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Oh, where do I start? :shakehead: I saw this over at PDO.
Blames Kathryn Johnston for her death, not the police
Writer Rick Perlstein in A View to a Kill writes about "Stand your Ground" laws.
He actually blames Kathryn Johnston for her death. Two blogs write about this:
The War on Guns
Cogito Ergo Geek
Excerpt from The New Republic:
On November 21, at around 7 p.m., narcotics officers in vests that said police (but not full uniforms) served a no-knock warrant to 933 Neal Street in Northwest Atlanta. The resident, Kathryn Johnston--88 years old by some accounts, 92 years old by others--pulled a pistol on the intruders. The police fired on their assailant. When it was over, three officers were wounded [by themselves, MP] and Johnston lay dead. The warrant, alleging drug activity at her address, appears to have been issued in error. And, although the FBI is investigating, the Fulton County Assistant District Attorney defended his cops: "This seems like another tragedy involving drugs."
Actually, it seems like another tragedy involving gun policy. On July 1, a new Georgia law went into effect granting anyone who feels attacked on his or her property the "right to meet force with force, including deadly force." Georgia Senate Bill 396 also immunizes such a shooter from prosecution and civil penalty (though not, in Johnston's case, from return fire). It's not unreasonable to suppose that, had this law not passed last summer, Johnston might not have fired on those strange men barging into her house, and she might be alive today.
Expect more Kathryn Johnstons. Unnoticed by most of the national press, 2006 became the year the National Rifle Association (NRA) got its way--and average citizens in almost a dozen states earned more leeway to shoot first and ask questions later than, in some circumstances, officers of the law.
An unarmed thief who enters through a front door accidentally left unlocked may end up with, as punishment, a summary execution. Notes NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam, "If someone breaks into your dwelling, it's reasonable to assume that person is in there to do you harm."
The new stand-your-ground laws are so frightening because they cover shooters who simply feel at risk. [Huh?, MP]
It seems likely that Atlanta's finest screwed up. But, even so, cops already have a hard enough job without the NRA's state-sanctioned shoot-first blessing bearing down on them in eleven states and counting.
Blames Kathryn Johnston for her death, not the police
Writer Rick Perlstein in A View to a Kill writes about "Stand your Ground" laws.
He actually blames Kathryn Johnston for her death. Two blogs write about this:
The War on Guns
Cogito Ergo Geek
Excerpt from The New Republic:
On November 21, at around 7 p.m., narcotics officers in vests that said police (but not full uniforms) served a no-knock warrant to 933 Neal Street in Northwest Atlanta. The resident, Kathryn Johnston--88 years old by some accounts, 92 years old by others--pulled a pistol on the intruders. The police fired on their assailant. When it was over, three officers were wounded [by themselves, MP] and Johnston lay dead. The warrant, alleging drug activity at her address, appears to have been issued in error. And, although the FBI is investigating, the Fulton County Assistant District Attorney defended his cops: "This seems like another tragedy involving drugs."
Actually, it seems like another tragedy involving gun policy. On July 1, a new Georgia law went into effect granting anyone who feels attacked on his or her property the "right to meet force with force, including deadly force." Georgia Senate Bill 396 also immunizes such a shooter from prosecution and civil penalty (though not, in Johnston's case, from return fire). It's not unreasonable to suppose that, had this law not passed last summer, Johnston might not have fired on those strange men barging into her house, and she might be alive today.
Expect more Kathryn Johnstons. Unnoticed by most of the national press, 2006 became the year the National Rifle Association (NRA) got its way--and average citizens in almost a dozen states earned more leeway to shoot first and ask questions later than, in some circumstances, officers of the law.
An unarmed thief who enters through a front door accidentally left unlocked may end up with, as punishment, a summary execution. Notes NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam, "If someone breaks into your dwelling, it's reasonable to assume that person is in there to do you harm."
The new stand-your-ground laws are so frightening because they cover shooters who simply feel at risk. [Huh?, MP]
It seems likely that Atlanta's finest screwed up. But, even so, cops already have a hard enough job without the NRA's state-sanctioned shoot-first blessing bearing down on them in eleven states and counting.
