Walter's Perspective: Hold Your Fire About Police Shootings
CHICAGO (CBS) -- If you're following the news tonight, you must be very afraid of Chicago police. There's so much talk about them shooting people and people accusing the police of being reckless, or bullies, or trigger-happy, or racist.
I say too much of that talk, not enough about the reasons why a policeman shoots -- to save his life, or our lives.
There are an estimated 20,000 illegal guns on the streets of Chicago, 786 attacks on cops this year, more than double the number just ten years ago.
The police are being shot at – two of them recently shot in the head. They're afraid and sometimes have to shoot first. Who wouldn't be afraid of someone pulling a gun, or what looks like a gun?
Like anyone else, a policeman wants to go home after work. His wife and his children want him home. We all ought to want our police, at the end of their shift, able to go home.
