thoughts on more firepower allowed for police (Miami, Pompano Beach: crime, live in)

[blackklight]

the request of the mayor has been approved to allow miami-dade police officers to have access to assault rifles. i think this is really the wrong direction for this as you already have corrupt cops as is and now you're giving them assault rifles? personally i think the emphasis has to be placed on the regulation of illegal arms moreso over than giving cops a bigger badder gun to try and scare criminals.

honestly do you think labeet would have cared if they had assault rifles or not? a lot of criminals (nation wide not just south florida) have adopted the all out mentality or that they prefer to die than go to jail.

[eufo]

The intention isn't to deter crime, it is to help protect the lives of police officers by giving them equal footing with the bad guys if trouble arises.

And if you're paranoid about a corrupt cop, s/he can easily make your life hell with or without a gun, so that's a silly argument.

[doggiebus]

Labeet obviously did not care for anyone but himself, obvious by what he did to the officer he gunned down. All with an ak47, what does someone need an ak47 in Miami, only for somethings not good. Last month officer Ryka gunned down in Pompano Beach and the other officer that is still in the hospital (not sure where he was gunned down). And I am sure there are other incidences that are less violent that haven't made the news lately. I have said this since probably around Feb, that something changed in South Florida, that the crime was up.

These are the type of people that live in our communities today, a sad fact, and it will only get worse if our economy doesn't get better soon.

I am all for the cops carrying whatever it takes to defend themselves and protect me from people like Labeet. Even with the bad cops...

[Lilybeans]

They aren't assault rifles. Assault rifles, as used by the military, are fully automatic firearms. These aren't. These fire a bullet only when the trigger is pulled.

You are right though, that the problem is not guns, it is criminals. Get rid of criminals, and problems go away.

[Miami Vice]

Originally Posted by blackklight

the request of the mayor has been approved to allow miami-dade police officers to have access to assault rifles. i think this is really the wrong direction for this as you already have corrupt cops as is and now you're giving them assault rifles? personally i think the emphasis has to be placed on the regulation of illegal arms moreso over than giving cops a bigger badder gun to try and scare criminals.

honestly do you think labeet would have cared if they had assault rifles or not? a lot of criminals (nation wide not just south florida) have adopted the all out mentality or that they prefer to die than go to jail.

Well let's see. We all know that bank robberies and other crimes occur down here where criminals are armed with assault rifles. So now you are an officer responding to a silent alarm at a bank. Do you want to go up against someone with an assault rifle with your handgun, or do you want something high powered, more rounds and with better accuracy. Let me reload my gun while he is firing at me with a banana clip. Maybe I'll drop my clip and he'll have enough time to walk up to me and take me out. If you know anything about guns, you know that rifles are more accurate than pistols. A "corrupt cop" will kill you with a handgun just the same way than with an assault rifle. I feel that that's just a lame excuse to make our job more difficult because of people who hate the police. It's real easy for someone to criticize when they're Monday morning quarterbacking and have no clue to what we do or what we face.

[Lilybeans]

Originally Posted by Miami Vice

If you know anything about guns, you know that rifles are more accurate than pistols.

If you know anything about guns, you know we aren't talking about assault rifles. And these guns aren't any more powerful than your average deer rifle, in fact, they are less powerful.

[Miami Vice]

Pointless to continue, officers.

[Livinginabox]

Originally Posted by blackklight

the request of the mayor has been approved to allow miami-dade police officers to have access to assault rifles. i think this is really the wrong direction for this as you already have corrupt cops as is and now you're giving them assault rifles? personally i think the emphasis has to be placed on the regulation of illegal arms moreso over than giving cops a bigger badder gun to try and scare criminals.

honestly do you think labeet would have cared if they had assault rifles or not? a lot of criminals (nation wide not just south florida) have adopted the all out mentality or that they prefer to die than go to jail.

Give the cops the tools they need to defend themselves (and us) against psycho-criminals like LaBeet, who manage to get access to dangerous firearms such as an AK-47.

No, I don't think LaBeet would have cared if the cops were armed with rocket launchers, but with better firepower, maybe they could have taken him down sooner and as a result, no lives may have been lost, aside from the scumbag LaBeet.

I'm sure there are corrupt cops, just like corruption weeds its way into all walks of life, but wouldn't you rather have those who are there to protect you armed and ready? Think of it this way, picture the nation of Israel, surrounded by Arab enemies. Israel arms itself to the hilt, because it has to.....it has to be one step ahead of its potential enemies.

In an ideal world, no one would have guns, but this isn't an ideal world and you have to make sure that the line of defense is better equipped than the enemy, at all times. At the end of the day, who would you rather had the better weapons; the police or the criminals?

I come from a country (the UK) where the majority of police don't even carry firearms, in a country where gun crime is constantly on the rise. Many people in the UK are opposed to the police being armed in any way, but I have never understood that, because the days of the "bobby carrying the stick" are well and truly over. At least over here (and in most countries), they provide cops with firearms and extensive training.

[eufo]

Originally Posted by Lilybeans

If you know anything about guns, you know we aren't talking about assault rifles. And these guns aren't any more powerful than your average deer rifle, in fact, they are less powerful.

WordNet Search - 3.0 (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=assault%20rifle - broken link)

"any of the automatic rifles or semiautomatic rifles with large magazines designed for military use"

GLOSSARY OF TERMS (broken link)

"A military rifle intended purely for one-man operation and equipped to provide both semiautomatic or full-automatic fire by means of a selector switch or other fire-control device. Today's assault rifles are typified by the Soviet AK 47 and the U. S. M 16."

Seems to me we ARE talking about assault rifles.

[Lilybeans]

Originally Posted by eufo

WordNet Search - 3.0 (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=assault%20rifle - broken link)

"any of the automatic rifles or semiautomatic rifles with large magazines designed for military use"

GLOSSARY OF TERMS (broken link)

"A military rifle intended purely for one-man operation and equipped to provide both semiautomatic or full-automatic fire by means of a selector switch or other fire-control device. Today's assault rifles are typified by the Soviet AK 47 and the U. S. M 16."

Seems to me we ARE talking about assault rifles.

No we most definitely are not. An M-16 select fire rifle is an assault rifle. An AR-14 semiautomatic rifle is not an assault rifle. It must be select fire with fully automatic capability in order to be an assault rifle. As you know, it has been illegal for a civilian to own such a rifle for over 70 years, unless a person possesses a special license.