Pop Quiz: What kind of gun is this?
It’s not a gun at all, it’s a cordless drill. But this past summer when a California woman behaving erratically and brandishing this item failed to follow police orders to drop it, the result was that she was shot fatally by one of the responding officers – who thought that it was a gun.
Of course, internet message boards were soon awash in mindless criticism of the police. But any honest person will admit that, seeing a disturbed person waving this item around, they too would guess that it might be a gun -- particularly if they had only a few seconds with which to make the determination.
This shooting, like all fatal shootings involving otherwise innocent civilians, was tragic. But the extent to which it was an unavoidable shooting is found in the appearance of this drill. Most cordless drills are brightly-colored and stylish. Why this one is matte black and so thoroughly gun-shaped is known only to the manufacturer.
