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The Los Angeles Police Department reports Sunday that one of the suspects who had severely injured Paramedic Bryan Stow was taken into custody over the weekend.
Reportedly, Giovanni Ramirez had eluded police long enough to alter his appearance, in his case, covering one frontal tattoo with another.
Good police work is what we expect, but before police are involved, there is good citizen work to be done. The kind of work I am talking about is in the sprit of Todd Beamer on United Flight 93. It is in Good Samaritan (armed Samaritan) Joe Zamudio who, with others, dog-piled on whatsisname the Tucson Shooter. In other parts of the country, there are reports of good citizens dog-piling on suspects whom they have witnessed committing a violent act. These people are not only witnesses to aid police, but good citizens to aid the target of violence to mitigate or limit the severity of the act.
The whole purpose of being armed is to prevent an attempted act from becoming a completed act. Or a tell from becoming an attempt.
This spirit is optimized by being armed and is frustrated immorally by politically disarming citizens. This spirit is something to be encouraged as a matter of the public interest, not discouraged allegedly for public safety. Think of the tragedy and heartbreak of the Stow household because no one - in a crowd of dozens and dozens - came to his aid. Now compare it to the involvement of those who do successfully overpower and hold for police in other cases.
This 'Swarm' technique was pioneered by Los Angeles Chief of Police Daryl Gates in a time when less-than-lethal was being explored. Well, less-than-lethal is always looked at, of course, but the swarm is, perhaps not coincidentally, also concluded by laymen who refuse to be a victim. Airlines are getting the attention for passengers who swarm an in-flight takeover suspect, but it's probably good anywhere just about.
All police need to get behind the movement to refuse to be a victim, and that means affirming open carry as much as concealed carry for private citizens. Blocking this would make about as much public interest sense as discouraging CPR until EMS arrives.
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