THEY SHOOT LOOTERS, DON’T THEY?
The Case for Arming Victims
Following the appalling loss of life, property, art, and livelihoods, the people of Lahaina now face the near-inevitable looting. Disgusting trash, these people haunt all tragedies, seeking out what little value remains in the disaster area. I saw it with the Oakland Hills fire in 1991.
Looting is a good name for what is happening in our stores, where crowds of sub-humans rush the place taking everything they can carry. Not only does it devastate the store owners; it costs us all money as they have to raise prices to finance the evil of the people who have figured out that California law allows them to do this.
Right now, you can’t even apprehend them and try to take your property back. They know this. The laws leave us helpless against criminals.
A Brief History of Shooting Looters
It was once understood that looting was even worse than a regular robbery or burglary. As such, for many years, the police were given the responsibility to protect property during a disaster or a declaration of martial law. The morning after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Mayor Eugene Schmitz put up notices all over town warning that:
“The Federal Troops, the members of the Regular Police Force and all Special Police Officers have been authorized by me to KILL any and all persons found engaged in Looting or in the Commission of Any Other Crime.”
In December, 1913, the San Antonio River overflowed, and there was serious flooding in central Texas. The order issued to the state police was, “Shoot all looters, and shoot to kill.” Until the 1985 Supreme Court case of Tennessee v. Garner, American police generally had the right to shoot a “fleeing felon,” including looters. Ever since Tennessee, however, police may not shoot unless they believe the fleeing felon poses a threat of violence.
In some states, property owners have the right to shoot looters. Surprisingly, during/after Hurricane Katrina, there was almost no looting in Mississippi. Governor Haley Barbour explained that this was because homeowners were allowed to shoor looters and many citizens were armed. AND, the looters knew it. Even where there were serious impediments to 2nd Amendment rights, as in California, some were willing to risk it to defend their property, as the Korean business owners did in the LA rights of 1992.
Now, in Blue states, you risk losing everything if you try to take advantage of the natural right to protect property. While you might be able to make a self-defense case, if you kill someone, the family will sue you in civil court, where you will most likely lose.
What Works
Even in the most rabidly, Leftie communities, the politicians really don’t want businesses closing down and wealthy people leaving. But the laws they put in place say they don’t care about any of us. By putting the criminal ahead of the victim, they encourage more people to become criminals because the penalties are so rare and so light.
The cases referenced here show that when a criminal is in fear for his life, he commits fewer crimes, or picks “safer” victims. Thus, not only should we have national “stand your ground” laws, we should also say that homeowners and business owners can defend their property with lethal force. How likely is a young person to run into Nordstrom to grab expensive items if they have a good chance of being killed?
Besides the looting proofs, the easing of gun laws in Florida highlight why the fear of the armed citizen in the only thing that works. When it became much easier to get a concealed carry permit in Florida, crime dropped fast. The bad guys knew that anyone might be packing heat, so they went after each other or sadly, foreign visitors who had no way to bring in a weapon. Even American tourists could get a temporary permit for their vacation. Granny leaning on her walker could be packing, so instead of us good people being scared, now the crooks were the ones hesitating to act.
We’ve tried the kinder, gentler (Red-Diaper-Doper-Baby) approach to criminal justice; it doesn’t work. We need to bring back the right to use deadly force if your home or store is robbed. In fact, with Stand Your Ground, if you are apprehended and have no way to run away, you should again be able to use deadly force to protect your person and your property. At the core of freedom is not only the right to life, but also the right to property. The same right should go to the police and the security guards businesses hire. There should be no right to sue after someone is killed; unless the person killed did not threaten a person or his property.
I suspect that if this approach went national, you’d stop seeing so much crime almost immediately. Along with this, you need National Reciprocity, such that any person carrying a CCW from ANY state can carry in any other state without permits or other bureaucratic garbage. This would probably make Utah one of the most popular states for a visit as their concealed carry license rules are reasonable, fair and inexpensive.
While I hope never to have to kill anyone, I would be willing to do so, if the law permitted. I think those poor folks in Maui wish they had the right…and the ability. But too few have a way to get a gun.
