LaVoy Finicum said plainly enough in front of cameras and reporters that if faced with officers’ raised guns, he too would raise his gun. These statements would of course be in police and FBI briefings. The aerial video released by the FBI at least is consistent with official statements that Finicum reached his right hand into the left side of his coat. From an officers’ view, this is consistent with going for a gun.
But exactly the moment of the shooting is hardly the point. One need not be a firearms or law enforcement expert to know his statements and actions were almost certain to end in death. LaVoy Finicum was not some kid jacked up on crank. I believe he knew what he was doing.
It really upsets me. I am sad. You can find interviews with Finicum on YouTube. He seemed to me an icon of his type. Transparent, sincere, a good man. I hope I am not found wrong, because I believe there are many such people in the great West.
In at least one interview he sounded like Sarah Palin, full emotional content but practically incoherent. In his last interview, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGpjmjX2qrM> in a syntax evoking off-the-cuff Ronald Reagan, Finicum sketched a series of talking points about land use and tenure and rights, which sound about right, but are not true.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-bady-malheur-ideology-20160207-story.html
And there is the greater tragedy. We have in America tens of millions who believe widely promoted nonsense and vote against their own interests. And many like LaVoy Finicum believe with such fervor that they skirt or dance with or make violence. Skirt, dance, or make? In a sociological sense, you need a certain critical mass of population to reliably throw up great athletes or polymaths or suicide bombers.
Yes, the greater tragedy. Like a suicide bomber, LaVoy Finicum died in his beliefs but would not know the agenda of whoever gains power and wealth from his sacrifice.