So, Being Armed Makes it OK for Police to Shoot You?
Hmmm, what happened to that Second Amendment thing?
It’s always fascinating to listen to police apologists rationalize the shooting of civilians — especially Black folks — by law enforcement.
The lengths to which they’ll go to make police-involved shootings justifiable are seemingly endless.
When it comes to racial disparities in such shootings, they’ll note disproportionate crime rates in Black communities, as if aggregate data can justify a given shooting, regardless of the actual encounter in question and what the decedent was doing before being shot.
Because Black folks commit homicide six times more frequently than whites, per capita — and violent crime generally 2.5 times more often — they’ll say police killing Black folks 2.5 times more often than whites, per capita, only makes sense (1).
In fact, they’ll say, compared to the homicide rate disparities, they may not be shooting Black people enough!
Seriously, I’ve heard that said more times than I can remember.
But the argument is silly.
