Perfect Prescription

What happens when the chief law enforcement officer encourages his residents to arm themselves for self defense? There is a decline in violent crime such as homicides.

Save their own butts

It should come as no surprise how this would work, the criminal element becomes aware the citizen population are armed and they think more about their own lives than committing a crime. It is working and a great example is the city of Detroit. In a time when the city was forced to significantly reduce the police departments budget how does one explain a decline in violent crime. It’s really not that hard to figure out, Detroit Police Chief James Craig went on record to encourage his residents to arm themselves. In a city of 700,000 patrolled by 3,000 sworn officers its the right thing to do.

No doubt he was criticized and I won’t even bother to go into some of them, but the central theme were either the average citizen is not qualified or defending against violence should be left to the police. He was even criticized for suggesting vigilantism. Wow, defending your own life is now being defined as vigilantism. You really cannot make this stuff up, it is definitely sad.

Leading by example

The real question I want to pose is why has there been an increase in permit requests? It’s not like all of a sudden Detroit became a violent city, this has been something that I think all of us could agree is just considered public knowledge; Detroit is either damn close if not the murder capital of the world. That couldn’t be the real reason, it has to be something else and about the only thing that makes sense is that a public figure, the police chief no less actually took a stand and did the right thing.

Best intentions

Detroit Police Chief Craig truly cares for his residents and recognizes that despite the honorable service of all law enforcement officers there is the reality they cannot be every where all the time. We have all heard the phrase, “when seconds counts the police are minutes away.” It really does put things in perspective that unless the crime was committed in front of the police there will be a response time involved and even the fastest response time will still be minutes away. At some point you will have to take responsibility for your own personal safety and the safety of your family and loved ones. I have the utmost respect for his decision and believe it was a watershed moment for all of us.

advocates of self protection

We are going to see some very troubled times ahead of us, it will get worse before it gets better. It will mean that at times you will be on your own. There will be nobody to hold your hand, at the local, state and federal level. It has happened before and it is only a matter of time before it happens again. My hope is that the courageous words from Chief Craig, “We’re advocates of self-protection. We want people to be safe” will echo across the country and more people will become self reliant when it comes to their self protection.

My previous piece had been on the reluctance of one Sheriff (Getting the Word Out) to follow the law of the land, it is only fair to highlight the positive actions of another fellow law enforcement member.