Also and importantly the police gets lots of hands-me-down from the military, grants for high power devices, bills themselves warriors (with seminars like Grossman’s Killology), and trains in fearing everything and considering the civilian population their enemy. US cops are basically trained in thinking they work in occupied territory, but not in trigger discipline.
Every podunk town has set up a “SWAT” team armed to the teeth moving around in mrap, chomping at the bit to use their toys (as long as there’s no obvious danger on the scene, flashbanging a crib at dawn is A-ok, rushing a mass shooter in a school in broad daylight is, you know, maybe later).
>...flashbanging a crib at dawn is A-ok, rushing a mass shooter in a school in broad daylight is, you know, maybe later
Oh that's not fair. The official count is the police only waited 74 minutes[0] before attempting to engage a hostile situation. However, they were effective in blocking parents from entering the scene, tackling and threatening to taze anyone who dared disrespect their orders.
The shooter had an AR-15 rifle. You ain't beating that with just a side-arm / pistol. AR15 shoots at 3x the muzzle velocity with larger bullets, meaning the AR15 penetrates walls / cover better, and has better accuracy to boot (less drop over distances so its far easier to aim).
I don't know exactly which magazines he was using, but AR-15 rifles can come with effective magazines as large as 30 shots, while typical pistols only have 9 far weaker shots. A trained man with an AR15 could very well beat an entire squad of pistol-armed police men depending on the distance of engagement, body armor available and cover available.
Ex: The AR15 could penetrate doors and walls, while the Police could not (and even if the Police __COULD__ penetrate the walls, there was a chance at injuring the hostages).
People just don't realize the mechanics of what happens when a shooter has access to guns that are more powerful than the Columbine shooters. It makes the tactics for stopping those shooters that much more perilous.
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You can't expect cops to walk into a fight with literally weaker weapons than what the shooter was obviously using.
People don't realize that here in the USA, not only are guns legal... _BIG_ guns, like the AR15 are legal. This is what people talk about "assault style weapons", which is poorly defined but obviously means things stronger than a typical pistol.
When guns get bigger, they shoot further. They penetrate more armor and cover. They shoot more accurately due to barrel length and faster velocities. You literally are getting outgunned and favored to lose from a tactical perspective unless you sit around and wait for the SWAT team.
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> "We have him in the room. He's got an AR-15. He's shot a lot ... we don't have firepower right now ... It's all pistols ... I don't have a radio ... I need you to bring a radio for me, and give me my radio for me ... I need to get one rifle ... I'm trying to set him up.
The Uvalde cops _DID_ attack the shooter. They were so obviously outgunned that they retreated. Welcome to the reality of AR-15 all over the damn place.
There are dramatically more guns in the US than any other country; the US has about 120 guns per person, Falkand Islands comes second with about 60 guns per person, and it drops off to 20-30 per person pretty quickly after that. In addition, in many places where guns are more common-ish they're usually for hunting, rather than "to protect me and my family": that is, more (hunting) rifles, less handguns, and less of a culture to use them for defence.
I mean, a person can shoot only one gun (accurately) at a time; and the calls usually denote the person targeted has a gun. Would the police force really apply Bayes’ rule to reevaluate the call’s truthiness if gun ownership halved?
Guns are legal in many countries, but they have different rules about them. For example, in Canada you aren’t allowed to use them for self defense (well, it’s ok against bears), in Germany they have to be locked in a safe when not in use (and the police will come to your home to do spot checks), in Switzerland militia ammunition is kept separate from guns, etc…
Guns are legal in many countries. Hell, I can just go out and buy one (after applying for a license).
And people starting shooting is kind of expected when you break down their doors without announcing. For all they know, their lives are being threatened and they have a right to self defence. But if a cop wants to shoot me here, there is a very clear procedure they must follow (verbal warning+warning shot).
What is wrong with knocking on doors before trying to tear them down?
