Whodathunkit?
In addition to the Chief, at least one reformed criminal agrees.Detroit has experienced 37 percent fewer robberies than it did last year, and Police Chief James Craig is crediting armed citizens for the drop.
“Criminals are getting the message that good Detroiters are armed and will use that weapon,” Chief Craig, who has been an open advocate for private gun ownership, told The Detroit News in an interview. “I don’t want to take away from the good work our investigators are doing, but I think part of the drop in crime, and robberies in particular, is because criminals are thinking twice that citizens could be armed.
“I can’t say what specific percentage is caused by this, but there’s no question in my mind it has had an effect,” he added.
In addition to the drop in robberies, Detroit has seen 22 percent fewer break-ins of businesses and homes and 30 percent fewer carjackings in 2014 than during the same period last year.
Some people, OTOH, never understand that when you do more of the same, you get more of the same...Detroit resident Al Woods, a self-described former criminal who is now an anti-violence activist, told The News that he agrees that criminals are thinking twice about targeting innocents.
“If I was out there now robbing people these days, knowing there are a lot more people with guns, I know I’d have to rethink my game plan,” the 60-year-old told the paper.
It'll be interesting to watch the statistics from this Tale of Two Cities over the next few years.Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has been very vocal about his support for stricter gun-control laws, despite his city having some of the toughest laws in the country and the most homicides of any city in the U.S. in 2012.