:21 PM.
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ByIt's my understanding that the kid had issues. He was suicidal in the first place, so I think he got what he wished for.
As far as lawsuits go, I don't think there is a need for any in this case. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some, as America qualifies for land of litigation.
I wouldn't sue the pellet gun manufacturers either. If there is a market, there will be a product. You could push for legislation against these pellet guns, but that would be out of question, considering the love relationship between America and guns. You would have Charlton Heston coming after you like a mad dog.
Bottom line it comes down to common sense. You point a gun looking device to the po-po, you should expect the worst.
By
By the way, nice template. I was looking at those the other night. How much work was customizing all fields?
By
Yes, if there's a market, there will be a product. I am not 100% sure manufacturers should be sued but sometimes the long-forgotten "logic" should be used as well. And I really don't want the gov't to get involved and start banning things. I guess they need to put one of those warnings, like in cigarettes: SURGEON GENERAL: According to morgue studies, owning a gun like this may result in your ass being wasted by cops."
Re: the template, thnx! I can't take credit though :) There wasn't really that much work, once you understand what the blogger tags mean and do. And, of course, some HTML and CSS knowledge is required :)
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