Saith Insty, who has said the same thing many times before:
But remember, ultimately the police aren’t there to protect the public from criminals. They’re there to protect criminals from the rough justice meted out by a public that takes matters into its own hands for lack of a better alternative.
Said in response to this:
Progressives nationwide have attacked police and law enforcement, alleging that our legal system is systemically racist and oppressive. They have caused recidivist criminals to haunt our streets and commit more crimes—and have refused to deal with homelessness in spite of the mental illness and drug addictions that so often afflict our cities’ most vulnerable. Numerous efforts to reduce the use of drugs have been rebuffed in the name, of course, of racism.
This approach has unleashed a crime wave and diminished our sense of safety on the streets. It is, therefore, unsurprising to see ever more law-abiding people seeking to arm themselves. As a result, there will be more guns out there, including in the hands of people who should never be near them.
And hot from the news desk:
This is the horrifying moment suspected Haitian gang members beg for mercy before a vigilante lynch mob stones and burns them alive.
The mob beat and burned 13 men to death with gasoline-soaked tyres on Monday after pulling them from police custody at a traffic stop, police and witnesses in the capital Port-au-Prince said.
Six more burned bodies were seen in a nearby neighbourhood later on in the day, and witnesses claimed to have seen police kill them before residents set them on fire.
And it’s not going to stop:
Residents in the Haitian capital have put gang members on notice and promised they will be lynched if they attempt to seek vengeance for the deaths of 13 alleged accomplices who were stoned and set on fire.
Sounds okay to me.
Of course, pace the “there will be more guns out there, including in the hands of people who should never be near them” trope, one could (and should) argue that there are already guns in the hands of people who should never be near them — those people being gang members — and all that’s happening now is that ordinary people are preparing to take the law back into their own hands because those deputized to enforce the law are unwilling or being prevented from doing so.
