In Bowling For Columbine, Michael Moore nailed it when he said that the citizens of the United States are living within a “fear culture.” With the disproportionate amount of black male shootings by police in the United States (some reports suggest that police have killed at least 217 black people in 2016) the possession, or perceived possession, of firearms by the victims seems to be both an excuse for quick-draw police tactics and also the cause of it.
The Second Amendment is a tricky one. The idea of an armed militia is outmoded, and puts police on the offensive: in a society in which most citizens could potentially be carrying firearms, cops become automatically warier of those they are commissioned to protect. The fear of private ownership of firearms, combined with our tense racial culture, presents the perfect storm: it allows many altercations to end in deadly force, and provides a catchall excuse, after the fact, for the often unnecessary use of violence.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Keith Scott was shot after police claimed that he was armed. Following the shooting, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney confirmed that they “did find a weapon… and witnesses have corroborated it, beyond just the officers.” Yet North Carolina allows the open carry of handguns, making the presence of it, in and of itself, a less-than-automatic justification for determining his culpability in provoking police violence. According to The Charlotte Observer, Putney did not know if the gun was loaded.
Police fear over armed private citizens has reached a crescendo: cops utilize their right to protect their own lives by the oftentimes unwarranted sacrifice of those they are commissioned to protect. This fear is a societal issue: we are a country with a police force that fears armed citizens, yet we allow these citizens to remain armed. In fact, sometimes we even encourage it. (you can pick up a cheeky NRA t-shirt, reminding us that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," here.) The ability of private citizens to carry firearms, combined with the police’s fear that anyone could be carrying one, muddies the water on all accounts. And, for police, there seems to be no limit to who could be armed.
Including, it seems, the disabled.
In Miami, an autistic man named Arnaldo Eliud Rios Soto was shot after wandering away from his group care home. His behavior aide tried to warn cops that Rios was not a danger to anyone and was wielding a toy truck, not a gun.
In this racially charged atmosphere, the prevalence of private firearms, and the idea that anyone could possess them allows both the perpetuation of police violence and the justification of the use of deadly force. (This, of course, ignores the exploration of related racial tension, which is not within the scope of this argument.)
In the end, we’ve created a problem with a deadly solution.