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Nancy
Posted Dec 12, 2005 7:59 PM
AL Mayor Tells Citizens ‘Arm Yourselves, Fight Back’
Date: Dec 11, 2005 7:41 PM
The New GUN WEEK, December 10, 2005
Page 11
AL Mayor Tells Citizens ‘Arm Yourselves, Fight Back’
by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Montgomery, AL, Mayor Bobby Bright raised more than a few
eyebrows earlier this year when he advised residents in his
community to arm themselves, and fight back against crime.
It’s not the first time that he’s done this, and he told Gun
Week that he doesn’t plan to change his message.
In a political world where the typical mayor might be
expected to join the choir telling constituents to take no
action, call the police and wait for help, and absolutely
refrain from having or using a firearm, Bright is definitely
singing a different tune. He’s been lauded by gun rights
activists as far away as Ohio, and his name has appeared in
the National Rifle Association’s news, and on Internet blog
sites including the one operated by historian Clayton
Cramer.
Just exactly what did the 53-year-old Bright say that has
caused all the fuss?
According to The (Montgomery) Advertiser newspaper, he was
speaking to a civic group last month about the failure of
the criminal justice system when he observed, “In my
opinion, people need to buy a weapon, buy a gun, educate
themselves on how to use that gun and they need to use that
weapon to protect themselves from the criminal element out
there."
He added, “I will not back away from that concept. It is a
sensitive issue. It is simply me as the mayor wanting and
caring enough about our citizens here to tell them this may
be the best way they can help us protect themselves."
His remarks created a firestorm, and he seems to be enjoying
it.
“I’m not your typical politician," Bright said in a
telephone interview. "I don’t tell people what is
politically correct, I tell them what I think they need to
know. A lot of mayors are going to tell people ‘don’t get a
gun, don’t use a gun, keep away from a gun.’"
But not Bright. He not only suggests that citizens arm
themselves if they feel they can handle the responsibility,
he’s seen to it that the police department offers firearms
safety and training courses to the public, he said.
Bright puts the blame on the criminal justice system for
this scenario being necessary.
“What people are not being told," he complained, “is that
our criminal justice system is clogging up. Jails are
packed, sometimes two to three times over capacity. The
courts are bogged down ... and our budgets are strained."
The result, he said, is that so-called non violent criminals
are being turned loose to make room for more violent
offenders. However, he said this practice “puts career
criminals back on the street who have no intention of
changing their lifestyles." These people, he said, look for
the most vulnerable victims “so they can steal, rob and even
kill to advance their lifestyle, and survive."
He admits that cities do not have enough police to provide
protection to all their residents 24 hours a day, seven
days a week. Montgomery has about 200,000 residents and
about 500 police officers, Mayor Bright said.
“For mayors to try to camouflage our inability to provide
protection is wrong ... it’s just downright wrong," the
mayor observed.
He also holds some contempt for insurance companies that
tell commercial clients that they cannot allow employees to
have firearms on the premises for self-defense in case of
robberies. This is a big problem, he said, for small
shopkeepers who own mini-marts, a favorite target of armed
robbers.
“Insurance companies are telling store owners not to have
guns in stores or ‘we will cancel your insurance,’ “ Bright
said.
Bright’s most recent pronouncement on the public and
firearms came last month in the wake of a self-defense
shooting in a Montgomery parking lot when a truck driver was
apparently accosted and there was an exchange of gunfire.
The trucker was wounded twice in the leg, but Bright told
WSFA News in Montgomery that the man acted properly by
reaching for his gun when he spotted the assailants.
“I want to thank him and encourage him and others to
continue their fight for their protection and the protection
of others," he said.
In other municipalities, mayors might think about filing
lawsuits against gunmakers and retailers, but not Bright.
The newspaper quoted him several weeks ago making this
observation: “We have got to put the career criminal on
notice, we ire not going to take it anymore. They are not
going to walk in and walk out and rob our innocent citizens
in Montgomery."
It’s the kind of philosophy that gives gun control advocates
ulcers. However, an aide to Bright told Gun Week that the
mayor is not promoting vigilantism.
The Advertiser quoted David Lanoue, chairman of the
University of Alabama political science department, who
observed that politicians sometimes make “intemperate
remarks that appeal to members of their constituency."
Lanoue said Bright’s remarks would appeal to people who
“agree with the NRA on the gun control issue."
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