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Torillian on 22 November 2021
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thismeintiel said:
Ryuu96 said:

Uhh, I'm sorry, so we're clear, are you seriously suggesting it would be okay for a cop to fire into a crowd of rioters if they're perceived as being violent? We're talking real bullets, too.

Anything can be deadly, sure, so does that mean we just shoot at any level of danger? Ignoring the fact that while yes, anything can be deadly, some things are much more likely to be deadlier than other things if used, someone is much more likely to kill you with a bullet versus a punch, someone running towards a cop with a skateboard versus running towards them with a knife should absolutely not result in the same defensive measure for both.

There is such thing as "reasonable force" in these scenarios, with this logic, police in America would be killing basically everyone who is violent, the purpose of the police force isn't only to be a death squad, at least, not in UK.

So, yes, if you fear for your life, you can shoot in self-defense, or if you fear for another's life.  Your bullet and punch example falls flat when it is a fact that more people die from being hit physically than from being shot every year.  You can survive a bullet depending on where you are hit, just like Jacob Blake survived getting shot several times when he refused to drop a knife.  You can also die, or become severely brain damaged, from a single punch if you are hit hard enough and in the right spot.  Same goes for being stabbed.  So, no, what kind of weapon is used does not change the response.  The law is if you fear for your life, period.  Not if the person is holding a certain weapon or not.  That's just a ridiculous standard, probably brought on by people watching actors "survive" those kinds of things in movies.  Life isn't like the movies.  You can die by getting hit ONCE by anything if its hard enough and in the right spot. 

@bolded. Do you recognize that there are many more people hit physically each year than getting shot? We don't base the risk to life of an action on how many people in total get killed from it each year. If that was the case driving a car is less risky than deep sea diving or tightrope walking. I mean so many more people die of driving I guess they're basically the same. 



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