Carson: Cops Could Be Trained to Shoot For The Legs
Dr. Ben Carson, author of “One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future” argued that while Officer Darren Wilson did nothing wrong in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, police should be better trained in non-lethal force such as shooting aggressors in the legs on Tuesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show.”
“First of all, I don’t think that the police officer did anything wrong. Nevertheless, there are probably additional techniques and knowledge that he could have been given. So all along, we probably need to beef up the instructions for police officers in general so that they don’t place themselves in such dangerous situations” he stated.
Carson continued, “he [Wilson] had every right to protect his life. But I do think that there are probably other techniques that could have been used.”
He specified “for instance, in a lot of places, police officers aren’t even allowed to go into the more dangerous areas by themselves. They’re always paired. Or you know, people use tasers, people learn how to shoot people in the legs to stop them from charging, things of that nature. And I seriously doubt that he’d been given that information.” SOURCE
Dr. Ben Carson may be a strong Conservative in the eyes of some, he is quite likely a fine doctor and a great American, but when it comes to Law Enforcement, guns, their use and the Second Amendment, Dr. Ben Carson doesn’t know his hand from his foot and he just cost himself any support he may have gotten from me.
“Why couldn’t they just shoot him in the leg” is the cry of the dumber than dirt anti-gun Libbers, not solid Conservatives and knowledgeable gun people and 2A supporters, at least not in MY opinion.
Carson may indeed be a marvelous person but where guns are concerned, he is ignorant.
Semi-automatic weapons ok in countryside, but not cities
Appearing on Glenn Beck’s radio show this past week, Carson took a vastly different stance from most conservatives on the issue of gun control, claiming you shouldn’t be able to own semi-automatic weapons in large cities.
Asked by Beck for his thoughts on the Second Amendment, Carson gave the popular pro-gun argument: “There’s a reason for the Second Amendment; people do have the right to have weapons.”
But when asked whether people should be allowed to own “semi-automatic weapons,” the doctor replied: “It depends on where you live. I think if you live in the midst of a lot of people, and I’m afraid that that semi-automatic weapon is going to fall into the hands of a crazy person, I would rather you not have it,” Carson elaborated. However, if you live “out in the country somewhere by yourself” and want to own a semi-automatic weapon, he added, “I’ve no problem with that.” SOURCE
And from the same source as the blockquote above.
Law-abiding citizens absolutely should have gun rights
Ben Carson said he changed his mind and was against gun registration because “sinister internal forces” could surface in that scenario. He “used to think they needed to be registered, but if you register them they just come and find you and take your guns.” He said, “I would never advocate anything to interfere with Second Amendment rights; however, I do think we have to be intelligent and address situations where people with AK-47s are mowing people down. We need to discuss, ‘Is there something we can do?’ We have to keep in mind that law-abiding American citizens absolutely should have gun rights.” SOURCE
Any time someone says, “Why yes, I DO support the Second Amendment” … and then follows that statement up with “BUT”, or “However*, you are about to hear the words of someone that is NOT a TRUE supporter of the Second Amendment, not in ANY way.
It’s that simple; Dr. Ben Carson is NOT an ideal candidate for POTUS, there may be NO SUCH THING as an *ideal candidate*, but I had a guy from right here in Rowlett that told me there are issues more important that the Second Amendment.
I asked him what those issues might be. He had no answer so I told him that without the Second Amendment, the rest of it (The Constitution) is just useless.
I have said for a long time; the GOP needs to run the hardest Republican hard-ass they can find, we don’t need some uber-polite, uninformed, weak and ineffectual person in the White House. We need a fire breathing, God fearing, gun loving American Conservative in there, and as it stands right now that is a very short list.
And as if there wasn’t already more than enough reasons to throw Carson into the garbage: Ben Carson’s endorsement of Monica Wehby heart-breaking | Personhood Ohio
“other techniques.” Ok, mount a track around the police car about knee level with a chainsaw mechanism, one engineered to stay on track with no safety stop bar brake, anything tossed in gets dismembered …until motor is turned off it runs. I love knee hi-tech ideas.
I guess not practical, but it would clear interstates, roads, intersections and take care of a waste called a crisis.
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I heard and read about Dr. Carsons’ ideas on the 2nd ammendment. I was very, very disapointed. He seemed at first to be so American, so common sensical, so pro conservative ideals. Fred, we all have opinions and my opinion of this man just took a nosedive. We have to put a candidate up there who is truly an American. One who puts the citizen before any compassion for the downtrodden, the children, the minority groups that cry out for justice. WE THE PEOPLE are the ones who should be properly represented, not the groups that cry the loudest (donate the most money). I side with you on this issue. Good post.
So, is he recommending that police officers use a lethal weapon in a less than lethal situation, in a non-lethal manner? How does a police officer do that? A gun is drawn ONLY in lethal situations. NOT for shooting someone in the legs. If the situation only required a shooting in the legs, than the situation was not a lethal situation, yet Carson is stating that a cop should respond lethally in a non-lethal manner. I know that may confusing, but that is just what Carson is recommending…a confusing reaction.
Think of what this would do to everyone involved if there was a “shooting in the legs” response. What if the cop hits a femoral artery and the person dies, but the situation was non-lethal, where the cop was not in mortal danger. Think of the lawsuits and cries for crucification of the cops who do not manage a good leg shot. Plus, even the best trained of us, still would find that shooting someone in a leg in a non-deadly region, as the suspect is RUNNING at them. That is not an easy shot in the best of circumstances. Not to mention, when a person is crazy enough to run at an armed cop with a gun, at what point does that situation demand either a lethal or non-lethal response by the cop? How does the cop know if the suspect is running at him to give him a hug or steal his gun and use it on him? In my opinion, a person running at an armed cop IS ALWAYS a deadly situation. If that cop is overwhelmed, he gets his gun taken from him and now, the previously unarmed suspect who did not deserve to be shot, instantly becomes an armed suspect who NEEDS TO BE STOPPED. The only problem is, that the cop is now unarmed and unable to respond to a now deadly situation, and has to depend on the kindness of the suspect to not kill him.
And as to the suggestion that cops should not go in certain areas or go in alone, what the hell. Cops are the first and last line of defense against crime and bad things happening in communities. They MUST be allowed to go anywhere they need in order to protect us and stop crime. To have “NO COP” zones is to say we have a “criminals are safe here” zone.
I too agree that I thought highly of Dr. Carson, but this statement is pure ignorance. I do not think it was said to be malicious, but Dr. Carson needs to do his homework before commenting further. As a retired cop, I can only say that his statement is reckless at best.
I remember a training video during some training where a sharpshooter sniper shot the gun out of the hand of a demented scumbag who was holding hostages. It was an awesome shot to say the least. But it did a lot of damage as to the community’s expectation of what cops should do. As I am sure all of you here reading this know, that shot is not one that is done easily and not done easily at all by the average beat cop. But, now, on top of being a peace keeper, marriage counselor, traffic and crash expert, lawyer, paramedic, protector of property, knower of all laws and procedures, safe driver during normal driving and runnng code, cops are to be absolute expert marksmen and anything less than a perfect non-lethel leg shot gets them in a load of trouble. We are human, not supermen (although some cops do think they are supermen).
The fact remains that a cop can not respond non-lethally to a situation where their lives are on the line. The object is not to worry about the lives of some idiots who think they can disarm a cop, but to instead, worry about the life of the cop. After all, the VERY FIRST RULE all cops learn is “GO HOME AT THE END OF YOUR SHIFT”.
Dr. Carson needs to change his stance. In a magical world where unicorn farts cure cancer, leg shots are great. But in a magical world, bad guys would not exist. This is the real world. How about instead of teaching cops how to leg shoot, we teach scumbags that running at armed cops will make you dead, and let them learn what not to do. The person that determines if a situation is one that is deadly and lethal or not, is the criminal…NOT THE COP. All the cop can do is respond to the situation that scumbags put them in. It is the action of the scumbag that determines if he lives or dies.
A police officer under attack who faced with a life or death decision has mere seconds to pull the trigger and the reason so many shots are usually fired is that hitting the suspect anywhere is the only objective. Cops are taught to shoot “the center of mass”, the chest. Brown had already been hit in the arms and hand, but just kept coming at Officer Wilson. He totally deserved to be shot.
Dr. Carson is another squishy Republican who most definetely should not be running for President or any other office.
Dr Carson has some interesting ideas. This is not one of them. He also lacks the required Cult of Personality timbre to his voice and mannerisms.
LE officers do not shoot to wound, shoot to kill, shoot to disable or shoot to “wing.” They shoot to stop a threat. When the threat stops, they stop shooting. That’s how I train, that’s how I teach recruits.
BZ
I think we should leave the rookies out of it and stick to Ted Cruz.
He’s not an idiot or a flip flopper.
Ok, you can still die if you get shot in the leg. Just something to think about.
You can also die if you break your femur. Ask football players.
BZ
I’m not an expert by no means but instead I try to rely on common sense. Common sense tells me that if an Officer shoots a charging suspect in the leg to only wound him, the person will most likely go down to the ground. If the person is armed with a gun, he will still be able to shoot at the Officer and since he’s on the ground, he’s now a more difficult target for the Officer to hit. Therefore, the Officer has a greater chance of being killed himself. I wonder what Dr. Carson has to remedy that situation?
Two to the body, one to the head. Triple tap.
BZ
I am sure Dr. Carson thinks that all cops should be trained to shoot weapons out of the hands of suspects, just like in the movies.
Of course I was impressed when I first saw Dr. Carson several years ago. Then I saw the video of him looking at obama at a forum and giving him a lesson on capitalism. Fantastic I thought. Finally, about two years ago I read several remarks by Dr Carson about guns and knew he would not be my man. Also, he seemingly came out of obscurity and my sixth sense reminded me we already had one of those types in the White House. Something about him - - - - ?
I want someone with a known life trail as well as leadership experience. Military, corporate or govt leadership. I don’t care which or what combination. Dr. Carson falls short on all counts. We have some very good conservatives I would like to see run in 2016. Ted Cruz, Allen West, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin(sorry Fred) and others. I just don’t want several of them primarying at once and diluting the conservative vote allowing the RNC/GOP Establishment candidate to prevail. The RNC is already testing the waters and would happily give us Romney again or Jeb Bush, Chris Christi or some other “moderate”. I saw one of their “vote for your favorite” lists. The only “conservative” on that list was Dr Ben Carson. My antennae were really buzzing.
I have seen similar things where the GOP wants to push Romney again or bush or christie as well. I used to like christie…alot. But just like Dr. Carson, christie showed his true colors. He is a rino. Why oh why is the GOP desparate to run another rino? Do they think that this is their way of compromising?
I remember when Coke wanted to be like Pepsi. Even though Coke was the number one selling cola, and Pepsi was number 2, Coke wanted to attract Pepsi drinkers to buy Coke. Pepsi was sweeter, and so Coke made a sweeter cola and tried to replace old Coke with it. There put on one of the biggest and most expensive campaigns in order to promote this move. They wanted to try and steal Pepsi buyers. What they did not realize is that Pepsi buyers will always buy Pepsi and not some cola trying to be Pepsi. Coke also made the mistake of believing that Coke buyers would not mind the change and still continue to happily buy Coke as well. So, buy trying to cater to Pepsi drinkers, Coke changed, but when they did, they did not attract Pepsi drinkers as they had hoped, and only achieved pissing off they people that were loyal to them. The backlash was horrible. This has been labelled as one of the biggest mistakes in the history of business.
Well, here we have the GOP refusing to learn the lesson, and doing exactly what Coke did.
They are working so hard to attract democrats that they will never attract, that they are pissing off those that have been loyal to them. When will they learn that if they stay true to their brand, just like Coke, they will succeed?
I prefer my enemies to make it known that they are my enemies. I do not want my enemies to put on my uniform and tell me they are for my side, and they do everything to help the other side. If they put anymore rinos on the ballot, I PROMISE, I will be done. I will no longer vote. I will no longer care. I will have come to the conclusion that America as I know it is done, and simply live my life the best way I can. I will no longer donate money to certain candidate, as all I ever seem to get in return is lip service.
We have given the GOP a huge gift. We did not send them to DC to work with the democrats or reach across the aisle. We sent them to STOP oBAMA. For me, this is their last chance. I fear I am not alone, and if the GOP fails us this last time, there will be hell to pay from the voter. Not that they seem to care.
I’ll stay the fuck out of Carson’s operating room, if he stays the fuck out of my real world training, education and experience — 41 years worth — regarding cops and firearms. Written as Rangemaster of a 2,000+ large Fornicalia LE department.
Stick to what you know, Dr Carson, and I will too.
BZ
Here here…well said.
A negro will always back another negro,,,,right or wrong. It’s in their survival jungle genes. Deal with it.
Ya know, a lot of these pansy-assed moderates would see this as a racist comment… I was raised in the South and Texas and all I see is 100% accurate truth…