02-08-2022, 07:20 PM
(02-07-2022, 09:01 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: So, this is an interesting situation for me. I am not certain where I stand to be quite honest. This was a tragedy, of that I am certain. While I am a lefty, I'm a systems guy. The court shave held that no-knocks are valid and constitutional if they pass the test established in Richards. I'm not going to lie, the situation based on my reading justifies the use of a no-knock warrant. It's unfortunate that Amir Locke reacted a she did, and it was also not unreasonable for him to react in that way. It is human nature. Nothing the officers did was unreasonable or outside of proper policy from my view.
Another issue is there's no way to show how many lives are saved, injuries prevented or convictions secured, from performing them. I can tell you that going in hot in the early morning absolutely lowers the risk of anything violent occurring. The instant matter is certainly an example of how such a scenario can go wrong, but, as I stated before, they achieve their desired goal in the vast, vast majority of instances.
Quote:This is the unfortunate reality. When everything goes right, things can still go wrong. Now, I could get into an even longer winded post about how things go wrong like this more often in communities of color and then get into the systemic racism and continued slavery in the criminal justice system, yadda yadda. Y'all have seen me write up a ton about that stuff on here. What it boils down to for me are that there are societal issues that led to Amir Locke being in that position in the first place that are the problem. The issuance and execution of the warrant and the behavior of the officers, though, was not at issue.
That's just my opinion on the matter. Take it for what it is.
One of the biggest issues that isn't talked about is who a person chooses to associate with. I tell younger people all the time, if you choose to hang out with bad people then bad things are much more likely to happen. I don't know this kid, and honestly his past doesn't affect my opinion on this incident. But choosing to associate with known criminals, and spend the night at their house, absolutely increases your risk of being caught up in a situation like this. Note, this is not blaming the guy in question for what happened that morning, as you stated I don't think either party is in the wrong here.
Quote:Additions: After some more browsing and seeing responses from folks online, I think I have discovered my issue with the current thoughts on this issue from the non-NRA firearms community. Amir Locke had a right to self-defense. I have no problems with that argument. Where I think the failure lies in the current conversations surrounding this incident is they tend to take an angle on the event and try to look at it through that vacuum. I mean, I get why the tankies are saying what they are saying, and I understand that groups like FPC focus on 2A issues, but in the end there are a number of moving parts to this.
I almost totally agree with you. I will say that you do not have the right of self defense against a law enforcement officer who is engaged in their lawful duty. But, as we both agree, it is highly likely, if not almost certain, that Locke did not realize the apartment was being raided by law enforcement.
