response 1 of 23:

Mar 23 04:07 UTC 2002

Obviously the old white guy was engaging in "racial profiling",
else he never would have shot at the police officer.  But hey,
what else do you expect of a member of the oppressor class who
has the gall to own guns and all that.

(One also wonders what kind of department hires people stupid
enough to break down people's doors with sledgehammers at 10 PM,
in plainclothes, and gives them badges and guns [I thought that
was limited to Detroit].  Probably the sort of department who would
take my first paragraph seriously instead of as extreme sarcasm.)

response 3 of 23:

Mar 23 07:01 UTC 2002

I am not thrilled at all that a line trooper dies over what is little
more serious than failing to answer a traffic ticket.  And at the same
time I am really really bothered by the notion of police with sledge
hammer breaking down the front door of anyone's house in the middle 
of the night over such.  Its a shitty situation all the way around even
if you don't know all the local details (as I do).

response 5 of 23:

Mar 23 15:08 UTC 2002

In their world, defending you home does not include dying yourself.  Guns
make you invincible against criminals.

response 7 of 23:

Mar 23 19:39 UTC 2002

Re #5:  You wanna provide a quote to that effect, or are you just
being a jerk?

In the real world, gang bangers don't shoot nearly as well as cops
(who in turn don't shoot as well as gun enthusiasts; cops get their
asses whipped in shooting competitions).  Shooting at a gang-banger
is probably a smart move (the banger will likely run even if they
aren't hit).  The cops will likely shoot back.

Unless undercover, cops should never, EVER be mistakable for crooks,
especially by their actions.  That was definitely a Darwin-level
fsckup, as bad as the plainclothes MPs who tried to disarm a sheriff's
deputy who was not a participant in their little exercise.

What's really ironic here is that the *cop* was such a lousy shot that
the 77-year-old guy, who probably hadn't been to a range in years, was
able to inflict fatal wounds with a lousy .22 pistol before being
incapacitated by return fire from a much more powerful weapon.

Conclusion:  The cops need better training, both in shooting and
in dwelling entries (and especially when not to do either).  (This
isn't my own brilliant deduction, this is what people have been
saying for years... and what's really sad is that the situation
has apparently not improved much.)

response 9 of 23:

Mar 24 03:09 UTC 2002

Well, the world has created a situation where the police no longer have
any grounds for complaint if they get shot in any forced-entry situation.
Thugs posing as cops have taken to dressing in police-style drug-raid
gear, right down to badges and POLICE stencils on ths clothing, have been
breaking in to various residences in some of the larger cities, and
cleaning the place out, sometimes killing people as they go.  (To this
degree, this is not distinguishable from a real drug raid.)  The first
obvious sign that this is not a real raid is when they leave, real raids
have the surviving occupants packed off to jail some time prior to the
police leaving.  Needless to say, as word gets around, police gear will
not have what little psychological protective effect it once had.  People
will shoot first, figuring they have nothing to lose regardless of who
they end up shooting.

response 11 of 23:

Mar 24 14:37 UTC 2002

        Of course gangbangers can't shoot straight.  Ever tried to control
muzzle rise when you're making that oh-so-hardcore Ice-T fist and holding the
pistol sideways?

response 13 of 23:

Mar 24 19:18 UTC 2002

(re#12: Uh, the item title was 
'Dead Cop, dead old man -over violations of building code.'
What part of 'dead old man' was difficult?

response 15 of 23:

Mar 24 22:28 UTC 2002

lol@#11

response 17 of 23:

Mar 26 04:44 UTC 2002

Uh, you might try:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-cop21.html

response 19 of 23:

Mar 27 21:53 UTC 2002

thankxxx fer de url ... amazing, simply amazing in a VeryNegativeWay (tm).
  
 City Corporation Counsel Mara Georges said the officers decided to 
 visit Wolk's home at 10 p.m. because they did not want him to spend 
 the entire day Monday in jail waiting for his Tuesday hearing.

 "I don't know that any mistakes were made," Georges said. "I know the 
 Police Department is reviewing the entire situation and has not 
 determined whether any changes in procedure are necessary."

 (Don's brother, Dan, said,) "I can't even begin to speculate whether 
 the procedures were right or wrong," he said. "Don used to say that 
 serving a summons was like delivering a pizza. That was his 
 approach to the job. "
  
  
and the city lawyer can't even say 'mistakes were made?'  <damn!>
  
  

response 21 of 23:

Mar 30 17:23 UTC 2002

or perhaps a brand spankable new white shirt got tough on
his first day on the job ... which would make it even stupider.

response 23 of 23:

Apr 1 02:03 UTC 2002

re#22:  Now *that* was funny.  I'm sure it will show up in
the anti-gun literature as a serious example of the problem...

it also assumes a level of familiarity with marksmanship
that is demonstrably not present in the purported target market
for the product.