We were in the usa last summer. We had a group of police officers having breakfast in our hotel as they were drafted into DC for the Africa heads of nation summit.
I asked them about their guns and how often they use them.
"Everyday" was their response.
Had they ever killed anyone with their gun?
"God, yeah. Don't you realise that DC was the murder capital of the U.S. ten years ago... It ain't no more"
" I've probably killed 8, but only one was a mistake. He pulled a comb which i thought was a gun" smirk
Then he showed me a video on his phone of a black teenager shooting his friend in a fast food store over an argument about a you tube video. The teenager killed his friend, did not spill a drop of his drink and stepped over the body and left the store.
The officer said that is what they are dealing with daily. The whole table laughed when I said UK police manage with tasers and pepper spray. They clearly thought I was bonkers.
Later that day we shared a picnic table at the zoo with an American family. He was a cop from Long Island. We had a similar conversation and he said "it is either them or us who will get killed, and it ain't going to be us." He said he felt sorry for the policeman who choked Eric Garner to death on the street in NY that week.
The whole time we were in the US we were treated like criminals/terrorists. Whether it was at imigration or trying to go into a food court, we were barked at and spoken to rudely. We are a white family. I wonder how they treat black or Muslim tourists?
Interesting conversations, and ones I'm glad I had eventhough they incensed me. We certainly were not made to feel welcome in the USA.