Second Amendment advocates and law enforcement experts weighed in on Biden’s comment from Friday claiming that police should “shoot to stop” instead of “shoot to kill,” with some criticizing the remark and others explaining what he meant.
“When I was coming up as a kid, cops were required to learn to shoot to kill. Well, you ought to be able to shoot to stop,” he said during a speech at the White House.
Conservative digital strategist Greg Price gave the comment some attention, tweeting the 15-second video and weighing in on the thread.
“Cops are literally trained to shoot to stop the threat. You stop by aiming center mass. There’s no such thing as hitting arms and legs in a life or death situation. The only experience with firearms the people telling Biden to say this have probably comes from playing GTA,” he commented.
The tweet garnered attention from conservatives who joined in on ripping the quote. Author Geoffrey Miller claimed Biden “[sounded] like a guy who’s spent less than 1 hour at a shooting range in his entire life.”
OutKick writer David Hookstead slammed Biden as well, writing, “Someone should tell Biden you have major arteries in your legs and could easily die getting shot there. There’s no place on the body to simple [sic] shoot to ‘stop.’ That’s beyond idiotic.”
“I think his Secret Service detail would tell him differently,” former radio personality and current LTC News publisher Matt McCann added.
But what does the law enforcement community think? Fox News Digital reached out to experts to hear their thoughts.
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“As a former deputy and SWAT officer, no one goes to work saying ‘I want to shoot someone today.’ All law enforcement are trained to deescalate a situation. They also have less lethal options. However, you have a split second to make a decision. If the suspect has the means to use deadly force, then the officer has every right to use deadly force to neutralize the situation to protect the public and themselves.”
“It is easy to say officers should refrain from deadly force, but when you are protected by Secret Service who will use deadly force to protect your life, and the fact that you have never worn the badge and been put in a life-or-death situation, those statements should not have been made,” a former reserve deputy and SWAT officer from Bradley County, Tennessee told Fox News Digital.
National Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Jonathan Thompson weighed in with a separate statement, writing, “Split second decisions can too often preclude or limit options. Nevertheless, deputies start their day with a commitment to protect life. Balance that against drug dealers and Cartels who wake every day seeking to harm and take lives…
“It’s great to see the President acknowledges the importance of training and how much it has evolved over time, but he still does not understand the complications of being a deputy or officer and the dangers they face. We look forward to working with him to make sure they get all the training and resources they need to keep communities safe,” he added.
Rob Pincus, Personal Defense Network executive director and a professional defensive shooting instructor who has trained police, military and more, cleared the air on police procedures and their legal implications, telling Fox News Digital that the problem lies in semantics.
“Biden, many years ago, made a statement about going outside and firing a shotgun up in the air if somebody is trying to break into your home…. what he said last Friday is really very closely related to that concept, which is, if you’re going to use a gun, you don’t have to use it to kill someone. There’s other ways to somehow use a gun to defend yourself, and that is anathema to people in the training community, whether it’s law enforcement, military or civilian defensive shooting in the United States,” he said.
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“Law enforcement training has evolved over the last few decades to make it less likely that an officer will have their gun out when they don’t need it, which is a good thing… but, it should not be seen as an indication that officers who do fire their guns have somehow failed. Mistakes are actually very rare…
“Both Armed Professionals and those who carry for Personal Defense always need to be aware that pulling the trigger is a use of ‘lethal force’, despite the fact that they should only ever be shooting to stop a threat when they perceive the need.,” he added in a later statement.
Pinccus said it is more difficult to shoot moving limbs, so training involves aiming at the “high center chest” area to cause a physical disruption to suspects trying to impose harm. Aiming for that area also creates a higher lethality rate.
“I have to admit that Biden’s right. If somebody were trying to break into your home, and you stick a shotgun out the window and fire rounds into the air, that person is probably going to leave,” he said.
“Most offensive gun uses don’t result in death. They don’t even result in what we would call a physical stop. If a guy goes to kick in my front door, I get a gun ready, he kicks the door open, and I fire a shot at him, 99 times out of 100. He turns around and runs away.”
Biden’s remark echoes his language from the National Action Network’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day breakfast last Monday during which he called for police to be retrained to focus on “de-escalation” and to act with less deadly force.
“Why should you always shoot with deadly force? The fact is if you need to use your weapon, you don’t have to do that,” he said during the event.
Biden also called for tightened gun restrictions and offered some praise for his executive order keeping integral elements of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
