DaButt
Saturday 10th January 2015 12:06pm [Edited]
14,722 posts
Darts and shots to the legs -- that's how things are done in the movies, but not in the real world.
Cops have only two things in mind when they use deadly force:
1) Protecting themselves
2) Protecting any hostages and bystanders
Hostage negotiators were on the scene at both locations in France and the terrorists had every opportunity to put down their weapons and have their day in court, but they chose not to do so.
The police only decide to assault the building when the bad guys start killing hostages, appear to be readying to kill hostages, or when it becomes clear that negotiations are futile and the SWAT team is fairly certain that they can end the situation without causing the deaths of any hostages.
Once the assault is under way, anyone holding a gun will be shot by the police. It's the only way to assure that they don't kill hostages or cops.
Cops have every right to shoot someone in order to protect themselves. If it later turns out that the weapon was a replica, the fault lies squarely on the shoulders of the person holding the replica.
This is the toy gun that the 12-year-old pulled from his waistband in Cleveland. It looks very realistic and you'll notice that the required orange tip that serves to identify it as a toy has been removed in order to make it appear even more realistic.
I just remembered the incident in Moscow where 40 terrorists took 800 people hostage in a theater. The police pumped in some sort of knockout gas, but in the end the results were not pretty: 130 hostages were killed by the gas and all of the terrorists were killed either by the gas or police bullets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis
"Non-lethal" weapons often turn out to be quite lethal, and they aren't typically suited for use in hostage situations with determined, ruthless terrorists on scene. And it should be noted that a situation that ends with the terrorists being captured alive isn't necessarily the best outcome for society, as they immediately become potential participants in a future prisoner exchange. Indeed, I read that the second set of hostage takers in Paris were demanding the freedom of the Charlie Hebdo murderers. It's reasonable to think that the police "gave them what they wanted" by killing them after they had declared their desire for martyrdom, but had that been their actual, immediate goal they wouldn't have tried to escape, they would have strapped on suicide vests and gone out with a bang.