I made a promise to myself that this blog wasn’t gonna be my political ranting outlet; that I’ll keep it light and personal. Only talk about things that matter to me. This is done, of course, for the sake of the reader [and also to avoid being flagged or put on a list].

So, instead of an 800-page essay on systemic violence, the industrial prison complex, institutional racism, the USA’s gun problem, etc., I’m just going to copy/paste facts from different sources. You can read them and ignore them, or read them and find out more by yourself. This way it doesn’t have to do with opinion or idealism, just the way things are.

“In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm. That ruling overturned a federal appeals court in Colorado that allowed a lawsuit to stand against a town when its police refused to protect a woman from her husband.Dec 21, 2018″

“With the evolution and increasing frequency of active shooter events, law enforcement response to these situations has evolved beyond establishing a perimeter and waiting for specialized units to respond. As previously defined, immediate action can result from a dispatched call for assistance, or a self-initiated response to an active shooter. An active shooting exists—and immediate action is justified—not only when shots have been fired or death or serious harm has occurred, but also when an appropriately trained law enforcement officer believes it is reasonably likely that some form of deadly force will be used if immediate action is not taken.”

“Some policies emphasize the importance of confronting the shooter as quickly as possible, in order to save lives. “DO NOT waste valuable time searching areas where you know there is no violence occurring,” a training bulletin from the Louisville, KY Metro Police Department states. “Go straight to the source of the violence. Use your senses to guide you to the location of the suspect. Go toward the activity you can see or hear. Go toward the sounds of violence. As you are passing potential witnesses, ask them for any information that might help you locate the shooter.”

“[…] current thinking reemphasizes that, given proper justification as defined by law and agency policy, taking immediate action during active shooter incidents, rather than waiting for specially equipped and trained officers, can save lives and prevent serious injuries. Time lost by delayed action is likely to result in additional casualties.”

“1,136 people were killed by police in 2021. 57% of killings by police in 2021 — 600 deaths — were traffic stops, police responses to mental health crises, or situations where the person was not reportedly threatening anyone with a gun. Creating alternatives responses to these situations could substantially reduce this violence nationwide.”

“There were 1.5 million of them [deaths by firearm] between 1968 and 2017 – that’s higher than the number of soldiers killed in every US conflict since the American War for Independence in 1775. In 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died at the end of a barrel of a gun, whether by homicide or suicide, more than any other year on record. The figure represents a 25% increase from five years prior, and a 43% increase from 2010.”

“U.S. policing budgets would rank as the world’s third-highest military expenditure. $118bn was spent funding police forces in the U.S. in 2018, according to the Security Policy Reform Institute.”

“Uvalde: AR-15 Buffalo: AR-15 Boulder: AR-15 Orlando: AR-15 Parkland: AR-15 Las Vegas: AR-15 Aurora, CO: AR-15 Sandy Hook: AR-15 Waffle House: AR-15 San Bernardino: AR-15 Midland/Odessa: AR-15 Poway synagogue: AR-15 Sutherland Springs: AR-15 Tree of Life Synagogue: AR-15”

“Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the National Rifle Association’s Annual Leadership Forum on Friday. But audience members at the group’s annual meeting, being held this year in Houston, won’t be able to carry guns during his address.”