Okay, first of all, no one get mad at me for posting this. I'm giving my reactions to recent shooting events. If you don't agree with what I have to say, you can state your views, but please do so politely. Thanks!

So I was browsing the little tabs at the bottom of the Bing home page and saw the recent news for Dallas. (I never watch the news on TV, so I keep updated by online news every now and then.) The news said that there were people who shot and killed 5 police officers and wounded 7 other officers as well as nearby civilians. It was said that the shooters wanted to kill as many white people, especially white police officers as they could. This was apparently in response to recent police shootings from earlier in the week.

First reaction: What the heck?! You're upset about something, so you're going to go out and shoot people!? How does that solve anything?!

Second reaction: I don't understand people. I really don't. I don't understand how people can do this to others. They're not thinking! I know that this country has problems, on the national, state and local levels. Everyone knows this. Our country is not perfect. People are not perfect. Change takes time, sometimes a LOT of time. If you're upset about something, WHY would your first reaction be to pick up a gun? And WHY go after police officers? In Texas?! It's like you're asking to be hunted down. The stupidity of people really astounds me sometimes.

Third reaction: I've seen Census population numbers, statistic reports, and studies done over shooting and violence in the US. I encourage people to inform themselves. Research the facts about a situation. You'd be surprised what the facts say vs. what overly emotional people are spouting.

sigh Okay, that's all for now. Does anyone have a comment about this?

Besides Dallas they've been targeted in Missouri, Georgia, Tennessee, and Louisiana.

Why? I guess they think they're getting some sort of retribution. Or maybe they're just absolutely shitty people using the situation to act it out like the Ferguson looters did.

They might think they're making a point but all they're doing is putting the police on edge. Which could result in more innocent people being shot by jumpy officers. Or could also result in police (or any emergency personnel for that matter) refusing to do their jobs or go into certain areas leaving more innocent people at the mercy of their local ne'er-do-wells. Not to say the police are perfect angels who never do wrong, they're not, but this kind of retaliation only makes it worse.

Violence begets violence, hate begets hate and all that.

I absolutely agree with both your points of view in terms of you shouldn't go and shoot at innocent police because of a few bad apples.

However, you have both failed to mention that there are a few bad apples in the american police force, they aren't all angels. There is justification behind the anger, people are being shot for doing nothing (in most cases) except expressing their freedom of speech. Not enough to shoot innocent police but there is justification for the anger.

I will accept I haven't looked at statistics myself so I am still not 100% in belief of it being a large amount of Afro-Americans being targeted and until I look into it then I can't speak on that. But in most cases the video's speak for themselves. Some police are shooting at people who present no harm to them.

Police are trained for the situations that they are placed in they shouldn't be jumpy, and they are accepting that they may be killed in service when they take on the job. This doesn't mean they should be, but they are taking the risk. The civilians are not asking to be killed when they are stopped for a minor crime.

It's not just the fact that people are being killed for doing nothing (in most cases) but the fact that the police who are clearly being violent aren't getting any repercussions.

The issue of unfair treatment isn't new. It's been simmering for a while. I don't know how far sub rules allow us to go, but America's history is fuelling today's actions.

I think I'm more disappointed that (I think) this is the first topic I've seen on the whole issue. It took police to be shot for anything about the whole matter to be put on sub.

I agree that not all police are angels. I think it's fine for people to protest and be angry (as long as they're not in the middle of the street/highway). I don't think that blanket discrimination is okay against any group be it race, religion, or chosen career path.

But you can't kill someone just because they happen to have the same job as the person you're angry at. No matter how angry you are. The very act sounds even more absurd when I type it out.

The recent two big shootings seem fishy to me. So I'm not exactly sure what to think about them. While I've looked at crime and gun violence statistics in the past, haven't seen police shooting statistics. Though I have seen a few things thrown around on the internet, but who knows how reliable that is.