After the recent tragic shooting of a policeman at the High Court, the call has gone out to arm American Samoa’s police force. We agree 100%. If the bad guys have guns and the cops don’t, the cops are at a big disadvantage when it comes to enforcing the law. However, there is another side to the coin. An armed police force often results in the shooting of innocent civilians and unless the force is properly trained on handling firearms and dealing properly with volatile situations, another tragedy could occur. In Las Vegas recently, cops shot and killed a man who was shopping with his girlfriend at a local Costco. The man did have two guns on him, but he had proper permits to carry them. A Costso employee saw at least one of the guns on the guy and called the police, even though there was no apparent threat. When cops arrived, there appeared to be a great deal of confusion as the store was evacuated. As the man exited the store, cops called out conflicting orders to the man – one said “drop to the floor”, another said “put your hands up”, and another said “hand over the gun.” Because the guy couldn’t do all three things simultaneously and appeared to be somewhat confused by all the hubbub, one of the trigger-happy cops didn’t like a move the guy apparently made and shot him to death right in the doorway of the store. The cops say he pulled a gun and pointed it at them. Virtually all witnesses dispute that. There will be an inquest of course, but those are typically a whitewash where the police are exonerated for their actions. The dead guy, who was highly educated and a respectable member of the community, is nevertheless dead. If our local police force is armed, this is exactly the kind of incident that must be avoided.

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