Posted on 09/15/2005 3:28:06 PM PDT by Half Vast Conspiracy
"What we need to do... Is there any media? Chief, can I say this?," asked Mayor Bobby Bright at Tuesday's Kiwanis Club of Montgomery meeting.
"I've said it one time. Get a gun and teach our folks how to use them and shoot 'em."
Several members of the audience, approximately 100 members of the Kiwanis Club of Montgomery, broke out into nervous laughter and applause after Mayor Bright said this as the guest speaker.
To put this in context, Mayor Bright spoke directly to the issues of having an understaffed police force, clogged courts, and a vast majority of crime in Montgomery committed by the same relatively small number of people over and over again.
Bright went on to say,"There's going to be people out there who write me and say, 'God, Mayor, why are you doing this?' Listen to what I'm saying. Get your gun, learn how to shoot it, learn how to use it and use it. "
We asked the Montgomery Police Department what it thought of Mayor Bright's statements.
Spokesman Lt. Huey Thornton says, "The mayor made some good points. If a person chooses to own a handgun, then we think it is important that they know how to use that handgun and they know when the law allows them to use it."
Bright adds, "That's the only thing that we can really tell our folks to do at this point in time. If there's anything else that you know that the chief and i can do to keep this crime down, keep these guys from stealing... let me know."
Montgomery Police Chief Art Baylor is a Kiwanis Club member himself and was in attendance at Tuesday's meeting at the RSA Activity Center. WSFA 12 News tried several times to speak with Mayor Bright on camera, but he was unavailable for comment.
For people who do own a gun, or thinking about buying one, the city of Montgomery does offer a firearms safety course free of charge. You can call the police academy at (334) 240-4812 to sign up.
Bright For President '08.
He is right.
Practice practice practice.
BINGO! The mayor is a winner with that one.
Sounds Bright to me! Lucid, in fact.
Some say this is a first for Mayor "Not-So-Bright". ;)
Way to go Your Honor!!!
I want this guy for my mayor. All I get is complaints when I tell folks to get a gun and learn how to use it.
Face it... someone is breaking into your house in the middle of the night. You call 911, the phone is dead... now what?
Suppose the guy didn't cut the phone line?
"Hello, you have reached 911...press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish, or 0 for an operator...."
Suppose you actually got a cop on the line?
"We will send someone right out there. You just hold tight until they get there, OK??? Hello??? Hello???
Durned tootin' he is.
I've always said, "An armed society is a polite society".
Hey, folks, we're not talking Boston, New York, Chicago, etc. here. In liberal strongholds such as those, even the mention of firearms brings out a call for smelling salts.
This is our democrat mayor and plenty of folks here have broken our the smelling salts...to include the county sheriff. I predict he will back peddle within 24 hours. I hope I'm wrong.
Mayor Bright is much too honest to be a successful politician!
Can't Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana all elect this mayor as governor,...at least for a while?
It's a sad day when the government is so busy paying entitlement benefits that it can't maintain law and order.
Yeah, but does Thornton agree with Bright's suggestion that gun-less Montgomery residents get armed (because of the understaffed police force, clogged courts, etc)?
I doubt it.
Finally! A politician who gets it!
What do we gotta do to get more of these?!
Such common sense...it'll be wasted on even some Freepers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.