THE POLICE PROBLEM

Yep. And yet they plugged (or shot at) him at least ten times. No walking for you, buddy.

This is in the richest nation in human history. We could care for every citizen. We choose not to.

I wonder how much money the 4 agencies involved in the raid spent. Like how many months of rent would that equal? At what point would it just be better to send a single officer with a voucher for a months rent? Would cost the public far less and give the family a months relief, allowing them time to save money and get back on their feet.

Most people will do anything not to shoot. Even most cops.

I agree their ruse wasn’t needed and needlessly escalated the situation.

That’s the shit I’m beyond fed up with. The needless escalation of shit.

They wanted to feel all undercover.

Dont get all high and mighty. The United States is an amazing country! We have to deal with all this 'woke justice' every day bringing down our country. Once they are finally purged them we can finally have our fascist utopia rich straight white men will finally have all the power again, as demanded by the bible (which I hear is a great book, but honestly who has time to read these days)

Had they not pulled their ruse, most likely there would not have been an issue. This is a case where the cops were trying to be cute and someone ended up being shot.

Why is America so obsessed with shooting first?

It is literally what our cops are taught in training. Look up "Killology" if you haven't heard of it. And no, despite the ridiculous name, I'm not joking; that is what a big part of their training is actually called.

Within his rights to have the weapon on him, yes, but pointing a gun is not carrying a gun, it's brandishing, and brandishing is a no-no no matter how you slice it. Speaking as a gun owner, if you point a gun at something, that means you have intention to kill it, otherwise you shouldn't be pointing your gun at it. Too many people watch TV and Movies and think that after you point the gun to let people know that you're really, really serious, you stop and give them a chance to rethink their choices. That's not how it is; if you're drawing a gun, you have the intention to use it (at least as far as the law is concerned), so the gun should only ever come out when you've already committed to the belief that this situation requires deadly force in order to preserve the life of yourself or others and it's time to act. Otherwise, the gun stays put. That's it, there's no middle ground there, either you have to act with deadly force to save yourself and others or you don't. Anyway, brandishing in and of itself is a crime basically everywhere, IIRC. But in so many words, regardless of how they may have provoked and mishandled the situation, it's likely that any reasonable court is going to find that the officers' response to the weapon being brandished was entirely reasonable within the expectations of their job.

So, pro-tip, if you're going to introduce a gun to a situation, it had best be because you're about to use deadly force for a justifiable reason. Otherwise, just leave that shit right where it is. In point of fact, there are people who have (unknowingly) shot cops because they believed that they were acting to protect their life or someone else's, and got off with it. In all fairness, people are held accountable for it way more than they should be; cops getting shot doing no-knock raids on the wrong house (for example) is a predictable consequence, and well, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. The cops should take their licks on that and, rather than lock people up for not having the ESP to know it was the cops, maybe take a moment to wonder if they're really making smart choices here.

So was he just holding it, or pointed it at them? Those seem like two very different scenarios

It may not have been legal since he was on federal land. He wouldn't have pulled a gun on them if they had not played silly games (Most likely) I state the most likely since we don't know much about him, but there is no indication he was a hardened criminal ready to fight law enforcement. I don't like when law enforcement creates scenarios where people feel the need to defend themselves because they're confused as to what is going on.

Had they just walked up and identified themselves, I do not think anyone would have been shot.