This is a great example Bill.
You make a lot of good points. I think people overly value something in many cases because they are overly vested in it. Or they devalue something, because they can't obtain it, or are not wanting to invest in it.
The two extremes here are:
I remember hearing that second one. Even had a teacher tell my class in primary school something like "If you enter someone's house and find out that their parents have a gun, find an excuse to call your mom and go home". Never made sense to me since my dad had a gun for work, and showed it to me/my brother/proper gun safety...he was a police officer.
The fact that cops study self-defense laws, determine probable cause for making arrests if someone breaks those laws, determines when someone has appropriately used self-defense legally, interacts daily with violent criminals, interrogates suspects of violent crimes to determine motive and methods, searches suspects on a regular basis to understand what types of weapons criminals are carrying/and how they conceal them, interviews countess victims of violent crimes, obtains tips from citizens to understand the criminal activity going on in their city better, is trained to appropriately collect and preserve evidence regarding crimes, has experience and training testifying in court, studies supreme court rules, is trained in ethical/moral/legal self-defense of their persons and third party civilians, has specialized training and years of experience in de-escalation when speaking to violent people, has experience in a wide variety of acute life and death stressful events, has extensive training in firearms and tactics, and specialized training in dealing with people in emotional crisis, has training and experience to recognize Pre-attack indicators/intoxicated-imparied persons/people attempting to conceal weapons, and typically has survived being assaulted by criminals, used force on many occasions in self-defense, has lots of experience being first on the scene of many turama relates medical injuries, and is constantly responsible for showing up to very violent situations and making those situations safe in NO WAY makes them an "EXPERT" on self-defense.
Err. I don’t know. I think the two extremes are:
Yep. That sounds right. I certainly don't think everyone should have a gun. But you are right, many do think that way.
Nope. You didn't touch a nerve at all. Although I suspect that was your intent. Regarding your first question, those are basic activities of an average street cop with a few years on the job. Nothing special in that list.
Not trying to strike a nerve, and I’m glad I didn’t. Im just remembering your recent reaction to a post of mine. I’ll be honest. I’m kind of on guard against the next one. Snark like your comment above isn’t a good start.
I've long held that every art is overrated by those who train it and underrated by those who don't.
Only when the adult's not responsible. In my dad's case the only time he'd take the guns out (outside of work) was to teach me and my brother gun safety, at which point he'd lay it down unloaded and with the safety on before calling us into the room. Rest of the time it was in a safe, with no one else knowing the code. In my friends house, I knew he was a hunter, but I never saw any of his weapons until I was an adult-definitely not in 2nd grade. He kept them in a locked room in the basement that, again, to my knowledge only he had the key to.
Yeah, I was addressing the 2 here that jared brought up/mentioning an anecdote it reminded me of. I don't agree with either extreme.
Not all cops are street cops, or have equal experience. And again, I agree being a cop doesn't make you an expert on self-defense. But nearly every cop starts out working the street and nearly everything on that list is basic 101 police training and work.
