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Firearms: a great equalizer

Fade to a new version of the scene; the homeowner is “wearing” one more accoutrement––a handgun. Now who wins?

 

Residents in a Vancouver, Washington neighborhood have been experiencing a rash of car break-ins, including one next door to this armed citizen. The couple was understandably scared and installed a motion detector. When the alarm went off early in the morning, they were ready. Mr. Underpants donned his super-suit and went out to perform a citizen’s arrest (a legally-sanctioned detention, usually when catching the perpetrator committing a felony) while his wife called 9-1-1. When asked to describe her husband to arriving deputies, she said he’s the one who is “basically buck naked.” That description enabled law enforcement to easily determine who the good guy was, though he was still required to lie down on the cold ground (standard procedure while the law sorts things out).

 

Police arrested the criminal, who was processed and released within hours. It was telling when watching the news video that the female victim would not show her face: The perpetrator was already back on the street and she was still shaken by the incident. (Yes, the guy knew where she lived, but if she is around town, he cannot recognize her because the 9-1-1 operator told her to stay inside, preserving some anonymity.)

 

What does this story teach us?

 

Even though most cops sincerely serve their communities, the Supreme Court consistently rules the police are under no legal obligation to stop crime. Law enforcement was no doubt aware of this string of car burglaries, but they were unable to arrest the perpetrator until he was detained by an armed citizen.

 

Even if all police officers were superheroes, they still couldn’t be everywhere at once. Between 2000 and 2006, there were about 220 sworn officers per 100,000 population in the U.S. The average city of 10,000 population has fewer than 7 officers on shift, because this total includes command officers and those too injured for patrol duty. This last is no exaggeration: In 2006, the U.S. civilian aggravated assault rate was 287.5 (per 100,000 population); the national rate for police was 12,258.3, over 42.6 times the civilian rate. (This armed citizen’s actions minimized police injury risk.) So four patrol officers per shift is more realistic.

 

Police departments know their success and safety depends upon community support. Sometimes, this support manifests as an armed citizen detaining a criminal until the professionals arrive, a social triage similar to life-saving CPR training to stabilize a heart attack victim until the medical professionals arrive. As highlighted here, law-abiding citizens prefer to hold criminals for police. Any suggestion that armed citizens are blood-thirsty vigilantes waiting for an excuse “take the law into their own hands” and execute bad guys is a fiction dreamed up by those who want to destroy your civil right of self-defense.

Police officer density compiled from 2000-2006 FBI data on Law Enforcement Officers Assaulted. Email request for spreadsheet.

 

 

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