• lath@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Yo, no offence here, buut you people seem to forget all about the random Europe attacks with bladed instruments. Let alone all the attacks in the rest of the world that go unreported globally.

    Melee weapon attacks are dangerous and often deadly. My country prohibits having anything that can be classified as a white weapon in your car due to how many fuckwits started hitting and stabbing each other in traffic.

    You lot are really downplaying the risks involved just because cops were at the center of it.

    • PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      No offense here either, but you seem to have fallen for the NRA-driven narrative that knife attacks are more common in Europe as if that balances out the enormous rate of gun crimes (including this one) in the US. Statistically, both the US and Europe have approximately the same rate of knife attacks - with some countries in Eastern Europe being a bit higher.

      But let’s reason that through a bit more, just to be scientists. If an officer is willing to fire a gun at the literal drop of a hat, and that was somehow a deterrent to knife crimes, then we might hypothesize that the fact that in European countries officers use de-escalation first and engagement with pepper spray or tasers second would in fact see far higher rates of knife crimes. They don’t.

      So logically speaking, I don’t think either the statistics nor the models support your hypothesis.

      • lath@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        My “hypothesis” is simply that you’re downplaying the dangers of an attack with a melee weapon. They can be and often are deadly, regardless of how often they happen.

        • PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          So should a cop respond with lethal force against a child because they have a garden tool, or has the rest of the planet been making a terrible mistake that only the Americans, with their off the charts levels of violence and incarceration, have figured out?

          Do you think a militarized police force has a negative effect on violent crime and the rest of the world outside of places like Haiti and Somalia need to catch up with us?

          • lath@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            You know what I think? I think it doesn’t matter what I think. Society is gonna do what it does regardless. And as it seems, the general consensus of society in this regard is fuck the kids. Epstein’s island, clergy abuse, school shootings, bombings, starvation, kidnappings, mutilations, etc. No matter the corner of the world, kids are getting fucked in every way possible. You think these cops shooting a black and/or autistic kid makes them special? It doesn’t. Not even top ten of the most fucked up thing happening to kids across the world. The outrage is ridiculous.

            The cops aren’t the problem. They’re a symptom. They lack training, proper equipment and the leadership to grant what they need. But even that isn’t enough. They need a competent elected government that will grant the correct laws and the required budget to enact these changes. And that can only be done through fair elections by an educated electorate.

            Without actually changing society at the fundamental level, this outrage of yours doesn’t solve anything. Because obviously not enough people in the right places care enough to get shit done.

            None of that though changes that you’re downplaying the dangers of melee combat.