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Old February 13, 2007, 01:58 AM   #7
Archie
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Join Date: May 26, 2000
Location: Hastings, Nebrasksa - the Hear
Posts: 2,209
This 'incident' played heavily in my academy training some two years after the fact. What I was shown was not a made for TV movie, but a documented training film - watched and critiqued by the surviving participants.

The FBI agents had long guns. Shotguns all around, in addition to their service weapons - some revolvers and some autopistols. Part of the problem was the shotguns and 'extra gear' was placed in the back seat of the sedans, typically on the floor. It was out of the way, not obvious, stayed put and was difficult to obtain without the luxury of parking the car and opening the back door.

I cannot remember which, but one villain was neutralized very early in the firefight. The other - the one who did the actual killing - was killed by the first FBI round that struck him. Unfortunately, it didn't kill him for about four minutes. (The first FBI shot fired tore off the tops of both lungs, a non-survivable wound. However, it did not incapacitate him.)

Watching the training film, hearing the Special Agents discussing the encounter, I was struck by one big factor: the FBI Agents were not mentally prepared to kill someone that day. Please don't let this sound like I'm belittling or making light of them or their actions, I'm not. The Agents were ready to find these two villains, to arrest them, to brave gunfire and to get the bad guys off the street. But they were not ready to kill. Lucky for us, they were ready by the end of the fight.

Matix and Platt were way past ready to kill. They had been for some long time.

I'm glad the FBI went to a larger caliber. (I'm not a 9x19 fan at all.) However, like many things done by our government(s), it was largely a public relations device. They 'did something to make our agents safer'. Actually, they did. But the biggest problem to overcome is the reluctance of a decent human being to kill another human being - without becoming a psychopath in the process.
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Archie

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