"Stop the violence," Letters P&C 01/01/02

Charleston.net's POS PC Post and Courier ^ | Tuesday, January 1, 2002 | Me, DOUG HUFFMAN

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Stop the violence
    Yes, as City Councilman Wendell Gilliard said, "The plea is out." ("Help police stem violence." Post and Courier editorial, Dec. 24)
     Even in great communities like Chicago, with a long history of draconian laws, city fathers plead for a means to reverse the internecine homicide rate as Chicago is awarded the title "Number One in Murder." (Chicago Tribune, Dec. 2, by E. Ferkenhoff).
     Chicago leads even Charleston, having long ago "embraced community policing - building relationships with citizens and neighborhood groups through regular meetings with beat officers." Or is this a different plan than Councilman Gilliard's "proven over and over again" neighborhood involvement with law enforcement?
     I ask Councilman Gilliard and Mayor Riley, "Where is the proof?" Councilman Gilliard's veracity depends on it. The safety and peace of mind of Charleston's citizenry hang on it. Chicago's experience denies such proof exists.
     I offer documented proof that as good citizens take up arms the violent and criminal elements move away. Dr. John R. Lott's "More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws" (U. Chicago Press) rigorously demonstrates just that. South Carolina's Law Abiding Citizens Self-Defense Act of 1996 provides the legal means for good citizens to take up arms for protection of person and property.
     Why do Charleston and its community leaders continue to deny their citizens this information and this means of self-protection?
     DOUG HUFFMAN
     960 Fowler Court
     Mount Pleasant

The context for this is; Charleston, SC has had an unprecedented wave of violence in 2001 and especially following the massive May Day drug bust. Dozens of Charleston's druggie and gangsta' NOBs (that's North of Broad Street - really East Siders) were carted away. This left a power vacuum in the under community that is being resolved through drive-bys and other assorted forms of internecine violence. Early in December another "emergency summit" of the usual suspects was called and the decision was made to continue doing nothing.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Well, I don't see a "type" or "section" for what might be a vanity so here it is, and archived on FR so's the POS PC P&C can't lose it, The first P&C letter to the editor on the first day of the New Year.

Have at it y'all.

The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.

[coloradan]

Great letter! And, your context indicates yet another failure on the War on (some) Drugs - not only doesn't it remove drugs from the street, but it increases violence as well.

[umgud]

Criminals in Chicago know that most honest citizens don't carry guns. But I also submit that a high number of homicides are criminal against criminal (or at least would-be criminals). So, IMHO, not all homicides are as bad as it would seem. The ones that bother me most is when innocents get caught in the crossfire between gangsters or other criminals.

[Asclepius]

Even in great communities like Chicago, with a long history of draconian laws, city fathers plead for a means to reverse the internecine homicide rate as Chicago is awarded the title "Number One in Murder." (Chicago Tribune, Dec. 2, by E. Ferkenhoff).

What wise and capable city fathers (and what strangely gender specific language!). Yes, friends, pleading always works. Criminals and predators stop dead in their tracks when you appeal to the better angels of their natures.

[House of Stone]

out here in the peoples republic of Kalifornia, crime is down simply because it is no longer being prosecuted.

[Asclepius]

out here in the peoples republic of Kalifornia, crime is down simply because it is no longer being prosecuted.

Yes! Another bold policy innovation. We'll win this war on crime yet.

[rebelyell]

The LowCountry is well armed and always will be. Thank God for that.