Is to cover their tracks when they shot him.
I would surmise that the police purposely removed their body cams. However, they knew that there was audio from these same body cams. So they wanted to create audio evidence that the killing was justified.

for White folks.

young Black Man that was legally carrying and was killed in cold blood by the cop. He could just as easily been him. The young man had a legal permit and did everything the cop asked and was gunned down. Don't forget to remind the owner of those facts.

I am as white as the sand on a Fla pan handle beach, and I had to face an AR 15, aimed by a local cop who was told by some cell phone punk that I had waved a gun at him. Punks will be punks, and some cops will over react, and some are racist to the point where they will exercise the unwritten right by LEO: When performing in the line of duty they have a License to kill, and the police unions in place to back up virtually ANY fuck up by police. I don't like it. I don't know anyone who likes it. But I am NOT going to tell anyone not to arm if they feel threatened, or use incidents to pronounce from on-high that one group of people can have guns safely, but the other groups best not arm up. That is for the groups and individuals to decide.

And they DO decide.

It is THEIR choice.

plus many are just racists

Surely, they have considered the dangers of doing so around police. So why do they carry? I doubt it is for SD against police, but SD for other reasons. In many areas of the country, black communities have violent crime rates out of proportion to the rest of the country. Would I be wrong in concluding a CCW black citizen is arming for self-defense mainly in his own community?

Lawful-carrying black citizens, in my obervation, are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. On the one hand, a police force with a hair-trigger when it comes to encounters with blacks; on the other, a community where disproportionate numbers engage in a disproportionate amount of violent crime. (This is a subject which is virtually taboo here, and ends in charges of racism, or NRA gun-licking, or whatever the slur o' the day is.)

Perhaps there is a better or at least different way for legally armed blacks to reveal such and not get killed. I don't know. I'm all ears. I don't know what to do about the cops, how many ways have been tried?

I am sure almost all who legally carry do so for SD, as like you said, many of them live in violent areas.

The cop in this case is a murderer in cold blood, if the facts of the case hold up. We need to start locking up murderous coppers for life with no parole, as the violation of the the law itself by a DEFENDER of the law is FAR more serious than an average citizen who breaks the law. With grave responsibility comes grave consequences if you betray that trust.

The police force in the USA as a whole has been paramiltitarised since the 1970's, and especial from the mid-late 1990's until now. Even if 10% are "bad cops" (I think it is far higher) thats is a recipe for all the "murder-by-cop" actions that are ripping the social fabric of the country apart.

If I was black, I would absolutely look at most cops as not only my enemy, but indeed, my possible executioner. A huge start is to cut off ALL military interlocks in terms of equipment and funding to state and local cops. I also advocate for the comprehensive legalisation and then regulation and taxation of all drugs. That would vastly reduce profit motive for narcotrafficking and its inherent murderous aspects. It would also allow us to draw down the number of cops and also choke off the fucking for-profit prison system that utterly thrives on the drug war.

as the Nixon administration's reps have admitted. Unfortunately, both parties supported it, as did most of the leadership of the black community. Theodore Bilbo could not have wet dreamed a better way of jailing vast numbers of blacks. And it works, as the laws permanently stain the records of Anyone with a drug conviction and steers them back into a life of crime or early death. The WOD is one of the greatest, most destructive, yet effective (as designed) socio-political events in the country's history.

Paramilitarization is a solution waiting for a problem, and that problem is the rapid, forceful suppression of Any kind of disruption, be it a riot or most worrisome (to the elite) organized civil disobedience. I think the power elite full well knows it is held in profound disdain, and will act accordingly. I think de-militarizing civilian police may have some symbolic effect on how police do their work, but the real purpose is to beef up local LEOs as a first-line defense against civil insurrection. Even here, I think the effect will be limited, as LEOs are singularly ineffective in this role.

They're applied based upon race which is illegal, but of course certain racist states still give the privilege of CCW which is racist. They're racist so they be racist.

Don't yah know that??

it seems unlikely that the cops executed him because he was ineligible to own a firearm.


I agree that the OP's subject line is a poor fit in this case, though.

Before they subdued him & shot him in the back 12 times - then "found" a gun.

The cops likely had no clue he was a felon. The author of the article likely did know, and the article is misleading.

And trying to justify murder at worst.

ok, chief...

They must have had esp or something to know that when they executed him.

that only cops can see? They had no idea of who he was, so their execution of this man had zero to do with his legal status at all.

Cops often know the identities of people on their beat who have lengthy criminal records. I hope it comes out in the investigation whether or not this was the case. Not, mind you, that I think it will exonerate the officers if it is shown they knew Sterling. I think there were far, far better options for them to take him into custody than to shoot him dead.

But as far as the subject of this thread goes, Sterling had indeed previously forfeited his 2nd Amendment rights by way of his multiple felony convictions.

And the guy was not a threat to either of those cops when they decided to murder him.

And it was a decision on their part. But, who can blame them, right? Cops have learned that they can kill with impunity as long as the victim is not white and well-connected. They might get a paid vacation out of it, but in the end, they'll be walking around free and probably still cops while the man they chose to kill is dead and buried.

Nothing this guy did (and let's be honest: he did more than his share of very bad stuff) remotely justifies his summary execution. He was in no position to offer a real threat to those officers, even if he was trying to get to his gun. They had every opportunity to prevent that with non-lethal means.

You are 100% on-target in pointing out that there is a grossly insufficient level of accountability for police actions in these situations. The system as it stands is geared to exonerate them in the vast majority of cases. THey know they have a license to kill...and some of them act accordingly.

At least after a few years.

(I have no idea if that's the case in this situation, but either way, it's besides the point. The cops had no idea at the time.)

There is a long and disgusting history of demonizing all armed POC as dangerous criminals or terrorists and taking away the right of POC to protect themselves in the name of "public safety".

...after telling the officer that he had a concealed-carry permit.

You know the NRA would be screaming right now if he was white.

Though don't look at me - I'm not a fan of the NRA, or of the mass-proliferation of weapons in our country.

...the guy who had the concealed-carry permit.

On crickets, what is your response to the question: Should black people, or Muslims, or LGBTQ people, or women, or other minorities have the right to keep and bear arms as the majority population now exercises?

...the person who was shot with the concealed-carry permit was white.

I am glad I had an opportunity to clear up that major misconception.

Racists cops need to realize that!

That fucking troll should be confined to the underside of a bridge!

Do they just assume that their viewers don't know who he is?

viewership or audience. The racists will secretly feel validated while the non-racists, save for a few of us cognoscenti, will remain clueless.

Clever marmeti g that, albeit in the service of evil.