Apparently I wasn't the only one who took particular notice of the shooting of the Jackson burglar I mentioned a few days ago. The Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger today has an article making it sound like arming to blow burglars away is becoming the fad of the moment in Jackson: Break-ins prompt some in city to take up arms. (Journalistic hype exists, so take it with a big grain of salt.)
At least this article has a wider range of observations on the advisability of relying on private armaments to protect against burglars:
Jackson State University criminologist Jimmy Bell ... said he considers the two [recent] fatal shootings of burglars isolated incidents of people reacting out of fear.
"I don't think it is going to give burglars a reason to think twice, because burglars aren't organized enough to anticipate which house might have the potential to fight back with the use of firearms," Bell said. "Burglars are going to randomly pick homes they feel are the easiest target to them, which usually is an unoccupied house. Sometimes, they guess wrong."
But it doesn't mention the collateral risks of having loaded weapons available in the house, e.g., kids can get ahold of them. Also, you have to question how prepared for burglary someone is who spouts to a newspaper reporter that he keeps weapons in the house. Guns are a prime target for burglars, because they're easy to fence, they bring a decent price on the black market and the serial numbers can be filed off. Blabbing to the local paper that you keep guns in the house is like taking out an ad to say ROB ME.
The paper has also run an editorial asking why a repeat offender like the burglar killed this week was out of jail, especially since he'd been busted again just last week.
Here's a clue: keeping government budgets cut to the bone means you don't have a lot of money being spent on "frivolous gubment programs" like, say, cops and jails and parole systems. Relying on homeowner vigilantism to combat burglary is not a form of "privatization" that's likely to benefit most Mississippians.
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