Posted on 03/23/2007 11:48:34 AM PDT by Ellesu
NEW ORLEANS - Sixty-four-year-old Vivian Westerman rode out Hurricane Katrina in her 19th-century house. So terrible was the experience that she wanted two things before the 2006 season arrived: a backup power source and a gun.
"I got a 6,000-watt generator and the cutest little Smith & Wesson, snub-nose .38 you ever saw," she boasted. "I've never been more confident."
People across New Orleans are arming themselves - not only against the possibility of another storm bringing anarchy, but against the violence that has engulfed the metropolitan area in the 19 months since Katrina, making New Orleans the nation's murder capital.
The number of permits issued to carry concealed weapons is running twice as high as it was before Katrina - this, in a city with only about half its pre-storm population of around 450,000. Attendance at firearms classes and hours logged at shooting ranges also are up, according to the gun industry.
Gun dealers who saw sales shoot up during the chaotic few months after Katrina say that sales are still brisk, and that the customers are a cross-section of the population - doctors, lawyers, bankers, artists, laborers, stay-at-home moms.
"People are in fear of their lives. They're looking for ways to feel safe again," said Mike Roniger, manager of Gretna Gunworks in Jefferson Parish.
Citizens, the tourism industry, police and politicians officials have been alarmed by the wave of killings in New Orleans, with 162 in 2006 and 37 so far this year. A Tulane University study put the city's 2006 homicide rate at 96 slayings per 100,000 people, the highest in the nation.
National Guardsmen and state police are patrolling the streets of New Orleans. In neighboring Jefferson Parish, which posted a record 66 homicides in 2006, the sheriff sent armored vehicles to protect high-crime neighborhoods.
In New Orleans, police have accused the district attorney of failing to prosecute many suspects. Prosecutors have accused the police of not bringing them solid cases.
Some people are losing faith in the system to protect them.
Earnest Johnson, a 37-year-old chef who lives in Kenner, bought his first gun recently and visits a shooting range regularly. "Things are way worse than they used to be," he said. "You have to do something to protect yourself."
Kevin Cato, a 41-year-old contractor, bought a .45-caliber handgun for protection when he is working in some of the city's still-deserted areas. "But it's not much safer at home," Cato said. "The police chased a guy through my yard one time with their guns out."
In New Orleans, the number of concealed-carry permits issued jumped from 432 in 2003-04 to 832 in 2005-06. In Jefferson Parish, 522 permits were issued in 2003-04, and 1,362 in 2005-06.
Mike Mayer, owner of Jefferson Indoor Range and Gun Outlet in suburban Metairie, said that despite the dropoff in population, sales are up about 38 percent overall since Katrina.
Just how many guns are out there is anybody's guess. Gun buyers in Louisiana are not required to register their weapon or obtain a concealed-carry permit if they keep the gun in their house or car.
In a measure of how dangerous New Orleans is becoming, guns are finding their way into criminal hands at an alarming rate. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' "time-to-crime" analysis of the interval between the legal sale of a gun and the time it is seized in a crime investigation is five years on average around the nation, said ATF spokesman Austin Banks. In New Orleans, time-to-crime is six months, he said.
This sometimes happens because of "straw purchases," in which a buyer obtains a gun for someone not legally eligible to purchase one. Many guns also are stolen from homes and cars.
While many are buying guns for protection, only two defensive killings of criminals by civilians took place in New Orleans in 2006, according to police. No charges were filed against the shooters.
Westerman, an artist who lives in the city's Algiers neighborhood, is prepared to use deadly force.
"I'm a marksman now. I know what I'm doing," she said. "There are a lot of us. The girl next door is a crack shot."
New Orleans Is the Deadliest City
A new study by a Tulane University professor says New Orleans’ murder rate as the highest in the country. The report estimates the city’s 2006 murder rate at 96 per every 100,000 people. A key factor in New Orleans vault to
the top of the ratings was the large decline in the city’s population following Hurricane Katrina.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin called the study results “bittersweet.” “Everybody wants to be number one at something,” Nagin said. “We’re not in the running for the high prestige titles like ‘cleanest’ or ‘best educated.’
In fact, we’re on the bottom of those lists. So, I guess we’ve got to settle for what we can get.”
Nagin said the study debunks claims that New Orleans’ inhabitants are lazy and shiftless. “Murdering someone takes effort and initiative,” Nagin pointed out. “It doesn’t just happen. This display of enterprise gives me hope for the future of the ‘Chocolate City.’”
read more...
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm
With the democRATS already introducing house bill 1022, to ban all semi auto weapons, people are stocking up on guns and ammo like crazy.
I've never seen the gun stores so busy.
There are already shortages of several calibers and types of ammo.
Could it be that all the "old" guns in New Orlean, both legal and illegal were ruined in the flood? And that the criminals are now stealing (and illegally buying) new guns?
This statistic doesn't really tell us much except that there are no old guns left to steal.
The Second Amendment is going to keep our country free, but only if we fight against the Lefties who seek to disarm the entire population. 300 million Americans without arms would be easy pickins for a global dictator, IMHO. Hillary, Hugo, Muslim Jihad, U.N....take your pick! As long as Americans have the right to carry guns, this will not happen. Look at Europe. Go to your local dealer and stock up today!!
Spot on; well said. And more folks need to join the NRA, GOA, and/or SAF.
His current "staff" is now letting murderers back out on the street routinely due to Nolle Prossed, no prosecution!
Vivian, "cute" is not the best word in weaponry. I'd suggest at least an ugly .357 magnum or a .45 ACP. Cute. Help me OB1, they want cute weapons.
Hmmmm.
According to the March 26, 2007 issue of The Weekly Standard magazine, the population of New Orleans has dropped from 467,000 to 191,000. It also says only 17% of the buses are running, 56% of schools remain closed and only 12 of 23 state-licensed hospitals are operating. ETC.
The dilapidated condition of her crack is not suitable subject matter for this site! What? Oh....never mind!
My bet is the reason for the upsurge of murder is the presence of hispanic illegals in the city for the first time. In other big cities around the USA they are killing blacks like mad. Not likely they don't repeat the pattern in NO
Sometimes they will take guns even if they aren't used. Like if a woman points her gun at her drunken ex who comes around to threaten.
I can't believe he said that. It sounds like an Onion parody. I did a search and could only find that quote on the one site.
The fact that your gun might be confiscated is a reason to have more than one. Many more.
I just read that site. It's a parody.
Never mind.
Well, if the rate is the same, then it seems likely that a representative cross-section is no longer there.
Sam e crime total, maybe, but double the rate.
Gun and ammo sales will increase as the Democrat congress inevitably turns its attentions to disarming the citizenry. A Democrat win in the next presidential election will put the manufacturers' production behind and stores will have a hard time maintaining inventory, especially in the more militarily useful stock, as in 1994 right up to the congressional elections. The balloon deflated in the week after the Republicans won.
I ran all four of my kids and my wife through the local NRA Gun Safety Course in the 90s. Unfortunately we don't have a range here any more nor anyone offering the NRA course because the fellow who had the range and did the course got into selling guns and other stuff on the internet that he didn't have.
Those exceptions are not comforting. They include bullets falling out of the sky around Mardi Gras and bullets that don't hit their intended targets but do manage to hit people occasionally.
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