I can understand why the police act the way they act

Now, this comes from the background of someone who grew up in Germany but lives in the US since 17 years. In Germany, I have never heard of the police killing people either while being detained or in custody. Granted, during the 70s environmental movement, German police used their fair share of domination tactics against the protesters. However, there is no comparison to the police brutality that you hear of every month here in the US.

With that said, I have a lot of sympathy for police officers. They have a very difficult job to do under adverse circumstances. As a police officer in the US, you have to assume that anyone you interact with could be armed. Immediately, that knowledge escalates the level of interaction, because the police officers have to protect themselves.

My view is that the large rates of shooting, killing by the police, as well as imprisonment, relative to other first world countries, is a direct consequence of the gun culture. More guns means more risk to the police, means more incentive for police officers to protect themselves, be it with excessive force.

The solution to the problem is not to punish police officers, or to de-fund police, it is to start at the root of the problem: The gun culture.

 

WE may have to go FULL nazi, so we understand what not to be. Germans avoid that direction. We dont.

 

Another bunch of nonsense. Both the gun culture, and the police exist in no small part because criminals exist.

 

So, you think that other first-world countries that have lower rates of gun violence, incarceration, police killings, often by a factor of 10 compared to the US, just have less criminals? Even if that were so, why does the US have so many criminals?

 

It's a great question. We hear, all the time, that police were afraid for their lives - they thought the suspect had a gun. And it is easy to be sympathetic with the police for that reason. But as you pointed out, the incidents of suspects having guns are less in other countries. Yes, criminals have guns, but the police don't go about their business of policing thinking that everyone could have a gun...

 

We don't need to elect Creepy Joe to find out then, do we?

 

I have yet to see any police in this country trot out the water canons for riot dispersal. And yet, you suggest that somehow germany was less violent? Really? I've seem student protests in Frankfurt dispersed with tear gas. I've seen a lot of police force used against protestors in Germany before. Why try to whitewash that?

 

Culture.

Blacks see trying to play by the rules as being a Uncle Tom or being whitewashed. They'd rather just as their media tells them to rape, murder, sell drugs, and fight cops rather than acquire an actual job. With continual turf war with who is collecting/selling drugs in the inner cities you're bound to have hundreds dying every week.

Hispanics have their own cultural problems but, there biggest problem is their own inability to handle criminal elements. The cartels control the South American countries and this crime is exported to the USA. You see gravesites at the border where hundreds are in mass graves after being slaughtered.

If you were to remove Blacks & Hispanics from the crime equation the USA would be in the top 10 safest countries.

 

As an outsider I'm surprised that you don't recognize the term gun culture as a derogatory label that lumps lawful gun owners and criminals together. Do you see lawful gun owners in Germany in the same light? The term gun culture is one of those meaningless words coined by the PC crowd to add credibility to their one size fits all labeling of gun ownership. You have to consider that these people have no love nor respect for the Constitution and are more politically aligned with Nazi philosophy than they are with our beloved charter. Germany I understand does not have a gun problem but is also a more homogenous culture with less divergent views of law and order. America is a massive country with fifty separate sets of laws. The gun problem here arises from poorly enforced gun laws that are also more punitive to lawful gun owners than criminals. In my state illegal possession of a firearm carries a small penalty that is rarely enforced, a licensed gun owner can lose their license for a number of non gun related issues. Gun laws in Germany are universal where here they are all over the map and there are many states that blatantly deprive gun owners of their 2nd Amendment rights. There are thousands of lawsuits against my state on this matter. So the problem is not the gun culture it is the politics, guns don't kill people, political agendas kill people.

 

I didn't try to whitewash the response of the German police to the protests in the 70s, I addressed it in the original post. However, you don't see that almost weekly occurrence of suspects being shot by police in Germany, that you see here, by a factor of 30 adjusted for population:



https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/us/us-police-floyd-protests-country-comparisons-intl/index.html

So, let me ask you this question: Where would you rather be a police officer? In Germany, where it is unlikely to run into people with guns, or in the US? I know which one I'd pick.

 

We import the 3rd world in great numbers.

That's why violence in Europe is rising rapidly.

 

So true...we still have many radicals that fully support the concepts of National Socialism in this country....spying on Americans, the press, weaponizing the Executive against political rivals, undermining open and free elections, attempting to undermine new administrations, pushing false narratives and propaganda....but I at least the Obama admin is over, and their actions are being brought to light....not to mention the leftist terrorist that took advantage of yet another unarmed african-american's death by Govt agents in a left wing city, are being brought to an end

 

Unsupportable nonsense.
- 70% of armed violent crime does not involve a gun.
- An impossibly huge majority of guns are never used in a crime.

You're right in that we need to address a "culture", but it doesn't have anything to do with inanimate objects.

 

First their is the age difference. Crime is a young man's game. Statistical evidence suggests that criminal activity begins to decline sharply after age 37. America's average age is 37 that of most of Europe early forties. Japan by the way is even older. Most European countries are also quite monolithic culturally. Germany 90% German, France 80% French, it's even more monolithic in Scandinavia, and again in Japan. Hell even most of the immigration comes from other places with Europe. Cultural homogeniety reduces stresses with in society and crime as well. The US would be a much more violent place than Europe simply because we really aren't a melting pot but a crazy quilt of disparate cultures all possessed of varying degrees of antipathy one for the other.

 

The "culture" of the inner-cities.

 

I would agree that the factors you mention might have some contribution. However, do you really think they are the only reason why, per capita, police shoot 31-times less people in Germany than the US? That's a huge factor. There must be explanations other than "we are a melting pot". or "younger people commit more crime"?

 

You're right - the "culture" of the people who perpetrate violent crime, especially in the cities.

 

What makes you think more are required? Gun violence in Europe has always been far lower than it has been in the US.

 

Because blacks make up 13% of our total population as compared to under 5 for most of the countries you’re referring to.

For instance Germany has .5% Africans.

If you adjust our rates of blacks to match yours and all the statistics you’re referring to as well, our rates are comparable to yours. Including our gun violence and police brutality.

13% of our populace commits over 50% of our violent crime.

 

I wasn't going to say it but... You win the thread

 

Soon enough it will be declared "raciss" to cite crime rates. Damn, Germany is lilly white.

 

And this has absolutely nothing to do with our gun control laws.

 

Germany has 15% immigrant population, many of them from Italy and Turkey. So, what was your point? Are Italians and Turks less likely to commit crime than the descendants of slaves from Africa? Come on, let's hear it, don't hold back.

 

Yes they are. Statistically that’s a fact and irrefutable.