Alderman calls for citizens to arm themselves

imported post

ST. LOUIS— A St. Louis city leader frustrated with the police response to rising crime called Tuesday on residents to arm themselves to protect their lives and property.
[/b]
"Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe said police are ineffective, outnumbered or don't care about the increase in crime in his north St. Louis ward. St. Louis has had 157 homicides in 2008, 33 more than last year at this time.

"The community has to be ready to defend itself, because it's clear the economy is going to get worse, and criminals are getting more bold," Troupe, 72, said Tuesday.

Troupe said that when he and residents approached a district police commander last year, they were told "there was nothing he could do to protect us and the community ... that he didn't have the manpower."

Police did not immediately return requests for comment. Chief Dan Isom told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he understands Troupe's frustration but doesn't support citizens arming themselves. Carrying guns, he said, is not a "recipe for a less violent community."



No, but citizens carrying guns does make the violence a little less one-sided.:cuss:

imported post

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gZlILHwno4ydb7Hs-wvjqdSAgRPQD94QTSQO0

http://news.google.com/news?q=Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe

imported post

Link to original article in St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Finally, a big-city politician who gets it!

imported post

This would be an interesting situation to track. Too bad the open carry movement is not well enough established to descend "en masse" on that ward in order to help their citizens learn some of the best practices in open carry. It would be one hell of an opportunityfor some community activism.

I hope these people heed their alderman's call, and take back their neighborhoods.

imported post

And I hope every single one of them does in fact arm themselves.

imported post

Well, isn't Missouri an open carry state?

imported post

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460725,00.html

http://www.slmpd.org/blog/blog.html

It totally amazes me that police chiefs who should, of all people, know better, continue to spout this line. Here is a city alderman who complained that the police were not adequately protecting his district, was told by the police that there was nothing more they could do, advocates his constituents properly arming themselves, and this is what the police chief says.

I don't live there, but these two articles literally made me see red. SCOTUS settled once and for all the question of whether the police had a duty to protect; they don't. Our taxes pay them to solve crimes and arrest the perpetrators and that is all.

I wonder if the chief has ever heard the line, "An armed society is, of necessity, a polite society."

imported post

Well, isn't Missouri an open carry state?

Click to expand...

Anomalous open carry. Preemption doesn't apply for OC - that can be regulated.

imported post

Walleye wrote:

Well, isn't Missouri an open carry state?

Click to expand...

Anomalous open carry. Preemption doesn't apply for OC - that can be regulated.

Click to expand...

Rats! That sucks.

imported post

Missouri is an "anomalous" OC state. There is no state statute prohibition against OC, however, municipalities are free to pass restrictions or bans on OC. St. Louis City has an ordinance prohibiting OC as do many of the numerous small towns (especially those with the highest crime rates) within St. Louis County.

imported post

Police did not immediately return requests for comment. Chief Dan Isom told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he understands Troupe's frustration but doesn't support citizens arming themselves. Carrying guns, he said, is not a "recipe for a less violent community."

Click to expand...

Really? We carry them a lot here in Wyoming, in fact we have the highest percentage of gun owners of any state, and our communities are far from violent.

Carrying guns is a recipe for a less violent community.

III

imported post

SFCRetired wrote:

I wonder if the chief has ever heard the line, "An armed society is, of necessity, a polite society."

Click to expand...

Your quote is unattributed but is not Robert Anson Heinlein's from his 1942 Beyond this Horizon, "An armed society is a polite society."

You might claim the paraphrase "An armed society is [of necessity] a polite society."