A policeman has died and another has been seriously wounded in an incident in the suburb of Massey, West Auckland. It appears it was a routine traffic stop and there was no reason for the Police personnel involved to think it would end any differently to the hundreds of these interactions that happen every day.
It’s the first killing of a police officer in over a decade.
My social media feeds have been peppered with comments suggesting that if the officers had been armed there would have been a different outcome for them.
That’s bullshit.
Clearly, the two cops were caught by surprise. Even if they’d had guns on their person, one, at least, would still have been shot.
A gun is not a defensive weapon. It cannot magically stop a bullet that has been fired.
I have a terrible feeling this tragedy is going to be politicised by the right, particularly by the ‘All Lives Matter’ racists.
Don’t be fooled.
The Police do need access to guns, but they do not need to be routinely armed.
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