DAVID MARCUS: California could learn a lot from Florida when it comes to looters
Amid the many acts of courage in kindness we have witnessed during the Los Angeles infernos, a darker side of human nature has also emerged as cases of looting rise. Unfortunately, in virulently anti-gun California, homeowners are left with few self-defense options.
Police have already charged more than 20 people with looting. One pernicious pair went so far as to dress up as firefighters to help themselves to the valuables of victims whose homes were abandoned or destroyed.
LOOTERS POSING AS FIRE OFFICIALS, UTILITY WORKERS TO RANSACK ABANDONED LA HOMES
Obviously, with the winds still whipping the deadly fires around Tinseltown, all resources, including police, are stretched to the breaking point, providing hard-hearted thieves with a target-rich environment for their crimes.
One thing that these thugs in Los Angeles can count on is that if they encounter a homeowner amid their looting, there is little chance that person will be pointing a gun at them.
In the free state of Florida, where the Second Amendment protecting gun rights is revered, not reviled, potential looters, after hurricanes for example, know that stealing from the wrong house could be a death sentence.
They know because Gov. Ron DeSantis told them so after the damage done to thousands of homes by Hurricane Milton last year.
"If you go into somebody’s house after the storm passes, think that you’re going to be able to commit crimes, you’re going to get in really serious trouble." DeSantis promised, adding, "And quite frankly, you don’t know what’s behind that door in a Second Amendment state."
Hear, hear.
There are really two ways in which the unarmed people of Los Angeles are put at risk by the Draconian anti-gun laws in the Golden State. The first is that individuals are unable to protect themselves and their property, but the second, and it might be worse, is that criminals are very well aware of this.
When we think about the reasons why we have the Second Amendment, it is often noted that it is for self-defense, and also a check on the power of the government. But in California, we are seeing a third reason, which is exactly this kind of emergency.
Angelenos don’t need guns to overthrow their government, not yet anyway, but they do need them to hold down the fort, or the house, so to speak, while the government pours all of its resources into disaster management.
In fact, when you look at rates of gun ownership by state, it is rural states such as Montana that have the most guns per capita. This is precisely because, while in a city, government protection in the form of police is always minutes away, in rural areas, it often is not.
This is precisely where Los Angeles residents find themselves today. The city and state governments are overwhelmed, people need to protect themselves and short-sighted, anti-gun policies are preventing them from doing that.
This is why we see reports of some of the wealthy in LA paying for private security to protect their homes, which I guess is great if you are a millionaire, but if not, it leaves you even more vulnerable.
Frankly, in many cases, all it would take to dissuade would-be looters from rolling the dice with their lives is a handful of openly armed men in a neighborhood watch patrolling their neighborhood.
But the progressive leadership of California, who, by the way, also have armed protection at taxpayer expense, will not allow the average Joe to protect his family with a gun of his own.
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Progressive gun policies such as those in California, like so many other progressive policies, are intended to make citizens weaker, more vulnerable, and more dependent on the state. That is on open and clear display in LA today.
Hopefully, once this emergency passes, Californians will realize how essential their gun rights really are and demand their restoration. In the meantime, thousands and thousands are simply helpless.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nate Hochman was elected to get tough on crime. Here is his first chance. If the city does not allow its citizens to protect themselves, then the penalty for looting must be massive, as in years in prison.
But honestly, that is not and never will be an adequate replacement for an armed population, which is precisely what the founding fathers understood when they enshrined our God-given right to gun ownership.