Umpteenth shootout in the US, this time near New York's Empire State building

[Kidlicious]

Unfortunately the US is genuinely a lost cause: If it's not the fact that the entire nation is literally awash with guns, it's the fact that virtually the entire population are immature trigger-happy douchebags - including the cops, apparently...

Seriously, these days it's just easier to point and laugh at the situation they've created for themselves every time one of them goes nuts and wipes out a whole bunch of people!

Oh yeah, MOBIUS is calling us immature.

[Dr Strangelove]

Just to emphasize that everyone's a target in these robberies.

Another day, another dollar store...

http://www.kansas.com/2012/08/27/2464766/video-911-call-of-dollar-general.html

Police sure do fire a lot of shots, don't they?

edit: the video is very graphic.

What disturbed me was that the first officer rushes through the door and opens fire on the robber trying to run pat him. The robber gets past the first cop and out the door and the cops behind the first cop maintain the barrage even though the first cop is now behind the robber, who is between them and the first officer. There was a significant chance that they could have shot the first officer. Aren't they trained to not fire when a non-hostile is in their field of fire?

[DinoDoc]

Aren't they trained to not fire when a non-hostile is in their field of fire?

The event in the OP points toward that not being the case.

[Felch]

Seriously? This is acceptable language here?

Are you Cajun?

[kentonio]

Maybe that particular c word is fine in the US. Over here it would be completely unacceptable.

[SlowwHand]

Seriously? This is acceptable language here?

Southern Louisiana.

[kentonio]

Fair play Sloww, shows how easily differences in culture can lead to misunderstandings.

[The Mad Monk]

...yet another reason for a strong 1st amendment.

[Hauldren Collider]

Maybe that particular c word is fine in the US. Over here it would be completely unacceptable.

Why? There aren't any Cajuns in the UK. Who the **** would care?

[kentonio]

Why? There aren't any Cajuns in the UK. Who the **** would care?

Over here it's nothing to do with cajuns, it became an extremely derogatory word for black people in general.

[Wezil]

Same here. It's not a word you would use in polite society.

[DinoDoc]

Same here. It's not a word you would use in polite society.

In Sloww's defense, does Poly count as polite society?

[Wezil]

Not likely.

I'm not condemming Sloww, just pointing out that the word obviously has a very different meaning depending where it is said.

[Dauphin]

Sod the thief. This was someone prepared to use violence against others. Why should the police risk getting stabbed just so he is apprehended?

If you're going to steal, steal, but as soon as you threaten or use violence against someone else then the kid gloves should come straight off (like they did in this case).

That doesn't answer the direction of my question. Would a tazer be just as effective in these types of scenarios?

I don't know, which is why I asked. I can imagine there are useless at distance, but if its a guy coming at you with a knife I would suspect that distance is not an issue. If the guy is stabbing distance away, a gun at close range would probably be more dangerous.

If tazers are as effective, then why would you need to use a gun in the situation - i.e. why could you not use proportional force to subdue the victim without endangering oneself or others? If you are implying that only guns will do, then please make it an explicit statement because I am a bit confused.

[The Mad Monk]

Tasers may not have the intended effect on the first shot.

Also, the dart used has a devil of a time going through glass doors.