McCloyn 1

Marie McCloyn
L Bown
English 2010
Argument
Wednesday, February 18
Lethal Force
Lethal force also known as deadly force is defined as the amount of
force that is likely to cause serious bodily injury or death to a person.
It has been common law for law enforcement to use lethal force to
capture or reprimand individuals that have obtained felonies. In society
today extreme circumstances call for extreme measures. However, the
past three to four years law enforcement has increased in lethal force
causing uproar from citizens across the country.
Shoot to kill is often said in place of lethal force by law
enforcement. Thus, they are trained and fully aware of the duties that
they may half to carry out. In doing such, these police officers have
taken things to a new height. While some are under the radar, others
have been plaster across the news and been intensely critiqued by the
public. Stories such, as the Travon Martin case against George
Zimmerman was one of the biggest to date. It ended in the acquittal of
Zimmerman and sparked near riots in the black community. From then
on the shootings and deaths only grow more prevalent in todays
society.

Studies from the Washington post show that the increase in

justifiable homicides verses average crime rates is largely different. It
is clear to see that things have dramatically changed since the 1900s
in a negative way. There are clear examples of an on going problem
that needs to be addressed. The hands of cops that have a license to
kill are taking innocent lives.

Ferguson has sparked

rage, among the black communities around the nation and has
generated more and more disturbing headlines. The citizens are
running out of way to respond. Feeling as if their outcries are not heard
and the rallys are not effective. Therefore the problem at hand is not
effectively being solved.
This colossal issue doesnt seem to plague the entire world.
Charts indicate that America is un-matched when it come to

police killings in the U.S. compared to other nations. This makes the
issue that much more controversial open for huge debate. Americans
have consequentially lost a sense of order and peace, and cannot
seem to get a hold on the underlying problems. In order to restore the
peace and function as a normal society should.
Another disturbing angle that comes into play, is the
unconstitutional methods the government continues to try and
implicate to the law abiding citizens of the United States. On Jan. 16th
2012 president Barrack Obama held a press conference, that he
expressed his ideas of strengthening the safety of the people by
restricting them through intense gun laws. Among these actions taken
he implemented the reinstatement of the ban on assault rifles.
Stated clearly in the constitution under the second amendment
are the citizens the right to bare arms. This amendment was
constructed to protect the people, because the founding fathers
realized that a nation should not be fully controlled by one small group
of people. By doing this it allows the citizens of the U.S. the ability to

defend and or take extreme action to over throw legion of people

trying to dictate the entire country.
Now that the gun laws are changing in favor of the government,
it in result puts the people and risk forces and unnecessary
vulnerability. The constitution may be the greatest political document
ever written, it is what once made the U.S. the most stable,
prosperous, and free nation. Now it is solely being dismantled right
before the citizens of Americas eyes. And the clearest sight of this is
the gun control and the irony of lethal force.
Lethal force is not always the answer and needs to be intensely
confided and regulated, to insure the public safety of the citizens of the
United States of America. If actions to prevent this colossal issue are
not taken, our Nation will continue to suffer the dyer consequence of
war, poverty, and the enormous lack of peace and order. It also evolves
from lack of order into hate of the people to the government and
lawmakers. Like once said by the great Maya Angelou Hate, it has
caused a lot of problems in this world, but has not solved one yet.

Work Cited
Nick Leghorn, December 13, 2013 The truth about guns
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/author/foghorn/
John Gettings and Catherine McNiff, January 18th 2013 Milestones in
Federal Gun Control Legislation

 20002015 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/guntime1.html

Gov, 2015 Legal Information Institute

Second Amendment U.S. Constitution
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment
471 U.S. 1
TENNESSEE v. GARNER ET AL. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES
COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
Argued October 30, 1984 Decided March 27, 1985 *
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?
court=US&vol=471&invol=1

Source
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminaljustice/police-reasonable-force-brutality-race-research-reviewstatistics#