Crime-fighting's future merely a guy with a gun

[Mr Weebles]

From Orlandosentinel.com:

Crime-fighting's future merely a guy with a gun

Mike Thomas

COMMENTARY

January 11, 2009


I hope Chris is around if I ever need him.

He is the future of law enforcement.

Chris is an Ocoee man who keeps a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol in his glove box.

Last week, while shopping at his favorite Kangaroo Express, he used it.

Chris had stopped there for a pack of smokes and a slice of pizza with the clerk. While leaving, he noticed a man casing the joint.

Chris went to his sport utility vehicle to call for help. Then he heard the clerk scream and grabbed the gun along with his cell phone.

He went back inside to see the clerk on the ground with the robber hovering over her. He fired twice.

The robber died with a wad of cash in his hand and a knife in his pocket.

Violent crime has become part of life's fabric here. Every year there are more guns, more murders.

There are so many weapons out there that the bad guys actually use "disposable" AK-47s.

They empty a clip, drop the weapon and run.

We now have an average of 14 shots-fired reports coming in daily in Orange.

The cops are outmanned and outgunned. And when they do catch a bad guy, the prosecutors are too overwhelmed or too bogged down with Casey Anthony to do much about it.

So the suspects go free and reload for the next round.

Last month the Sentinel had a story detailing how the state's "10-20-Life" sentencing provisions are nothing more than a farcical slogan.

In a four-year period, only 5 percent of the 7,437 gun suspects arrested in Orange on gun charges received a mandatory sentence.

Violent goons caught with automatic rifles and piles of cocaine seem to be set loose among us on a daily basis.

One might be behind you at a traffic light tomorrow morning.

If so, hopefully Chris is nearby.

Such is the state of law and order in Central Florida.

And it's only going to get worse. We are headed toward double-digit unemployment here as the economy hovers in that limbo between recession and depression.

There will be massive budget cuts in education, juvenile justice, drug programs, prosecutor's offices and courts.

This is known as living within our means.

And it means you best be ready to protect yourself and your own, because the cops and courts sure can't do it.

That's what Charles Johnson did.

Late last month, two home invaders busted in on Johnson and his wife while they were watching TV in Ocoee. He is 91. She is 90. She sat helpless in her wheelchair with a gun aimed at her head.

Johnson pulled out a pistol from under the couch cushion and fired once. Both men fled.

"She's all I got to live for," said Johnson.

Gun sales are booming in the state. Classes for concealed-weapon permits are booked. We have 26,534 permit holders in Orange. There are about 28 armed civilians for every deputy sheriff. And that doesn't include people who carry a gun in their cars, which doesn't require a permit.

We have our own Second Amendment version of a "well regulated militia."

This is a natural response to a perceived breakdown in the criminal justice system.

And in this case, perception is reality.

For decades, the gun-control debate has centered on the question of whether controlling guns would help control crime.

We are well beyond that now.

Guns are far too out-of-control for gun control.

Any 13-year-old can get his hands on one in the wrong neighborhood. Cops regularly seize AK-47s, AR-15s and Tec-9 machine pistols.

Consider this excerpt from an October story in the Sentinel: "The killers of two men slain in Pine Hills last week fired 58 rounds from two AK-47s during a furious gun battle, detectives said. Investigators still are tracking a shotgun, a revolver and a stolen pistol found at the scene."

We just wrote about a guy captured with cocaine and an assault rifle modified into a machine gun.

He got 23 days and has been arrested six times since on drug and gun charges.

Bad guys are bad enough when they fear consequences. Now even that's not a concern.

So I fully anticipate that more people like Chris will be firing back.

Mike Thomas can be reached at [email protected] or 407-420-5525.

Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel

 

[sig shooter]

OH Jesus

 

[Palladin]

I like it.

+1

 

[theGringo]

Great. Another "disposable AK-47" thread! Oh, wait. I think I started the last one.

 

[sig shooter]

Great. Another "disposable AK-47" thread! Oh, wait. I think I started the last one.

i doubt any one here would dispose of their AK.

 

[pbearperry]

The other day I went out for a walk and found 3 disposable AK-47's so I picked up the one with the scope on it and left the other two for someone else.Don't ya just love it?

 

[sig shooter]

The other day I went out for a walk and found 3 disposable AK-47's so I picked up the one with the scope on it and left the other two for someone else.Don't ya just love it?

where?, I got to get me one of those disposable AK's that cost $600 in stores.

 

[mikem317]

There are so many weapons out there that the bad guys actually use "disposable" AK-47s.

What the hell?

 

[Raoul Duke]

This story...again. How many times have we heard the Disposable AK thing? Sure, you can't even pick up a crappy Wasr 10 for less than $6-$700 without jumping through hoops and this joker wants us to believe that this is what's going on down there right now (dated today).

 

[paracarry]

The other day I went out for a walk and found 3 disposable AK-47's so I picked up the one with the scope on it and left the other two for someone else.Don't ya just love it?

The one with the scope was mine i dropped after robbing the 7-eleven. I went back for it and it was gone. I picked up the other two and now have to put scopes on them with the money from the 7 eleven heist. thanks a lot.

 

[MasterShinken]

I cant tell if I like this story or not... +1 for showing that it's up to the individual to protect themselves... still feels like there's a very negative overtone for gun ownership though...

 

[theGringo]

I cant tell if I like this story or not... +1 for showing that it's up to the individual to protect themselves... still feels like there's a very negative overtone for gun ownership though...

Really? I haven't felt so good since I watched "Death Wish 3". Last night.

 

[Skald]

You need to remember that Miami-Orlando-Jacksonville is one of the main routes of drug trafficking into Atlanta which is seen as THE distribution for drugs coming in from South America. Some of these fights are not over turf but more like product and as such will be more brutal etc.

So before you call BS on these reports of 'disposable AKs' you should first come down here and listen to the scanner and talk with the actual Detectives.

Within the last year or so I have read/heard news reports that the bad guys have been using AK's in regards to the drug trade more and more. Remember the officers who were actually killed in the line of duty with them for just being at the wrong place/wrong time?

It is still used in a minority of crimes, but the reported use is actually going up slowly it seems, and that can only be bad for us.

 

[Coastie2010]

Could be that the illegal AKs are actually fairly common? Since the Colombians have no trouble getting them for their own use, perhaps the smugglers are bringing AKs in with the cocaine?

 

[joehaus]

Could be that the illegal AKs are actually fairly common? Since the Colombians have no trouble getting them for their own use, perhaps the smugglers are bringing AKs in with the cocaine?

Bingo. Those drug guys get all the cool toys. I've seen Miami Vice.