Running Low On Ammo

Apparantly, according to this AP article, cops all across the country are running low on ammo. Or maybe they're not.
At first the big headline grabs you.

Ammunition Shortage Squeezes Police

It begins with the usual incitement to fear:

An Associated Press review of dozens of police and sheriff's departments found that many are struggling with delays of as long as a year for both handgun and rifle ammunition. And the shortages are resulting in prices as much as double what departments were paying just a year ago.

"There were warehouses full of it. Now, that isn't the case," said Al Aden, police chief in Pierre, S.D.

Let's take a look at Pierre S.D. shall we? How much ammo does a police force of Pierre S.D. need? Judging by the design of the city's official homepage, they must have used all that ammo to shoot every web designer in town. That website alone is proof that government employees should just stay away from computers. Meanwhile, I'm sure the citizens of Pierre are cowering in their homes until the warehouses can be restocked with ammo and all the "All Clear" is sounded.

Troublesome Tragedy

Somethign bothers me about this story and it's more than just the horrible tragedy. It seems that a police officer was shooting at a snake, missed at least twice sending his bullets far and wide. One splashed into a lake where 5 year old Austin Haley was fishing with his grandpa. When the first round hit the water near them, the grandfather held the boy close to him. The second round hit the boy in the head killing him. Here is the story from CNN.

The City Manager, Bob Wade, would not identify the name of the officer who is suspected of firing the shots. Wade states that the officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Why is that? Why would a servant of the citizens be protected when he accidentally kills one of them? Why do police get preferential treatment when they screw up? The grandfather seems to have spotted this hypocrisy.

"I'm not saying the cop shot him on purpose," Tracy said. "It was an accident. But let me tell you -- if I had a kid and put him in this car and didn't put him in a car seat and he got killed on the way to town, they'd charge me with murder ... and what this cop did is a lot worse than that."

He's right.