https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/23/us/sonya-massey-police-shooting-what-went-wrong
I understand that cops are facing the possibility of death when they pull someone over because of a busted taillight.
I also understand that a pot of boiling water is a potential threat of serious injury. I wouldn't say, as a general rule, that a person should face murder charges for responding to the threat of third degree burns over the majority of his or her body, with a gun. All that said, I think that this cop should die in prison.
I do wish that the media would stop chopping up the video footage that's entirely consequential to the moral assessment of a person's actions. I want to maintain the possibly that I'm wrong here.
Still, Ms. Massey would clearly still be alive if she didn't call the police.
The book Dial 911 and Die was all about how ineffective the police are in saving your life if you're facing an imminent threat of death. It's a completely different thing when you call 911 and the cops show up and kill you.
This is a level of egregious that I think I saw with Tony Timpa.
Even if I were to forget the fact that the officers were only there because she called, and only in her home by her invitation, this is a bad shoot.
If I were just a neighbor, and Ms. Massy had called me because she was scared about something, and she knew that I was bigger and stronger and had a gun, and I shot her because she was making hot tea, I would rightfully be facing a life sentence.
I don't even think it would be news.
The distance between Ms. Massy and the officer was more than enough that her possession of the boiling pot wasn't a imminent deadly force threat. I'm as in favor of Stand Your Ground laws as you can get; but, I've still gotta say, "Dude, if you're really that worried, step back and to the left. Don't shoot her in the fucking head."
Again, this is just more proof that the Second Amendment is a hill upon which liberals should be willing to die.
When you call the cops, you're introducing a stranger with a gun into the situation. You're introducing an agent of the state, with a gun, into the situation. You're just betting on that agent of the state being competent and morally virtuous.
It's a better bet to buy a gun yourself and trust yourself.