The Cost of Fear: $3 Million

The fear of guns now has a price tag: $3 million. That's the amount that Philando Castile's survivors will be paid:

The mother of Philando Castile, a black motorist killed by a Minnesota police officer last year, has reached a nearly $3 million settlement in his death, according to an announcement Monday by her attorneys and the Minneapolis suburb that employed the officer.

What's even more outrageous is the following:

The $2.995 million settlement will be paid by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, which holds the insurance policy for the city of St. Anthony. It requires approval by a state court, which could take several weeks. The statement from the city and Castile's attorneys says no taxpayer money will be used to fund the settlement. 

What? No taxpayer money is funding the settlement? This is utter nonsense.

Clearly the Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust receives funds from Minnesota cities. And not just from the cities who employed Jeronimo Yanez -- it's all Minnesota cities, including the city I live in. Where do cities get the money to pay the premiums to the Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust? From my property taxes, that's where.

So my tax dollars are definitely paying for this settlement.

Now, I'm not complaining that Castile's mother is being compensated for the murder of her son. I'm complaining about the city lying about taxpayers not paying for it.

Every time one of these cops murders an innocent person we're the ones on the hook for giving their victims some form of justice, albeit a very poor form.

As I have said before, police do have legitimate fears of being shot whenever they pull someone over. Guns are way too prevalent in American society. But that still doesn't excuse cops who make piss-poor trigger-happy judgment calls.

Cops would shoot a lot fewer people if there were a lot fewer guns on the street: this sort of thing doesn't happen with anywhere near this frequency in countries like England because 90% of cops don't carry firearms. Because guns are tightly controlled. Even when cops carry weapons they rarely use them:

In the year up to March 2016, police in England and Wales only fired seven bullets. (Although these government figures do not include accidental shots, shooting out tires, or killing dangerous or injured animals.)

These officers fatally shot just five people during that period, according to British charity Inquest, which helps families after police-related deaths. 

Yanez fired seven bullets at Castile in as many seconds, in just one incident.

Five deaths about 1 person per 10 million citizens. For the same period in the United States cops shot and killed almost a thousand people, or 30 people per 10 million citizens.

The simple fact is, the more common guns are, the more acceptable people find their use. Owning a gun means you intend to kill someone or something. People who own guns believe that violence and killing are acceptable solutions to their problems.

Who else thinks that way? The Taliban, Hezbollah, ISIS and Al Qaeda.