An officer in upstate New York shot and killed a teen fleeing while pointing a replica gun, police said Saturday.

  • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    You can’t really trust the orange tip anyway, since criminals have been known to paint that on real guns to trick cops, with mixed success.

    Regardless, from a police officer’s perspective, you only have half a second to tell whether an object that someone is getting out of their pocket is a gun or something less harmful, like a cell phone. So it’s understandable why they chose to shoot in this situation.

    Of course, if it were harder for the general public to get guns, then police wouldn’t be put in these situations where they have to make life-and-death decisions in under a second, but we have to live with the consequences of which rights we chose to value.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Right with ya, until…

      if it were harder for the general public to get guns

      Is there anywhere harder to get a gun? Even pellet guns are illegal in NYC. You can be legal in one state, passing through to another state where you’re legal, and NY can take your ass to jail for a gun in the trunk.

      So. More laws might help?