Reading another of the seemingly endless accounts of police shooting an unarmed citizen with police then commonly stating in their defence that they feared for their lives or safety, it occurs to me to wonder at the contradiction.

Regular people (American) buy/carry/stash guns because they fear that they will be accosted/assaulted/invaded, right?

So *why* do police - given all the equipment/training/experience they have - feel so much fear that they shoot? Rather than threaten? If *police* cannot control their fear, given that they have a weapon on their bodies, how can the citizenry hope for self discipline?