Stephen Hunter On The Police Shooting Of Tamir Rice

 

Stephen Hunter, author of I. Ripper and a good number of thrillers featuring former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, offers a piece on the police shooting of Tamir Rice for powerlineblog.com.

 

We first got to know Stephen Hunter when he was the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post movie critic. He is best known as a successful novelist, and he happens to know a great deal about guns. I, Ripper is his new novel. Published last month, it is in bookstores now.

Here he offers his reflections on the case of Tamir Rice on the occasion of a Cleveland judge sounding off on the fate of the cop involved, as covered by NBC News. Submitted for your consideration:

We all know that the police are waging war on young black men. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is the November shooting of Tamir Rice in Cleveland while he was holding a toy gun. A white officer emerged from his car and in less than five seconds fired lethal rounds into the innocent youngster holding–oh, wait, it was a pellet gun.

Hmmm. Seems to be some confusion here. Was it a toy gun or a pellet gun, which are quite different? Well, one place you won’t find the truth is NBC News, which tonight identified the pistol as BOTH a toy and a pellet gun, the first by anchorman Lester Holt, the second by a field correspondent. Of course both were wrong.

It was a Japanese airsoft gun., which fires (on the propulsion of either spring or gas) a 6 mm BB. But the point of airsoft isn’t what it shoots, but what it looks like. These are brilliantly accurate plastic reproductions of real guns. They are accurate to size, color, precise location and scale of operating mechanisms such as safeties or take-down levers, sights, stocks (frequently wood) and even operation. On the automatic versions the slide may be jacked backwards as on the real things, a magazine may be inserted into the butt and, when fired, the gas pneumatically drives the slide back, as if to eject a shell and allow another shell into the chamber. On the revolver variations, the cylnders rotate and may be disengaged from the frame to allow insertion of extremely authentic appearing cartridges into the six chambers. They cock and function, in all interactions, just like the real thing. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/06/stephen-hunter-the-case-of-tamir-rice.php

Note: I've reviewed several of Stephen Hunter's fine thrillers. You can read my Washington Times review of The Third Bullet via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/03/my-washington-times-review-of-stephen.html

Interview With Stephen Hunter, Author Of 'I, Ripper'

David Martindale at the Forth Worth Star-Telegram interviewed Stephen Hunter, author of the new thriller, I. Ripper.

Stephen Hunter, the author of I, Ripper, believes he has cracked the case.

He says his research into the infamous Whitechapel prostitute murders of 1888 enabled him to figure out the identity of elusive Jack the Ripper.

“It’s nothing forensic,” Hunter says. “But it’s a way of organizing the information that, as far as I can tell, is unprecedented. It’s a very provocative way of connecting the dots that I consider to be a valuable piece of intellectual property.”

Alas, I, Ripper isn’t the book that shares Hunter’s theory. This book is a bloody good thriller, however.

The Baltimore-based author puts readers inside the mind of the London serial killer by ghostwriting passages of Jack’s darkly detailed diary.

Hunter’s prose also re-creates the sites, the people and the vibe of dodgy Whitechapel so vividly that you’ll feel like you’re there alongside Jack — or shadowing Jeb, the newspaper reporter whose narrative is also showcased.

I, Ripper is distinctly different from Hunter’s usual work. He’s best known for his bestselling series about Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger, the Gun Whisperer. But it’s a gripping read and quite possibly the best book he has written.

We chatted with Hunter about Jack lore and I, Ripper. You can read the interview via the below link: http://www.star-telegram.com/entertainment/books/article21471951.html 

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/entertainment/books/article21471951.html#storylink=cpy