My message on the "I was there" thread...
[b]First of all, I want to thank Policegirl for her service. The LAPD acted honorably that day and got the job done when the deck was stacked against them.
Second of all, TAL, I appreciate the sacrifices your family has made over the years. The price we pay for living in this great country must sometimes be paid in blood.
However, I have to take issue with your statement that the police "protect us all." I think a generally more accurate statement would be that police usually protect us indirectly, by catching criminals AFTER the fact, and not "red handed" as it were. When a "red handed" confrontation occurs such as the one depicted in the film, its rare enough to become the stuff of movies, as we've seen here. The rest of the time the police draw lines around dead bodies and fill out three or four-page reports. Americans everywhere have decided that the police can't be there, on the scene, all the time (and frankly I'm not sure most citizens would want to live in an America where we DID have a policeman, armed or unarmed, on every street corner). With all due respect, the safest course of action is to protect yourself, and let the police arrive when they will, to draw a clean white line around the rapist, thief, or bank robber at the scene instead of the unfortunate, unarmed victim who they happened to come across. If only three or four citizens in the Bank of America building had been trusted by their government to carry a concealed firearm on their persons, FX would never have had the opportunity to make a pile of cash tonight from the drama that ensued, body armor not withstanding.
By the way, I have two Kalasnikovs in a safe in my closet (one in each Soviet caliber) and a 75-round drum sitting on top of the safe. The minute they decide to go on a rampage I'll call FX to come film the results--I'm sure the footage of my gun shooting policemen all by itself, without anyone holding it, will be spectacular. On the other hand, that gun has been with me for five years and it's never done a whole lot without me having to pick it up first. Funny how that works...[/b]
EDIT: WTF? It didn't post! Do they have to approve all messages before they post or something?
SECOND EDIT: Time to call it a night, but I've hit those boards hard. "Branson" is on the job.