Stopping guns and skipping stones [View all]
Perhaps the only good things that have come out of gun violence in America are the brilliant movies that have been made about it. Independent Lens will screen two of the best in a two-night event on PBS called “Armed in America.”
Both films follow the transformation of conservatives who are initially pro-gun, but after enlightening experiences become advocates of gun control legislation and the reform of police use of deadly force.
Brad Barber and Scott Christopherson’s “Peace Officer” (Monday at 9 p.m.) tells the story of “Dub” Lawrence, a former sheriff who established and trained Utah’s first SWAT team. Thirty years later, that same unit gunned down his son-in-law, who was armed and despondent after an incident of domestic violence.
Lawrence found the circumstances suspicious. In the film, he examines the evidence and builds a case against law enforcement involved in the shooting, and more generally against arming the nation’s police with advanced military weaponry. It is both a detective story and a spiritual odyssey.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2016/05/05/stopping-guns-and-skipping-stones/mebd49DZ6b66pv1WVbjErI/story.html