ACLU Rides Again

Time to check in on my favorite lefty group, The ACLU, and see what they have been up to since I last pointed out the error of their ways. Seems that they are under the misguided perception that a citizen’s civil rights extends even to the manner in which the police might restrain you if you choose to fight and resist arrest. Folks, the police do a hard enough job without these nut jobs breathing down their necks and for the ACLU to interject themselves into a debate that is clearly outside their own stated mission is just another example of the ACLU’s drift towards a strongly anti-America organization that appears to embrace the tenets of anarchy.

Here is the ACLU’s own mission statement from their website:

The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty. We work daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Our job is to conserve America's original civic values - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights.

According to them, America was founded on two principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights.

Correct me if I am wrong but in their “mission statement” where does it state that they should protect us from the police using tasers to restrain people from hurting themselves, others, or police? The ACLU seems to think that taser use by police is out of control and they are the people to stop it. Perhaps they would prefer to have police just shoot people instead of using a taser? It is tragic that people have been killed by police using a taser to restrain them and the percentage is quite low when compared to when law enforcement is forced to use their firearms. The MSM and ACLU like to throw around the number of deaths by tasers but never mention how many times tasers are used without deadly consequences. Once again people are only getting half the story from the bastions of journalism and personal liberty. The taser is a valuable tool used by law enforcement to protect the suspect and themselves from injury when the situation warrants it. If you were to look at the death rate of taser use vs. the death rate of gun use it seems like a no brainier.

If the police have to use a gun on a suspect to resolve a situation rather then a taser the chances are much higher that the person will be killed. For those that are unfamiliar with tactical weapon use in law enforcement let me enlighten you. The first myth I would seek to dispel is the concept of a “warning shot”. Ask anyone in law enforcement about warning shots, they don’t exist and are in fact a dangerous and stupid idea. Law enforcement personal is trained to use their firearm as a last resort or if they or others are in a life-threatening situation. One hard and fast rule in handgun use is never shoot at something if you’re unsure what’s behind it, so the idea that a warning shot should always be used is just dangerous to the surrounding environment. When a police officer or even a civilian under goes firearms training, one is trained to use a firearm to stop a potential attacker by aiming at “center mass”. While police officers are generally very good marksmen or women, a shot to the torso of an attacker is always going to be more effective then an attempt to wound by shooting an arm or a leg, thus the higher death rate.

Just today, 2/24/05, in Phoenix the police were involved in a situation where a suspect attacked the police after a short car chase and was shot by police after fighting with police and trying to get one of the police officers guns. By the way the suspect in this case was 6’3” and weighted over 300 pounds; I don’t care where you from that is one big SOB. The wounding only served to enrage the suspect further and he was finally brought down by an officer using a taser. The police officer was not aiming to wound the suspect but to put him down and ensure the safety of nearby civilians and his fellow officers. After the suspect was shot he proceeded to injury one of the cops trying to arrest him and then when he got to the hospital to be treated for his gunshot wound, he fought with the emergency room staff. As soon as the story is posted online I will provided a link, here however is a link to an article showing the decrease in officer involved shootings here in Phoenix after tasers were placed into field service.

In Chicago between 1990 and 1998, there were 505 police related shootings which resulted in 139 deaths. Here’s the article. How many of those deaths could have been prevented if the officers had another tool to resolve the situation? How many of those people would still be alive today if they had been shot with a taser instead of a handgun? These are the kind of questions you will never hear from the ACLU, the MSM, and their anti-police allies. The truth is that we will most likely never know but a rational person could look at those numbers and make the reasonable prediction that most of those people would be still be alive today.

Another fact that the ACLU fails to mention in his protest to taser use is that in most of the deaths where a taser was used the suspect was under the influence of some drug. In fact a study funding by the DOJ will test tasers on pigs to dispel the myth that they kill. The professor in charge of the study is skeptical about the taser caused the deaths especially when drugs are involved. Here’s the link.

Police departments are like any other government agency, they despise litigation. If they truly thought that taser use was a negative and not the positive that it actually is, they would discontinue its use immediately. Here are some links to stories about police departments standing by their use of tasers, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The bottom line is that the ACLU should stick to things that they know like bulling the Boy Scouts and infringing upon our 1^st amendment rights. Tasers save lives when used correctly and are a valuable tool to law enforcement. Maybe I am wrong, maybe we should follow the lead of the ACLU and just shoot all suspects instead of safely arresting them after they have be subdued with a taser. I think that ACLU is counting on cops killing more people with firearms so they can sue for wrongful death and further undermine the job the police do, just my opinion. The fact is that if people did not resist police then there would be no need for this debate but I will tackle that topic another time. Have a great day and thank a cop for the job they do.