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Comment by cal5k | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure it's entirely possible to dismiss cultural difference in the opposite direction, however. The Police Activity channel on YouTube has tons of unedited bodycam footage from officer-involved shootings and other events across America: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMYxKMh3prxnM_4kYZuB3g

I'd encourage you to watch the entire list of videos to get a sense for what policing is like in parts of America, and what circumstances lead to the use of deadly force. Some of them are difficult to watch, but it showcases both good and bad examples of how to handle extremely dangerous situations.

It's not an enviable job - the number of videos that start out as a routine traffic stop with the cop having amiable conversation, and then rapidly escalate to a situation where the suspect is pulling a gun on the officer, is truly mind-blowing.

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The US has the highest gun ownership (1.2 per capita), double the country next on the list.

When police officers from Europe come to visit, the first thing that surprise them is how tense the police is. They are constantly in fear of getting shot.

Reducing civilian gun ownership would help a lot to reduce violence, cops and non cops alike.

> The US has the highest gun ownership (1.2 per capita), double the country next on the list.

And, looking at the list [1], gun ownership does not seem to correlate highly with crimes involving guns. Honduras is #55 according to Wikipedia, Canada is #7. So why aren't Canadian cops constantly in fear for their life, but Hondurans are? It does not seem to be the number of guns.

It'll still be a nice thing, I guess. But it's hard to do and takes decades to have impact if you don't have a very compliant population.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_g...

One issue is that in almost every other country, handgun ownership is much more restricted. A police officer is much less likely to be surprised by someone pulling out a hunting rifle or shotgun. You can't just carry one of those around in your glove compartment or in a concealed holster.

Those shootings almost never involve CCW-holders. It's often people with prior felony convictions who own firearms illegally.

In Canada there are lots of gang members who carry illegal handguns. We just don't have the same degree of poverty as some parts of the US (even though our GDP/capita is significantly lower).

There are just less handguns in Canada period. The U.S. has roughly one handgun for every two people. In Canada it's about one handgun per 35 people.

I'm not sure how gun concern is justification.

Can't help but see US policing demeanour come off as trying to maintain a dominance and show off the alpha. Undermine it and there seems to be conflict.

I can approach a UK officer and undermine their authority publicly, swear and hold contempt, question their immediate presence. Joke and jest about them to their face, name call, occasional swearing and calling them pigs routinely isn't too uncommon. I have done most these things on night outs without fear to my safety or rights.

Policing is definitely different between the US and UK but so are the people behind the uniform. Bigger egos exist in US policing disproportionately.

You can, but why would you do that?

After watching these videos, I think a big problem might be: court ruling are so severe that criminals have nothing to lose when they face arrest. So they try to shoot their way out.

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