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John Duresky's avatar

Something similar happened to me, with some obvious differences, most importantly that I am here telling you about it, but it is my specific actions the guaranteed I would be here.

Shortest possible version: I received a phone call from the local police, they said a number a from my house at called a Veteran's Help Line "Threating to kill everybody in the house and then myself." I said, nope, nothing like that going on here. My wife and I are just home watching TV. After some back and forth and guessing, the officer, "Well, could you come outside just so we can clear this up." Note: police get to lie and misrepresent to citizens all day, every day, citizens do enjoy the same privilege.

So, I step outside, and I realize (a bit late) the severity and danger of my situation. The road is blocked, a police office in cover has an assault rifle pointed directly at me from about 75 yards way; to my right, 3 officers are walking up to me. I immediately put my hands out of in front me, and I make no sudden movements. I exclaim, "Why does that cop have a gun on me." The lead officer from the right, "Don't worry about him, talk to me." Notice my immediate understanding of the situation, hands are in pockets, no aggressive moves, and we start to talk, with everybody remaining calm. Most importantly, I didn't come to the door or step outside with a firearm in my hand.

Now, it turns the guy 2 house to my south HAD made that call, and they figured out (after I told them, hey, I don't think I'm being swatted, but law enforcement has visited THAT house a couple of times). They took him into custody without incident.

I have a concealed carry permit, but I almost never carry. Any guesses as to why? It is far more dangerous to have that gun on my person than it is not have that gun on my person (IMO, I guess, I could probably back this up with stats, but this is just my feeling).

This is why maximalist/absolutist type opinions are always wrong, they don't account for the tensions between various views/right, the 2nd, 4th and 5th amendments are very much tension, especially as interpreted by our current courts and police.

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KN in NC's avatar

You did all the right things. And, judging from your profile photo, you are white, dramatically decreasing the police's urge to shoot on sight.

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John Duresky's avatar

Hey, white privilege is totes real...

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E2's avatar

Years ago, I got pulled over while driving a crappy little car with a broken manual window crank on the driver's door. I had improvised a handle with locking pliers, which worked not quite as well as a real handle, so opening the driver's window took a little longer, with a less natural motion.

As a law-abiding white person, I had no reflexive fear of a police encounter, so I didn't even fully process until it was over that he'd had his hand on his gun while he watched me open the window, and had taken a look down the inside of the car door when he got close enough.

He had been alert, wary of my weird fumbling, with my hands out of sight as he approached - but not afraid. I realized that, had I been black and done the same, it would easily have met the "reaching for object" standard that has justified more than a few police shootings of unarmed men.

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Eric73's avatar

I'm not so sure about this. There have been studies that show that on a *per-incident basis*, black people aren't actually more likely to be shot. This is consistent with the fact that black people are more likely to live in poor areas with higher crime, and thus more likely to come in contact with police than white people, which does a lot to explain why they are disproportionately shot by police.

Regardless, I think that the bigger factor in John's case is that he wasn't brandishing a weapon.

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