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Comment by aganame | Hacker News Reader

Have you ever had to restrain a person who might want to kill you? While wearing a firearm? I have done some grappling in MA myself, but I imagine the stakes are in another dimension on a real situation.

I'm not totally certain there are any people who can be "good" at it in the sense that they'll never make mistakes or lose their cool. Then consider that there are over 10 million situations every year where something may go wrong. How could you make it never go wrong?

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In the course of one thread, there's now a series of sequential arguments from several different commenters progressing from:

"A lot of these videos don't show anything wrong", to

"Well, here's at least two videos that show nothing wrong", to

"Okay, the video looks bad, but the full context probably justifies it", to

"Sure it was wrong, but keep in mind that in a stressful situation everybody makes mistakes".

I'm eager to see how these arguments continue to evolve once comments move away from isolated video clips and into the territory of police departments lying about video footage[0], or 57 other officers resigning in protest over basic disciplinary actions[1].

[0]: https://www.newsweek.com/buffalo-mayor-acknowledges-mistake-...

[1]: https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/us/buffalo-police-suspension-...

The union said the officers resigned in support of their peers. Two officers have said they actually resigned because the union refused any legal aid. Further the same officers said that many of those who resigned do not in fact support the suspended officers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_police_shoving_inciden...

https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/exclusive-two-buffalo-p...

But, not really resigning in the sense of no longer an employee, just, not responsible for that role.

So, still getting paid.

Most of the MA I have attended that had a serious focus on self defense, were focused on deescalation, safety and dealing with the stress of the moment. There is a place for the use of violence to educate someone that it's in their best interest to change their behavior, but prolonged choke holds or grappling aren't helping keep anyone safe in most on the street situations.

You're making this argument in a thread where police have been found brutally beating people who are already restrained and/or not resisting arrest. People without firearms. Or people that are protesting peacefully. Or a 75 year old man who was entirely harmless.

Come on.

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