CNN commentator Van Jones said Thursday on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time” that aggressive policing tactics in the United States resulted in the killing of Ma’Khia Bryant during a knife fight in Columbus, OH.
He argued American police should be more like the police in the United Kingdom where they are trained “to get the knife way from” an individual “without shooting them.”
Jones said, “All I want to point out is for law enforcement around the world, they don’t have guns in the first place. In our country, we have an armed citizenry. You have to have an armed police force. I understand that. But just understand, if you’re in the U.K. And somebody has a knife, you’re trained to get the knife away from them without shooting them.”
He added, “They come at you with a stick, a bottle — our officers are trained mainly on weapons because that’s where we’re at. But just imagine a world where whatever that cop would have done if the gun didn’t work, that was his first go-to instead of his second. That’s the only thing we’re asking. We just want our kids to have the same opportunity to survive their dumbest mistakes as every other kid has. That’s all we’re asking for.”
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