Looting: Where Are The Gunnies?

Gunnies are Gun Owners. Gunnies are the Liberty Nuts who like to exercise all of their civil rights in the Bill of Rights.

Since the beginning of the Republic, citizen involvement has been the secret to everything from day to day functioning to resistance to attack to way of life. Things runs smoothly in self-governance.

Even when disaster strikes.

But in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the city is overwhelmed, including the good citizens who would step up and resist if their homes weren't underwater.

But not all disasters will involve inundation and evacuation. There is much to be learned from this event.

In a previous piece, [MensNewsDaily, July 26, 2005 In Time Of Disaster: Who's Interfering With Whom? ] I urged the government to please not freeze citizens out anymore of the participation in their recovery in matters of disaster preparedness and management, which would include aftermath. This is because the citizens are already on scene, they are interested persons in the legal sense, they are in large numbers and they are willing. If they’re not incapacitated, and many aren't, they can aid in the recovery effort, they already possess the authority, and become much more the asset to the mission than the burden.

My recommendation was that such citizen response be coordinated between locality and state and federal more than it is, and given great latitude in relation to local control with federal assistance. That is, the Feds should assist, but not take over. Even in this case, the citizenry is not entirely helpless nor unwilling.

Today, New Orleans is an example of an utter breakdown in resources, and the predictable breakdown in civility when law enforcement is vastly outnumbered. The key feature is the separation of the constituent from their home.

New Orleans is not a matter of looting - it is in a condition of complete anarchy. But it is much more of an example than that: the murder, mayhem, bedlam and rampant crime is an example of citizen disarmament. Only this time, the guns of defense have been submerged, floated away or otherwise irretrievable.

The power of the people to participate in their own defense has been drowned.

There are reports of individuals protecting their homes with shotguns and handguns where the property was not entirely inundated, and the people can even remain at home and even have something left to defend. Non-evacuation is the key. But for the countless lawful guns that are beyond the reach of their owners because of inundation and because owners are not permitted to return home, the city is basically defensless.

This condition is identical to the condition of gun confiscation, only with a different modality: Katrina. The net result is the same, though, is it not?

The reports of looting and shooting at air ambulances - FEMA has recalled EMS to stand down from rescue - demonstrate the truth that only the criminals will have guns while the numbers of lawful guns are greatly diminished.

Talk Show Host Bill Handel on Los Angeles' KFI this morning became so overcome with emotion that he said that anyone with a gun should be shot.

Bill, the reason the police do not shoot anyone with a gun is because they have better judgment than you do. "Anyone with a gun" could be an off-duty officer who has no clothing left, no spare uniforms, separated from his assignment for the duration, and he/she may have a full-time concealed service weapon or back-up weapon in hand.

That anyone with a gun could be some citizen with a permit and in a position to prevent a crime near him or act in self-defense, just doing what he can. There are reports of these, only not in large enough numbers, because so many lawful weapons may be out of circulation, and the under-reporting of lawful, self-defense incidents which would tell another part of the story.

Such people can make a difference in the life of another as many Good Samaritans did in the Watts Riots in Los Angeles in the 1960's. Such persons might be able to protect hospitals and transports as Minutemen.

If they were armed. Necessity is an affirmative defense, and where some may be posted in such a capacity, it might be good for the community to have someone with a gun on our side.

That anyone with a gun person could be an innocent person engaged in a lawful activity, and from an altitude of 500 feet or more in a police helicopter, one may not find it as easy to size up correctly as the individual on the ground can, doing his damnedest to protect himself or another for just another day, trying to hang in there. Think of the Rodney King Riots where it worked until order could be restored.

In a disaster of these proportions, help can be days and days away. Months on some critical issues.

In New Orleans . . . well, there is no more New Orleans, at least for the duration, is there?

Guns will always be available to the criminal, no matter what law you write or no matter what you do, the second half of the reality. Please note, Bill, that even though many gun selling stores were partially or totally submerged, the guns there were stolen. Criminals don't obey the law.

Check it out: disaster brings civil disturbance, including rape and child snatching, and the honest citizens are hit like everyone else as it rains on the righteous and the wicked. Guns in the home are underwater along with diplomas, licenses, uniforms and everything else, so it’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. People are not allowed to return to their homes. Anyone with a gun who could get their hands on their own gun wouldn’t be a very reliable marker by which you recognize a good guy from a bad guy.

In this circumstance, I'd be comfortable letting the local citizens handle it. It's amazing I haven't heard the word vigilante yet. (Not yet!)

Put another way, "Crime needs to be fought by the whole community, not just the LAPD," Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said today. It's a somewhat different context, I know, but it's the right idea just the same. Citizen involvement. Not just eyes and ears, but involvement from planning to the delivery of lawful action. Minutemen, if necessary. New Orleans and the neighboring hardest hit sure could use them.

Lawful, armed Minutemen. On scene fast, from within the community.

As far as citizen involvement goes, zero-tolerance as an official policy isn't so smart, either; in trying to handle looters, zero-tolerance sweeps up the innocent with the guilty [anyone with a gun] and needlessly punishes the givers in society without regard for who is participating in helping the community, not by looting, but by stopping other crimes, such as kidnapings/child snatching and other opportunistic acts. Zero-tolerance is an emotional, do-something, reaction; what the community needs is an objective response in purpose. Gunnies, more contemplative, trained and interested, tend to be prepared not to react, but to respond purposefully.

When the Guard arrives, things might take on a different complexion, we hope.

But that help is days and days away.

Preparedness is everything. In a free society, citizen involvement - citizen response - is everything, or it's not self-governance anymore.

New Orleans is the perfect example of what happens in time of citizen disarmament. It is also a very, very good reason for citizens to get back in the game to protect their interests.

Until then, for the most part, only the criminals will have the guns.

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John Longenecker is author of The Battle We Fight - Battling Potomac Fever To Recapture Our Homes And Communities available at all booksellers. His website is www.NationwideConcealedCarry.com.