Tuesday 13 April 2021

An easy mistake to make?


I think that any police officer who confuses a taser with a handgun - even in the heat of the moment - needs urgent medical assessment. Tasers are made of bright yellow plastic and worn in a special holster on one side of the body. Handguns are made of heavy, black metal and produce quite a loud bang when you pull the trigger.

That's all I am saying.

34 comments:

  1. Grab and fire. I don't think they look at the colour in the heat of the moment. Tasers are a lot like guns. Too late once you hear the loud bang.

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    1. Unless U.S. police wander around with cocked pistols in their holsters, they have to pull the top of the semi-automatic backwards and forwards to get a bullet in the chamber. Tasers presumably just have a safety catch.

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    2. I thought a semi-automatic had the bullet there the moment you pull the trigger. Oh well, perhaps the defence is not so good.

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  2. The first bullet has to be pulled in by cocking the pistol. Thereafter the bullets load themselves into the chamber with the recoil as the empty cartridge is ejected.

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  3. Every case that comes up makes me very pleased I don't live in the US

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  4. Every case that comes up, I think how willing America is to accept these ridiculous explanations. We are in our third week of a trial about a murder that we've all seen right before our very eyes. Yet people want to debate whether a bad heart killed a man who had the weight of a police officer kneeling on his neck. It is all horrifyingly ridiculous.

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    1. We live in the era of big lies - so big that you almost cannot believe anyone would dare to tell them.

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  5. It was a terrible mistake, though I think the woman panicked but not knowing your left from your right, or how either of the weapons worked, or the feel of different weight/material takes some believing it was a mistake. As Debby says when they start arguing about bad hearts against 9 minutes kneeling of Derek Chauvin on George Floyd's neck, you have to question the sense of it all.

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    1. They protect their own and attack those who are not.

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  6. If I make a mistake on the job and hit the wrong key, a client gets the wrong invoice. If a cop makes a mistake on the job, someone may die. If you've ever put salt in your coffee instead of sugar or the eggs in the oven instead of the fridge, don't judge. I'm glad I don't have that responsibility and I pray for those who do as much as I pray for the young man's family.

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    1. Words - like bullets - cannot be recalled, but I would rather be on the receiving end of bad words.

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  7. I've lived in the Minneapolis area since 1979. I want you all to know about the beautiful park system, the music scene, museums, live theater, access to wide open spaces, number of colleges and dedication to education, and my state's history. Tragically, that's overshadowed by toxic attitudes in the police departments. I am ashamed of them.
    Bonnie in Minneapolis

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    1. There is something fundamentally wrong with the police the world over, especially in big cities. They feel under attack, and they usually are. It is a vicious circle.

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  8. I read this post this morning before work, and just now I asked our school resource officer (yes, we have armed police officers in schools) about it. He carries a taser and a gun....and they look the same. The taser is black and has a handle just like a pistol. He said that even though they look the same that there's a big difference in weight, and that they normal carry the taser on one side, always, to help avoid mixing them up. He said he doesn't understand how a 26 year police veteran made such a horrible mistake. But I wanted to let you know that some cops carry tasers that do look just like a regular gun.

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    1. They make a BB gun here called 'The Black Widow'. It is a replica of an old Colt .45 semi-auto. There is no reason why it should look any different to the accurate pistols that are used in the Olympics, but people suffer from gun-romance. Tasers are supposed to look different for the sake of suspects as well as the police. Like I said to Rachel, you don't have to cock a taser as you must to fire the first round of a semi-auto. I have used these pistols and I have seen tasers which are replicas of semi-autos. They make CS gas pistols which are also replicas, but they should not be issued to the police - or anyone else for that matter. I hope it was a genuine mistake, but I think it was a much more serious example of human error and someone in the wrong job. Either way, the vetting/training procedure stinks.

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  9. Why on earth would they make a taser look so much like a gun? You're in the wrong if you get mixed up and press the accelerator instead of the brake.

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    1. For the same reason they made sweet, candy cigarettes for children to eat.

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    2. They still do. Exactly the same but without any red on the end. They just call them candy sticks. Did you ever get a liquorice smoker's outfit or a Junior Smoker’s Set with sweet cigarettes, chocolate cigars and a liquorice pipe?

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  10. It couldn’t happen in a worst place at a worst time

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  11. By the way, thank you for introducing me to Murrmurrs, she is brilliantly funny.

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  12. The state of police actions in the US is deplorable. There are deep seeded problems. Problems historically were covered up. Exposing wrong doing will bring corrective actions.

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  13. It's an ugly world. I can't fix it. I wish I could, and pray others can.

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  14. I see that now she has resigned from the force - as has the police chief too!

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    1. Yes. It had to happen, but it might not have.

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  15. 26 yrs on the force and you're a training officer & you mistake your gun for a taser? Eff off with that noise.

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