I try to make it a rule to never say something about someone I wouldn't say to someone.Originally Posted by PPGMD
In fact, that's a rule we have for staff. I think real-life accountability for what one says and does online is a good tonic against being an idiot. Most of the time, anyway.
3/15/2016
Right. Some folks are jerks in person too.
It is the same with me. I think with maybe one or two exceptions (Twitter being one of them) if you see a post by PPGMD, I wrote it.
Too funny.
I was just thinking the place had turned into 1911forum and the downfall of civilization could be traced straight back to when Todd starting shooting that hunk of shit.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
More than likely, as I can't see any info on the page either, neither Sean M's nor your About pages bring up anything other than posting stats.
I'll throw out an open invite to anyone out there that has a bitch about "the cops". You want to vent, get an opinion, etc. to PM me any time for any reason to ask any question.
On the LE subjects the first thing that gets my dander up is when people talk about "the cops!!!!!" as if CONUS LE is a homogeneous group.
My 300 sworn department alone has officers that are male and female, straight and gay, 5'2 to 6'10, white, black, Chinese, Korean, Mexican, Spanish, Puerto Rican, American Indian, Egyptian, some stuff I can't remember off the top of my head, Christians, Muslim, Jewish, atheists, probably some of that stuff I forgot to mention, Democrats, Republicans, independents, etc........
Then there is the fact that there are city, county, state and federal LE agencies............
That anyone would think that somehow this group of people can be pigeon-holed into a single group would have to be a flaming idiot. Hence my bucking up when people start off with "all" cops are anything.
As far as shooting stuff, the "stay in your lane" needs to be the message, but heavily self policed IMHO. I would never challenge Sean on something like "what gun works best when going over the beach after being launched from a submarine?", ever. I might ask questions to understand why, but would never think about challenging his authority on that subject like a guy, lets say Sten Gun, might have.
I might jump in if the subject was "CONUS police training with revolvers in the 1980s" only because I'm guessing my experience is at least equal in that lane.
You guys get my point.
The problem is it's not consistent, which is making it hard to nail down. There are some SME profiles that are working as intended.
To go along with Chuck's post, there are 18,000 LE agencies in the U.S., and by and large, they are under LOCAL control accountable to the citizens of that locality.
I am accountable to voters that elect my boss and sit on the juries/grand juries that hear my cases.
I am not accountable for what a cop in the adjacent county or one out in Seattle does, and I don't appreciate being painted with such a broad brush. The Rodney King incident happened 3000 miles away from me and years before I even filled out an application with the PD, and involved a different agency, but I have had it thrown in my face. I'm sure I'll get a "hands up, don't shoot" before too long even though my agency was not even remotely involved with that incident.
I had an ER nurse in a class. I noticed she kept taking all head shots. Her response when asked why, "'I've seen too many people who have been shot in the chest putting up a fight in the ER." Point taken.
IMO, the LE forum shouldn't be read only for non-LE. What I don't want to see there is a routine bad cop action of the week thread. Give the LE Mods the ability to move or close threads or delete posts that don't fit the spirit of that venue.
This has been the best forum I've seen, the level of quality information and people is vastly better than any other. I try to read as much as possible, and say little. I appreciate the patience many have here for the often dumb questions and comments that are posted. The LE section has been one of the more interesting sections.
I hope I've restrained myself enough to not have contributed to the derp too much. My experiences are pretty peripheral to most of what goes on here, and not much practical value. I hope to learn enough to be a better, more well rounded shooter and student of shooting. I feel like I'm just starting to know enough to even ask the right question, but am in the right place to start that process.
