One of my favorite guns is a small Beretta .22LR automatic.  It has 2″ barrel and six-shot clip.  With such a short barrel, it is not accurate much past 20 feet, but it is small enough to fit into my front pants pocket — making it an ideal  “pocket-pistol.”  I keep it in the glove compartment and only slip it into my pocket when stopped at a gas station in a rough area.  It is a small, low-power weapon . . . and it is very loud.  I thought about that gun while watching Jason Blake get shot 7 times at point-blank range in Kenosha.

Even the most combat-hardened veteran will freeze momentarily after the first gunshot.  How was the decision made to shoot Blake the second time?  How about the third time?  You know you can stop shooting before his body hits the ground, don’t you?  Was the fourth bullet more effective than the first three?  How can you process such information instantly?  If four bullets into the body is not enough, let’s give him a fifth and a sixth . . . and a seventh, just for good measure!

It is too easy to criticize the police, and that is not my intent.  I salute the many fine men and women who wear the Blue.  However, I wore the olive-drab Green of Army uniforms and know there are bad guys in every branch of service.  I remember Obama complaining that Republicans and Democrats cannot even do the the things they agree on.  For example, there is not one member of Congress who thinks we should shelter “bad cops.”  Good police officers agree that bad cops should be on a national blacklist.  Even police unions agree.  Still, it cannot be done??

Another problem is the militarization of our police forces.  The long-standing practice of giving excess combat arms to local police departments makes a lot of sense.  Unfortunately, we have inadvertently militarized our domestic police.  Additional armaments requires additional training!  Just because you have a high-powered pistol, it doesn’t mean you should shot a man seven times in the back at point-blank range.

I know nothing of Blake’s action that required him to be shot, but I’d love to know why he needed to be shot seven times?