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The Capitol PD Made the Right Call
This morning, a great deal of the conservative movement’s support for law enforcement went up in smoke. Whereas after any number of police shootings we spend time going over the video to explain why the use of force was justified, today prominent conservatives are calling the shooting of an Air Force veteran in the Capitol “murder.”
(Content warning): This is the moment where Capitol Police discharged their weapons:
GRAPHIC FOOTAGE: Police fatally shoot a Trump supporter inside the Capitol building. This is a sickening crime that should be prosecuted as such. pic.twitter.com/X8JK7HplJ7
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) January 7, 2021
This is another angle:
Look carefully at this. She was unarmed, shot, and killed for what?
Crawling thru an interior window?
People storm police stations and don't get shot. This is very wrong. pic.twitter.com/lkTa2zXNQa
— HARLAN Z. HILL 🇺🇸 (@Harlan) January 7, 2021
I’m astounded it must be said, but I’ll say it anyway: You aren’t allowed to join a violent mob invading the Capitol and attempt to crawl through a window that members of your group broke and move in the direction of cowering lawmakers, a group of the most powerful people in the country.
Police didn’t know whether she was armed or not, and it’s irrelevant. If you’re in a government facility (or even a private residence) and you’re crawling through a broken window in the direction of people you have made clear you wish to harm (by virtue of being part of the storming mob), you are subjecting yourself to any manner of deterrence, lethal or not.
Honestly, it’s lucky for the group who stormed the Capitol that there was only one shooting-related death (there were three other deaths unrelated to firearms, but directly tied to the storming). The attempt by prominent members of the conservative movement to vilify the Capitol officer and paint Ashli Babbitt as a martyr is hypocritical and a dangerous precedent. We have no room vilify any member of a mob (whether they are BLM or Antifa-affiliated) ever again if we make excuses for why Babbitt didn’t bear responsibility for the tragic fate that befell her yesterday.
Published in General
Why weren’t these guys killed then?
Looks like Jimmah Carter disagrees with you.
I’ve no sympathy for rioters. Participating in a riot should make all liable to be shot. Being a woman, or a “veteran” makes no difference.
There was no chance that these people would have been able to change anything for the better.
I’m a veteran, and I agree with you. I saw the video, which is heartbreaking, but understandable from the perspective of those whose job it was to protect elected officials from the mob.
I agree with this.
Police murder. She is shot from behind it appears to me. Just being in a crowd which has “…most powerful people in the country cowering…” is not an action which carries the death penalty.
While I do not support the so called Stop the Steal nuts neither do I support shooting anyone NOT committing an actual violent act. No cop has anymore right to shoot someone without the element of immanent death or great bodily harm being present and in the power of the target.
The Parliament of the UK in the 1760’s-1770’s knew all of its Acts regarding the American colonies were constitutional but the colonial governor and stamp seller in Boston MA had their houses destroyed in the first case and were tared and feathered in the second by crowds who were unhappy with its rule. Perhaps the US Congress should do some soul searching and reading history if they have souls and can read without staff interpreting for them.
Not so much with a private residence in DC. I believe the requirement is that, “a person is required to take reasonable steps – such as stepping back or walking away – that are consistent with the person’s own safety to try to avoid the necessity of taking someone’s life.” And then after she is shot what do we see just a few feet behind her? Capitol police officers. If they were given a few more seconds they could have pulled the woman down from the window. This lady should be in a jail cell, not a grave.
I have looked at that video multiple times. One she was outside the window. We know there were Antifa anarchists there, probably they were the ones actually breaking in. She should not have been there but you folks are awfully close to justifying murder. Looking at as much of the shooter as can be seen, he appears to be wearing a white short and dark coat. Was that a uniform? An FBI agent?
Well said, Bethany. The country has been asked to swallow enough excuses for rioters of any stripe.
I agree with Andy McCarthy that civil order must always be restored before justice can be attempted. During the summer, I thought that the police shootings that triggered the protest/riots/shopping sprees should be investigated carefully and according to law. And I feel the same way about this police shooting. I am witholding support and condemnation of the officer involved until after the investigation. So I agree with you that any “conservative” already talking of “murder” is a demagogue.
BTW I do think it is the lack of transparency about the election that allowed Trump to show his worst side recently. I didn’t think even the protests this sumer made much sense, much less what we got, so I felt queasy about Trump’s call for a protest/rally after the election was clearly already lost. I do not accuse him of incitement but of lack of leadership. After it was clear he could not prevail, he should have talked only about a peaceful transition and winning in Georgia to keep the nation balanced and be able to find out what really did happen to protect future elections. Instead….
She was shot by the cops in front of her, you can see the gun go off in slow motion in other circulating videos. There are cops behind her, but they didn’t shoot.
So if they had machine-gunned the whole lot of them that would have been ok?
Yes.
The shooter, if a cop, shot into a crowd. I see no way that can be justified but I understand the celebration by NTs.
Shooting into a crowd was pretty much the point, wasn’t it?
I would say it’s extremely relevant.
I have seen a better video which negates what I thought about the relative positions. Perhaps she was shot from an acute angle to her front. It appears that a plain clothes Capitol Police Officer is the shooter. These types are sprinkled throughout the building to buttress the uniformed officer.
The rest of my statement stands unless I see better video.
Nope. Someone breaking through a barrier as part of a mob should always be assumed to be dangerous and armed.
It’s relevant if they knew she wasn’t armed and shot anyway. Will we ever know?
I agree with you Skyler. What outrages me is that so many on the right seem to be picking this event to loudly proclaim their belief in shoot-on-sight during riots. This event, not the events we’ve seen all summer long. Why is this different? To me it’s less of a riot than what we’ve seen. And people wonder where all this anger is coming from.
The media has made it sound a lot worse than it was. “Insurrection!” is the word of the day. But whole city blocks burning in cities across the nation . . . that was “mostly peaceful.”
I don’t need lawyers to tell me again what is needed. The Judiciary and its functionaries brought us to this point IMO. Many of these people see the quashed attempts to have suspect election violations investigated by courts tossed with out a second glance and suspect that the fix is in. SCOTUS’s rejection of the Texas suit for lack of standing caused quit a stir in my circle as it seems to fly in the face of the constitutionally assigned task to decide issues at the state to state level.
But – eh we’ll see what lawyers can do for the nation if the lead begins to fly .
I’m sorry this person was shot, but Harlan Hill is wrong, she shouldn’t have been there (inside the building). Absent specific information (and I do not intend to watch the snuff video), I don’t fault the police for shooting her, just as I generally don’t fault the police for shooting people in a riot, as a matter of fact I think there should be more gunfire in riots. If you break my window and start crawling in you better expect a bullet in your forehead, especially if there’s a large angry crowd behind you. The rally was a bad idea, but legitimate. The mob attack in the Capital was illegal and wrong, but the obvious result, for anyone with eyes to see, of the last 5 years and especially the last 7 months.
After about 18 hours to reflect on the events of yesterday afternoon, I have reached the following conclusions:
It’s possible to say the above and also draw the conclusion that Biden is President Asterisks. That the Trump administration accomplished a lot of good things for America and all Americans, definately far more than its predecessor. That Big Tech Big-Footed this election for the Dems. That the Corporate Media lies (Fake News) by omission, commission, and elision. That there are reasonable grounds to conclude that there were substantial irregularities in this last election that, collectively, may have been enough to swing the election. But that insufficient evidence of this has been brought forward to warrant over-turning this result; what has been done is too little, too late. Time’s up. And that there are good reasons for people to feel that our election standards have become too lax and must be tightened up if we don’t want to see worse in the future.
Just a small point here, but to fire a pistol at that range from the front with “cops behind her” is irresponsible. At that range there is a VERY high possibility of the bullet passing thru the target and then you have just shot someone behind your target you weren’t aiming at. You as the shooter must ALWAYS be aware of and take into account your target and what is behind your target. Not sure deadly force was required in this particular incident and if it was required it was applied in poor manner.
And now we share snuff videos on the main feed, and allude to having watched the shooting in slow motion. So a grown woman is attempting to crawl through a broken window. It’s not like she was practicing her sharpshooting skills on a baseball diamond in Virginia. Is anyone aware of whether or not members of congress were actually in the area beyond that sidelight? Was the ghost of Richard J. Daley giving the shoot to kill order? No answers? No…just keep piling on. Perhaps it will keep you from moving up the list for when the left comes for you.
Tom Cotton called this insurrection too. That’s madness, and he’ll have to come off of that if he wants to be considered a leader of whatever President Trump is leaving behind.
So, Crispus Attucks deserved what he got. Glad to have that clarified after all these years listening to the unWoke.
I respectfully disagree. Tom’s been consistent for public order, brooking no tolerance for it from anyone. His articulate denunciation of the BLM/AntiFa insurrections was on point. I have low tolerance for public violence too, even when I agree with them and consider them on my side. Having said that the DC/Media Establishment is why this happened. This is on them. I seriously doubt these people would have thought to do this if they hadn’t had the myriad examples since May.
I’m for public order too. This wasn’t insurrection. It matters; it’s equivalence that is mistaken.
What alternative do you propose when a mob is attacking Congress? A court order?