Police firearms are used far more often as a threat to force compliance thannthey are to defend life. By disarming most on-duty officers like a civilized country we'd have a more peaceful society because the police wouldn't feel as empowered to escalate conflicts.

Being a police officer isn't a particularly dangerous job. Police have, on average, about the same odds as any random citizen of being killed feloniously. Yet they're armed to the teeth and are given less-strict rules of engagement than soldiers sent into actual combat zones against enemy soldiers who are explicitly trying to kill them. I've seen my share of police encounters, and police make the situation worse 90% of the time. That last 10% doesn't justify what they do.

I understand that police are individuals. Being a cop doesn't make you a bad person. There are lots of bad people in this world, and most of them aren't cops. But anybody who looks at the state of policing in this country and decides they want to be a cop cannot be a good person. It's like saying someone's a good Nazi or Klansman. Being a bad person is a prerequisite to becoming a police officer in the US.

I have several cops in my family. I know them as individuals. And they're all bad people for whom I have no respect. But they think I like them because I'm polite to them. I'll even laugh and tell jokes around them, because part of living in a society is not starting fights. But they're still scum.

I'm sure there are people in your life who joke and laugh around you, too. How many do you think quietly hate you? I guarantee it's an uncomfortably high number.