BULLSHIT IN ST. LOUIS

St. Louis Alderman Calls on Residents to Get Armed
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 6:30 PM

ST. LOUIS — A city alderman frustrated with the police response to rising crime called Tuesday on residents to arm themselves to protect their lives and property.

Good advice. I am totally for protecting myself and my family and friends.

Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe said police are ineffective, outnumbered or don't care about the increase in crime in his north St. Louis ward. St. Louis has had 157 homicides in 2008, 33 more than last year at this time.

The man is telling the truth.

"The community has to be ready to defend itself, because it's clear the economy is going to get worse, and criminals are getting more bold," Troupe, 72, said Tuesday.

He is still making sense!

Troupe said that when he and residents approached a district police commander last year, they were told "there was nothing he could do to protect us and the community ... that he didn't have the manpower."

Oh. So the police admitted they couldn't help with the problem.

Police did not immediately return requests for comment. Chief Dan Isom told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he understands Troupe's frustration but doesn't support citizens arming themselves.
Carrying guns, he said, is not a "recipe for a less violent community."

Now this man is lying through his teeth. But Police Chiefs are political appointees.

Mayor Francis Slay wrote in his blog Tuesday that some of the most violent crimes in Troupe's ward are committed with guns stolen from law-abiding citizens.

He said Troupe could do more good urging residents to cooperate with investigating police officers, lending support for activities for children, and lobbying legislators to increase funding for jobs training and economic development.

This is the man behind the Chief's statement. He can fire the chief.

Troupe's reaction to the spike in homicides is understandable, but his idea is not likely to be effective, said University of Missouri-St. Louis criminologist Richard Rosenfeld.

"Much of the problem is free and easy access to guns," Rosenfeld said. "This hope that by putting guns in the right hands will have an influence on criminals is a false hope. There's no evidence for that."

This is not a lie, it is a DAMNED LIE.

© 2008 Associated Press.