What is American doing to itself? The country is awash with weapons. Mass killings are a now regular events. US law officers are wrapped in combat-style body armor and drive armored vehicles that would not look out of place on a battlefield. And to make matters worse, American cops are shooting dead black suspects in a series of killings that have rightly appalled communities and led to furious protests. Less well-publicized are the frequent killings by cops of native Americans.
Proper police training around the world emphasizes the key point that lethal force is a last, not a first resort as happens too much now with US policing. And when a law officer has to draw a weapon, that amount of lethal force should be proportionate. Footage of a US cop pumping three more bullets into a black suspect after the first had brought him down are sickening
However, the extensive US protests at what look very much like extrajudicial killings need to make way for a rapid and thorough examination of what is going wrong here.
It seems certain that part of the problem is leadership. Successful policing is consensual. It happens when the public clearly believes that the law officers are there for their protection. Cops are servants of the public and they have been given special authority to enable them to carry out their duties.
The divorce between police and the public they serve has come about because of the fearsome weaponry that is available over the counter everywhere in the United States with hardly any checks on the identity of the purchaser, let alone his mental state.
An ordinary cop with just a side arm walking up to a stopped vehicle to write a traffic violation ticket, cannot be sure if the driver has a powerful assault weapon with him. Dashboard cams have shown law officers being shot down by motorists they have pulled over.
So is it surprising that police commanders order body-armor and other protective equipment that make their men look like Imperial Stormtroopers from Star Wars? The massive prevalence of guns in the country has served to turn every member of Joe Public into a potential enemy. There are five dead police officers in Dallas who demonstrate the danger that underpin this thinking.
President Obama has said he is sickened by having to comment on yet another mass shooting. And he is correct to say it has to stop. The second amendment to the US constitution gave the right to keep and bear arms. But when it was passed in 1791, America had militias, no standing army. The National Rifle Association (NRA) and its well-funded supporters have been plain wrong to insist that the amendment still gives the right to every American to bear arms. The United States has moved on. Outside of the military and law enforcement, the only people who should have guns are licensed hunters and hobby shootists.
The NRA says the solution to gun crime is more guns. Everybody should be able to protect themselves. But modern America has the cops, the National Guard and the Army to do that job. There is surely no doubt that the early American politicians who backed the Second Amendment 225 years ago would be utterly appalled at the use to which it is being put today.
