Read the crowd. If you roll up on a scene where there’s an armed person surrounded by a crowd of onlookers, that’s a good indicator the person with the gun is not a threat to innocents. If they thought he was a threat, they would probably be showing some kind of fear and running away from him, instead of staying nearby.
Having a cop shoot a citizen carrying a concealed weapon was unavoidable. And sorry but anybody saying the opposite is full of it because we do not live in a perfect world filled with people making the right decisions even when they do not have evil in their hearts.
If anything, I am amazed that it has happened so few times in 40+ years of Concealed Carry. That speaks a lot about the culture behind it and it goes contrary to the expectations of Gun Control. That being said, there is always room for improvement and updating training which is what this article does.
This part, to me, is still the scary one specially when the officer moves from a restrictive area such as NYC or L.A. to departments anywhere in Florida.
Evaluate your culture. In some geographic regions, and in some departments, the local police culture hasn’t caught up the reality of a lawfully armed public. Officers in these agencies are still trained to think that the only people who have guns, besides cops, are criminals.
Training never stops. Our advantage is we are flexible and do not have to follow a chain of command or be approved by and unyielding bureaucracy or deal with elected officials who are less than friendly to the concept of Armed Citizens.
Hat Tip Tom W.
“Only cops and criminals have guns” so you roll up on a scene and the guy with a gun is automatically a criminal?? Could be under cover cop?
A cop shooting an innocent CCW holder is unavoidable. True.
All I am asking for is for the cop to be held to the same standard I am when I get it wrong.
The problem isn’t that a bystander will be misidentified as a perpetrator, it’s that there are no consequences to the government (and its employees) for shooting the wrong person.
We know they can do better and should insist on it.
Nor are there consequences for government employees violating the Constitution, even though there are laws on the books that are supposed to deliver those consequences.
As a result of this lack of consequences, people get killed. One problem caused almost entirely by this lack of accountability is “swatting”.
You want to blame Swatting deaths on the cops? That is a dangerous path.
The person who pulls the trigger is the one to blame. Most SWAT responses don’t need a SWAT team to respond, the department chooses to roll like it’s WARRE time… and innocent citizens get dead.
If there were consequences to rolling hot, then they wouldn’t do it as a matter of course and do some diligence before kicking in doors with the safeties off.
I blame swatting deaths on two parties: (1) the person calling in the false report, (2) the cops who break into the victim’s home without a warrant supported by probable cause.
If police obeyed the 5th Amendment, swatting would disappear.