Dean Weingarten has a good find at Ammoland.
Judge Eduardo Ramos, the U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, has issued an Opinion & Order that a ban on stun guns is constitutional. A New York State law prohibits the private possession of stun guns and tasers; a New York City law prohibits the possession and selling of stun guns. Judge Ramos has ruled these laws do not infringe on rights protected by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Let's briefly…… [read more]
Dillon Taylor was not armed when a Salt Lake City police officer shot him to death outside a convenience store.
But in that moment on Aug. 11, Officer Bron Cruz had good reason to think Taylor was pulling a gun out of his pants, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill ruled on Tuesday.
Taylor, 20, and the two men he was with matched the descriptions of a 911 caller who said three men had “flashed” a gun. And Cruz saw them “making a scene” on their way to the 7-Eleven near 2100 S. State Street.
Confronted by officers, the two men with Taylor held up their hands, while Taylor alone was “noncompliant.”
Body-cam video shows that Taylor turned toward officers with his hands in his pants before hoisting his shirt — a gesture officers are trained to recognize as a possible weapon-draw.
“Nothing that Mr. Taylor did assisted in de-escalating the situation,” Gill said. “If anything, it escalated things.”
Taylor’s shooting was justified, Gill said, not because he posed an actual threat, but because Cruz reasonably perceived a threat.
I said in comments here that “I don’t trust most LEOs when it comes to muzzle discipline … There are many reasons for my mistrust, one having to do with sympathetic muscle reflexes (see here and here).” I would not have done anything with my hands (as did Taylor), but that doesn’t change the fact that the LEO was too quick to shoot. You be the judge.
Another thing we learn is that even with body cameras, judges most often will side with LEOs. A corrupt system will always be corrupt, regardless of whether people see it in motion pictures.
