AG Barr said tonight that he supports the idea of banning chokeholds from law enforcement engagements, but not in all circumstances. I’ve cued up the video to begin at 4:59:
Barr is first asked about Democrats wanting to create a national misconduct register for police in their new legislation, and I thought he gave a great answer to that:
There’s a prudent balance to be struck between making sure we can hold wrongdoers accountable. Policing is not like sitting in an office checking boxes. We put these individuals in highly charged, dangerous situations where their own life is at stake, their adrenaline is pumping and so forth. And we have to make sure we treat them fairly in those kind of circumstances.
He was then asked about chokeholds:
I think we should ban chokeholds, lateral chokeholds…unless a police officer is confronted with potentially lethal force. But I think there is a general agreement among police agencies that we need clearer standards. We have to make sure those standards are trained to, and we have to make sure there are systems in place that hold officers accountable. I think there is universal agreement on that.
That’s somewhat similar to what I was getting at earlier, but phrased in a much better way. In setting where the officer isn’t threatened with lethal force, Barr is saying it’s okay to ban chokeholds. I can go along with that. But when an officer is threatened with potentially lethal force, police officers need the ability to use chokeholds to defend themselves and subdue their attacker. Exactly my point.
The problem is Democrats want to ban them outright, and that would indeed put police officer’s lives in danger.