From Jacksonville:

Police tactics are being called into question by some in the Jacksonville community after two people were killed in separate police shootings in the span of 7 days.

Two men, ages 18 and 80, were shot and killed by police over the last week. In each of the shootings, the stories being told by police are very different from those reported by witnesses. Sources with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) say its officers did exactly what they are trained to do when their safety was compromised. But witnesses say the officers over-reacted.

…

The second incident occurred over the weekend when 80-year-old Issac Singletary was shot during another undercover drug sting.

Police say Singletary saw a drug deal going down in his yard Saturday night, and walked outside with a gun. Authorities say he and the officers fired shots at each other, although it is still unclear who fired first. The shooting left Singletary dead.

Keep this in mind: if drugs were not illegal then no one - police or criminals - would have been selling them in Singletary’s front yard.  Instead, such a deal was taking place, instigated by none other than an undercover officer, and Singletary was shot and killed by that police officer - a man charged with serving and protecting us - while exercising his right to protect his private property.

Just take a moment and think about how many people have been killed or incarcerated as a direct or indirect result of the government using force to try to prevent private citizens from engaging in an activity that is harmful only to themselves.  Not to mention the vast amount of public treasure expended in a foolish attempt to curtail supply in the face of unyielding demand.  The War on Drugs has been one of the gravest public policy blunders of at least the last 100 years, exceeding the failure of Prohibition in both breadth and length.  It is also sad how it has institutionalized the philosophy of dependence on the government for protection from potentially inflicting harm to one’s self.

Kudos to Loretta.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 at 12:49 am and is filed under Drugs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.