"Instead of standing there and teaching a cop, when there's an unarmed person coming at them with a knife or something, you shoot them in the leg instead of in the heart is a very different thing. There's a lot of different things that could change,"
Biden said in a meeting with community leaders at Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Del.
I think the best possible thing for this country right now would be for someone to create a series of simulations where a virtual gunman attempts to stop a virtual attacker by shooting at various parts. Shooting a limb, shooting their shoulder, etc. People have this ridiculous Hollywood idea of how guns work and it's
extremely harmful to the greater conversation about how cops "should react" to an attacker, because in their mind you can shoot someone in the foot and presto, the threat is instantly and harmlessly stopped. Why kill when guns can also be used like a human TV remote?
People need to see, with their own eyes, what a real life gunfight looks like. More importantly, they need to see what happens when you aim for the guy's hand, miss, and hit the innocent bystander behind them. They need to see what happens when you shoot their legs and end up with an eight inch blade in your neck because real life isn't Goldeneye 64 and adrenaline makes you partially immune to pain. They need to see a cop deciding to be nice and try to "disable" a gun-wielding maniac only to have him fire randomly into a nearby crowd because you don't need a kneecap to pull a trigger.
I literally do not know one single person (out of the relatively few people I've actually discussed the recent shootings with) who
didn't start the argument with "why don't they just shoot to disable". Some of these people own guns, and they told me that if someone comes at them they're going to shoot them in the kneecap and then call the police while the attacker is "disabled", as if they simply stop existing once the bullet enters their leg. I know a couple who asked me why they didn't
shoot the fucking knife out of Blake's hand. Like...my God. I don't even own a gun and I very nearly laughed in their faces at what a ridiculous idea that is. But this is what we get when an entire generation is raised with absolutely no knowledge of violence.
I'm not even saying they need to experience violence firsthand. Nobody should have to experience violence firsthand. I'm saying the very necessary conversation about weaponry and self defense they
should have had with their parents or a cop or something was replaced with watching Kill Bill and The Matrix, so now they think Neo fighting Agent Smith is how real life gunfights work.
