What do I think about what’s going on in Ferguson, Missouri?<\/p>\n
Re the Brown shooting<\/strong>:\u00a0 On the one hand, American police do a lot more shooting than any other police force in the world.\u00a0 More shots were fired <\/a>in that single incident in Ferguson than were fired by the entire German police force in six whole weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the other hand, African-Americans do get a disparately-harsh response from law-enforcement.\u00a0\u00a0 It causes some to prejudge all cases involving black shooting victimes.<\/p>\n On the third hand – that cuts both ways.\u00a0 We don’t know the facts – not all of them – about the Brown shooting, but we’ve seen the media whitewash the likes of Darren Evanovich<\/a>, trying to create a racial incident out of what turned out to be a perfectly clean self-defense shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the fourth hand, if Brown was <\/em>going for the officer’s gun, that’s a legitimate cause for self-defense.\u00a0 Even for a regular citizen.\u00a0 If someone grabs your gun, the law doesn’t require you to read his mind as to what he intends to do with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the fourth, we may not ever really know why the scuffle happened, or exactly what happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n And that, in fact, is the only real response I have to add.\u00a0 Remember the media’s reports in the first hours, days, even weeks after Columbine?\u00a0 Virginia Tech? The Giffords and Aurora Theater and Newtown shootings?\u00a0 Remember how close to the actual facts of the stories they got?<\/p>\n Not at all.<\/p>\n So I’ll wait for the facts to shake out, assuming they ever do.<\/p>\n Regarding the Police Response<\/strong>:\u00a0 I’ve written before about how I oppose the militarization <\/a>of the police.\u00a0 And the first couple of days of the Ferguson PD’s response was the Keystone Kops led by Major Frank Burns.\u00a0 Oh, don’t get me wrong; I have no problem with the DoD selling military firearms and armored vehicles to police departments – provided they sell them to law-abiding citizens, as well.<\/p>\n And yet when the Ferguson Fusiliers were withdrawn and replaced by the kinder, gentler, New-Ageier Missouri State Police?\u00a0\u00a0 The violence ebbed ,then came back as bad as ever<\/a>, prompting local, black residents to wonder to the media why the cops weren’t shooting looters.\u00a0 And now the National Guard is involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Charlatan Caucus<\/strong>:\u00a0 Of course, where there are grievances, there will be grievance vultures.\u00a0 And sure enough, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are on the scene – which in and of itself devalues much of the local community’s complaints.\u00a0<\/p>\n