Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot emphatically told the city’s gun owners during a Monday press conference to rely on law enforcement should they be confronted by looters, vandals, or other criminals during the ongoing riots.
“Obviously we’re aware of the fact that Illinois is a concealed carry state,” Lightfoot said. “Do not take matters into your own hands. Call the police.
“We’ve seen tragedy happen in this country, and recently, when people felt like they could take matters into their own hands. … Let me remind you of the killing of Mr. [Ahamud] Arbery. Do not pick up arms and try to be the police. If there’s a problem, call 911. We will respond. But I urge people to show restraint and do not take matters into your own hands,” she continued.
Problem with that advice is that even under normal circumstances when seconds count, police are minutes away — but these are exigent circumstances and the reality is that Chicago’s finest may be hours away, if they can make it at all.
Lightfoot admitted that over the weekend law enforcement was overwhelmed with the volume of service calls it received. On Sunday alone 911 dispatchers received 65,000 calls, about 1,000-2,000 calls every 30 minutes.
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“The Police Department was responding to these calls as best they could with a significant amount of additional resources on the South and the West sides,” the mayor explained. “The challenge was it was everywhere. Everywhere.
“So if we had a police department four times the size it would have been difficult to keep up with the calls for service yesterday. Now, I know that’s cold comfort, but I want to be clear that we didn’t stand by and let the South and the West Side burn as, unfortunately, some people are propagating. That’s just not true.”
Mayor Lightfoot is essentially instructing the law-abiding people of Chicago to be victims — as opposed to armed self-defenders. It’s crazy to think but she freely admits that the nanny state cannot protect its citizens during all this chaos, yet she is imploring citizens to put the safety of themselves and their family in the hands of the nanny state.
If ever there was a recipe to get good people killed or injured that is it. Don’t defend yourself, we will come to your defense even though we can almost guarantee that will not be there when you actually need to be defended. Crazy!
Hopefully this is yet another wake-up call to the anti-gun moonbats about the fallibility of government when it comes to one’s personal protection. Recognize, your safety is ultimately your responsibility. Those who trust in government do so at their own peril.