Alderman: Residents should arm themselves

I think it is a great idea as long as the people who own the guns know how to use them.

"Much of the problem is free and easy access to guns,"...

Then why is it that as more gun laws are passed, crime goes UP?  States with the fewest gun laws, and the easiest access to guns, have the lowest crime.

The problem is we don't have enough prisons, and we don't put enough criminals in them. 

Let's also start holding parents responsible for their childrens actions, in addition to charging the child with the crimes.  If my dog kills someone, they would come after me.  If you raise a hoodlum, you go to jail too.

I know, for those who don't want to be armed let's give them buttons they can wear that say "Proudly unarmed!!!" 

Getting God back in the schools wouldn't hurt either.  Hitler said let me control the school books and I'll control the country.  Just a thought.

As the old saying goes, "when seconds count, the police are only minutes away!"  When a fellow broke into my car, in my driveway, we called police and they DIDN'T even bother showing up.  They tried to steal my car, siphon my gas, and steal the contents from my car.  We need to make it mandatory for every homeowner to own a gun and know how to use it.  This bullsh!t notion that the cops will, or even can, protect us is a fallacy.  The only thing that protects us is the majority (and a shrinking majority at that) are willing to obey the rule of law.  If Obama and Bloomberg want to really impress me, let them take the guns away from the criminals and freakin leave law abidng citizens like me alone.  And while at it, enact some laws that says if you steal from me aqnd get shot, it's your problem instead of placing the welfare of thieves and brigands above all else.

I am impressed with the responses thus far.  I figured there would be a lot of nonsense talk about guns being the problem to begin with.  It's amazing to me that people don't see that LAW-ABIDING folks obey gun laws-not criminals.  More laws only restricts responsible, good citizens, it does nothing to deter criminals.  I had people breaking into my shed, stealing motorcycles, hopping my fence to use my yard as their thoroughfare, etc and I'm the one restricted.  "You can't put barbed wire below 7 ft" "You can't shoot someone if you don't think your life is in danger"  "You can't, you can't, you can't".  How about a little "YOU WON'T" to them?!

There are a number of studies showing that guns have stopped crimes--millions of them--and that crime rates go down when citizens are armed. We got into some kind of bizarre situation where law-abiding citizens who want to protect themselves, and who would act responsibly, are viewed as dangerous loonies. Criminals are dangerous loonies, not ordinary folk. Most people don't want to break the law, and most people don't want to harm anyone. Why people like that should be denied the right of self defense is beyond me, and apparently the Supreme Court agrees (finally).

Most police officers that are truly commited to serving and protecting the public recognize that much of the criminal justice system is either broke or dysfunctional.  That alone should give rise to reinforce those disbelievers in recognizing citizens' rights to protect their lives and property from predators and especially those predators that are armed.  I know from personal experience that police typically arrive AFTER the assault or shooting occurs.  I also know that most police officers subscribe to supplying their spouses with guns to protect themselves, then why would they not allow that same right for others?

As for the other part of the criminal justice system, the judicial, well........just ask (if they will tell you the truth) how many of them are packing.  An educated estimate would say the vast majority.  Is this not conduct one would want to imitate?

Our forefathers guaranteed our freedoms that included the right to protect ourselves through the 2nd Amendment.   Why must we continue to argue whether one has the right to bear arms and protect themselves?  Police have no right to limit our rights to protect ourselves and that includes the right to bear arms.

Yes lets put God back in the schools and a gun and concealed carry permit in every law-abiding citizens hand who wants to protect thierself and our rights. As for the police officers, I have seen a few times when they were glad to have armed citizens to assist them. (probally not in the city, but get out in the coutry where it may take 15 minutes for another officer to there)

Of what Rosenfield said,

"Much of the problem is free and easy access to guns," Rosenfeld said. "This hope that by putting guns in the right hands will have an influence on criminals is a false hope. There's no evidence for that."

The decrease in crime over the years in Kenesaw, Georgia proves that the armed law-biding citizen is a deterrent to criminals.  I forget who said it, but the saying goes, "An armed society is a polite society".  We definitely need more politeness in today's society and that would definitely eliminate all this political correctness nonsense which is just another form of people control.

Despite what Rosenfeld, Academia, social-engineering liberals, anti-2nd Amendment politicians including the Clintons and Obama and their gun ban cronies in Congress, and all the anti-gunner effete snobs would have you believe, the American people need to realize that beneath the veneer of civilization, the world IS a savage place.  And when law and order breaks downs, for example, as in the case of natural disasters, it is the armed homeowners who step up to protect their neighborhoods when the police and other emergency services are being overwhelmed trying to deal with the disaster.  I remember pictures from one of the many Florida hurricanes where the homeowners put up signs warning thieves and looters stating "You Loot, We Shoot!" The crime rate was lower than normal as a result.

One gets the the idea that the anti-gun crowd must have worked for OSHA and that they are trying to create a 'Work Safe" environment for criminals.  I say the heck with the criminals, society doesn't need them.  I want a 'Work Safe" environment for for the ordinary law-biding citizens, their families and children.

The armed law-biding Citizen is the foundation of our free society.  I have read the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United State of America.  I clearly understand it.  It and all the other amendments guarantee INDIVIDUAL rights.  So why is it, only the 2nd Amendment is under constant attack.  Why are the politicians and the anti-gun supporters trying to twist the meaning to convince everyone that the 2nd Amendment is not an INDIVIDUAL RIGHT?  It is because gives the ordinary citizens the physical means of arms to protect their rights and freedoms from those, who for their own agendas, would take those right and freedoms away, when peaceful means of law no longer work. 

Remenber Hitler and the Nazis, Stalin and Mao and the Communists and all the tin-horn petty dictators around the world who mandated gun control on their people, look at all the governmental murders and genocide, suffering, police state environment, and other horrors that they imposed on their nations. 

We don't need that here in the USA.  It is the armed law-biding citizen that provides the greatest immediate threat and deterrence to criminals.  The Police DO NOT have the responsibility to protect you, they are not a body guard service.  Rulings from repeated court cases over the last 150 years prove that.  Police may intervene when they observe a criminal act being committed, but usually they act in response to a situation after the fact.  A bullet from a citizen acts immediately in stopping a criminal.  When a criminal gets himself killed, consider all the potential future criminal acts he might of committed that now won't occur.  I'd say society is better off and safer as a result. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! 

And to those who are offended by by my holiday wish above and lack of political correctness, go . . .

I like and agree with the majority of what I read here.  And, Beeper, I like the way you think.  We just need to get it through the idiot politicians heads.

THE PEOPLE RECEIVING FEDERAL FUNDS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WORK OR THEY WILL LOOSE "THEIR ENTITLEMENT" HENCE, THEY STEAL TO MAKE UP THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT THEY GET AND WHAT THEY WANT!.

THERE IS ONLY ONE TREATMENT/THERAPY FOR THAT MINDSET.  THE LEAD THERAPY! IT IS A DELICATE AND PRECISE OPERATION USING AN INSERTION TOOL OF CALIBER FITTED TO PATIENTS WEIGHT AND BODY MASS FOR INSERTION OF LEAD INTO HEAD, HEART, AND STOMACH.  As with all medication there are side effects; ringing in the ears, powder burns along the thumb and first fingers and occasional flashes of light that temporarily cause the eyes to see stars.  If symptoms persist please consult your local physician of GUN SMITH to see if an upgrade is right for you!.

guns could stop more crimes than are committed with them if more people were armed. As for Police response times, no matter that we have a well trained and generally conscientious group of men who are Police Officers, they can only respond to crime after it has occurred and been reported, its up to citizens to protect themselves,and one would think a good government would encourage that as simply another way to stop crime and see to the prtotection of citizens, which is after all, governments duty.

"Much of the problem is free and easy access to guns," Rosenfeld said. "This hope that by putting guns in the right hands will have an influence on criminals is a false hope. There's no evidence for that."

Yes there is; read John Lotts book, "More Guns, Less Crime".  So anyone asserting that taking away guns from law-abiding citizens is at least a fool, or can't wait to get on his kneepads for the likes of Hitler and Stalin.

Mayor Francis Slay wrote in his blog Tuesday that some of the most violent crimes in Troupe's ward are committed with guns stolen from law-abiding citizens.

Well then, citizens need to start carrying their guns with them.  Two-fold effect:  criminals can't steal them, citizens will have them with them to protect themselves.