Wolf Blitzer: Why Can't Ferguson Police Just 'Shoot To Injure?'

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

By AHIZA GARCIA Published AUGUST 15, 2014, 12:21 PM EDT

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked guest Jeffrey Toobin on Thursday why police weren't instructed to "shoot to injure," instead of kill. Blitzer's questions arose during a discussion on the unfurling conflict in Ferguson, Mo. over the fatal police shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

"They often shoot to kill," Blitzer said of police. "Why do they have to shoot to kill? Why can't they shoot a warning shot in the air, scare someone off if they think they're in danger. Why can't they shoot to, injure, shall we say? Why do they have to shoot to kill?"

Toobin said police are trained to "never fire a warning shot" and to "never fire a shot to injure." He explained that if police fire their guns, they must "accept the risk" that they are "gonna kill somebody." Adding that: "If you are not prepared to kill someone, don't fire the gun."

The rationale behind this, according to Toobin, is that if law enforcement is taught to fire warning shots or to shoot to injure instead of kill, people will be shot "too often."

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/wolf-blitzer-police-shoot-to-injure

[valerief]

1. As it is now, they're not shot too often. They're just

killed too often.

[onehandle]

2. Onehandle is prepared to get shunned at DU.

Via Star Trek, why not leave guns and improve weapons that 'stun?'

Yes, there are tasers, but we can do better.

But to GUN OWNERS, guns are the ultimate offensive technology.

FUCK THEM!

We can do better.

[Kelvin Mace]

10. The problem with stunn guns is

that they are not as harmless as the police like to pretend. Also, the cops LOVE to use them to escalate situations where they can claim they were provoked. I guess getting tased is better than getting shot, unless of course, you die anyway.

Stunning phasers would be nice, but:

1) Police would use them all the time.

2) Gravity is still an issue. Injury, including fatal injury, can still occur when a person falls to the ground.

It all comes back to training. I have seen GOOD cops defuse dangerous situations with words. I have also seem BAD cops escalate a mundane situation to violence.

[tblue37]

56. Which is exactly what happened to Michael Brown. Deliberate escalation by cop. nt

[krispos42]

36. So you really think nervous-system-stunning directed-energy weapons are on the horizon?

Puh-lease. And if they were, your side sure as hell wouldn't want them to be available to the general public!



And before you get all defensive, note that the most anti-gun states are also stringent on non-lethal weapons as well. Try buying a taser or pepper spray or a stun baton in NYC.

[markpkessinger]

3. Blitzer has been watching too many movies n/t

[jberryhill]

4. "shoot a warning shot in the air"

Wolf Blitzer has not heard of gravity.

[HubertHeaver]

5. Wolf Blitzer does not believe in gravity.

[jberryhill]

7. To be fair, gravity is only a theory

Like evolution.

[christx30]

41. I actually prefer the term

"intelligent falling". Shows that the Good Lord pushes all objects to where they need to go.

[A Little Weird]

49. Lol

I'm stealing that!

[christx30]

53. Feel free.

I shamelessly stole it from The Onion.

[tblue37]

58. Who borrowed it from Italo Calvino, I suspect. nt

[awoke_in_2003]

52. Nah...

the devil pulls them

[jberryhill]

59. The devil doesn't have enough arms

The only logical conclusion is that the many noodly appendages of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are at work.

The scary thing is that I'm actually starting to lean toward that.

[COLGATE4]

65. Ramen to that, brother. Ramen. nt

[Kennah]

71. CNN says of gravity, it's too close to call

[Orrex]

9. If there's one thing his reportage lacks, it's gravity

[rurallib]

18. based on his Jeopardy appearance years back, there is a good chance

that Blitzer has never heard of gravity.

one of my favorite pictures:


ETA - any Wolf Blitzer thread is incomplete without a Jeopardy pic

[L0oniX]

45. What is Dana looking at?

[Ikonoklast]

47. Not much.

[tblue37]

57. That is how innocent people get killed when

idiots fire their guns into the air in celebration.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. Because a goddamned 9mm doesn't have a "stun"s setting

you colossal ass!

The question you need to be asking, you cretinous intestinal parasite, is "Why do the police frequently and unnecessarily escalate non-violent situations to lethal ones?"

[calimary]

8. I'm sorry, Kelvin. That's an insult to cretinous intestinal parasites everywhere.

I LOVE it, though! Apt description for the individual with the absolute worst on-air delivery and alleged "breath control" that I've heard in all my years as a broadcast journalist - active OR retired.

[Kelvin Mace]

12. True.

There are intestinal parasites that could do Blitzer's job better than he can. My apologies for impugning their intellect.

[calimary]

14. (((*)))

[kirby]

11. For two reasons...

1) Dead people cannot testify as to what happened...
2) Dead people cannot sue for being injured...

The sad fact is that the liability for the government is cheaper if the person is shot dead versus injured.

[Kelvin Mace]

13. Bingo!

[hibbing]

40. excellent

Peace

[frazzled]

15. Why can't Wolf just retire already?

That's my question .... and I'm sticking with it.

[obxhead]

17. Yes, he could go sit next to his poppy Bush and paint puppies with him.

Fucking Wolf. A complete waste of perfectly good oxygen.

[monmouth3]

25. He and David Gregory should join forces...LOL...n/t

[elias49]

35. That's your final answer??

I'll second that...except CNN would crumble without the Wolf!!

[Orsino]

16. Why can't Blitzer just talk to his mirror? n/t

[freshwest]

69. Because he has no reflection.

Sorry, it was just laying there in the open for all to see so I had to say it.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

19. Da da da da - Da da da da

[pscot]

20. He's seen too many Hopalong Cassidy reruns

[immoderate]

27. Hoppy would "simply" shoot the gun out of the miscreant's hand!

And then he wouldn't choke them to death!

Why can't all police be like that?

--imm

[The Second Stone]

21. Damn Blitzer is stupid

on so many levels.

[Dopers_Greed]

22. A statement like this could only come from an out-of-touch, rich, white news anchor

You know, someone who will never have to worry about being "shot to injure" by police.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. This guy is an embarrassment to CNN....

Oh wait,...it's CNN.

[frylock]

33. This guy is an embarrassment

FIFY

[Spitfire of ATJ]

38. I wonder if Bernard Shaw tunes in and does facepalms.

[Cryptoad]

24. thats simple to answer,,,

die people tell no Lies (or truths)

[BeyondGeography]

26. Maybe Wolf can identify the area on his body where he'd like to be shot

[Brigid]

30. And we have our thread winner.

[Throd]

31. Apparently his head is filled with cement. Aim there.

[jberryhill]

42. It doesn't matter. None of his organs are vital.

[MFM008]

51. lol

good insult.

[rhett o rick]

28. All across the country the "cop culture" is to kill, kill, kill. People are being killed if they

simply don't obey. They do it because we allow it.

[ReRe]

29. There you go, Wolf

... why can't all police shoot to injure, instead of shoot to kill?

(If we encourage Wolf to think more like this, maybe he will change his stance on the IP conflict!)

[frylock]

32. because evidently not shooting is just not an option

[packman]

34. Remember that interview

with the women who survived the tornados? He kept -3 times - pressing her if she thanked God she survived and she kept telling him she was an atheist. Never crossed his mind that God created the tornado war-zone they were standing in - idiot.

[krispos42]

37. Gunfire is "lethal force", by definition

So to "shoot to wound", you need to be in a situation where you can use lethal force legally.


A shot to the leg is not the same as a beanbag round, a taser, or bear-grade pepper spray.

[JackRiddler]

39. Why can't they just shoot to tickle.

Start by tickling Wolf Blitzer.

[lumpy]

64. Shoot to tickle...LOL

LOL...

[Enrique]

43. it's good in a way when they ask somewhat ignorant questions

a lot of people watching might have similar misconceptions about what police do and they just got educated.

[L0oniX]

44. Stupid ass game show loser!

[madokie]

46. Blitzer needs to go

What a fucking idiot

[NickB79]

48. Anyone asking that question has never been in a gunfight before

He's asking why a police officer, hyped up to the point of shaking due to adrenaline, breathing heavily if a footchase was involved, with typically piss-poor marksmanship skills (because it takes hours of practice per month and thousands of rounds of ammo per year to be proficient), can't smoothly draw his pistol and hit a 3" target on a person running and/or moving rapidly from side to side?!?!

The stupid is strong in this one

[awoke_in_2003]

50. this guy is dumber...

than a bag of hammers.

[The Traveler]

54. I am reminded of a Robin Williams joke

From the "Moscow On the Hudson", if I recall correctly. Robin Williams is playing a defector, and is asked by a reporter

"What do Soviet citizens really want?"

Williams: "Warning shots. Soviet citizens really want warning shots."

(Like everyone else, I'm gonna miss that dude.)

In our current times, the jest seems tragically ironic on multiple levels.

Trav

[tblue37]

55. Also, innocent bystanders could get shot, and besides, it is hard enough

to hit the center mass of a target, especially for the cops, who have often proven themselves to be lousy marksmen.

There is no reason why that cop should have been shooting at all--not a warning shot, not to injure. The kid did nothing that would justify being shot, even to be injured. He just pissed off a cop who had demanded that he "respect his authoritah!"

[jberryhill]

60. He did manage to hit a house a couple of times

[Ash_F]

61. A gunshot to a limb can be be deadly, or crippling.

A shot to the femoral artery in a leg can kill before there is any time for first aid. Any shot to a bone, tendon or joint can lead to lifelong, painful, maiming.

Shooting always makes it a life or death situation. Therefore, people should not shoot unless it is a life or death situation in the first place.

[davidpdx]

62. Blitzer should volunteer for a demostration on how police can do that

He should be allow him to have his glasses and a sports cup.

[yurbud]

63. If the target is unarmed, don't shoot at all.

[Tom Ripley]

66. He is remarkably stupid, isn't he?

[Kurska]

67. There is no such thing as shooting to injure.

Getting shot anywhere can be fatal. There are major arteries in the legs and arms that if severed can lead to a very quick death. Even a shot that doesn't result in immediate death can cause a fatal infection.

Any responsible person knows never shoot anything you don't intend to kill.

[NobodyHere]

68. Just to play devil's advocate here

I believe Wolf asked the question for the benefit of the audience. He probably already knew what Toobin was going to say.

[christx30]

70. My offering is because

center mass is easier to hit than an arm or a leg. And they don't fire warning shots because they don't know where that shot is going to go. Fire in the air, and it'll come down into a kid's head. Fire into the ground and it could richochet into some poor guy's face.

[Kennah]

72. No Blitz!

Guns are deadly force in and of themselves. Simply pointing a gun at someone is threatening deadly force.

The question to be asked is why shoot people who are not a threat.

Because they have a record or are alleged to have committed a crime? You still can't shoot them.

If they'd committed murder, and you knew there was an active warrant to arrest them, you could chase them to the ends of the Earth, but you cannot shoot them unless they pose a lethal threat.

[Blue_Tires]

73. The real question is

Why is deadly force always the *first* police option when dealing with suspects of a certain ethnicity?