“On Capitol Hill on New Year’s Day, an unsettling event occurred that had been reported nearly 1,400 times in the District in the previous year: Property was taken at the point of a gun,” washingtonpost.com reports. “It happened about 9:30 p.m., well after nightfall, as the victims were walking in the 200 block of 8th Street SE, a largely residential area near Eastern Market and Independence Avenue SE, D.C. police said.” It seems odd that the WaPo would highlight this trend. It indicates that a great many of these armed robberies would best be countered by what NRA Veep Wayne LaPierre famously called “a good guy with a gun.” And that’s without considering deterrence. Oh wait. Liberal paper. Right. This is proof that D.C. needs more gun control. To stop bad guys from getting guns. My bad. Here’s the report by the numbers . . .
In the year from Dec. 31, 2012 to this past Dec. 31, D.C. police reported 1,397 robberies in which a gun was shown, brandished or pointed.
With 103 homicides reported in the same period, the figures suggest that the likelihood of being robbed with a gun in the city is about 14 times greater than that of being slain by any means.
The number of gun robberies in 2013 was 97 fewer than in the previous year, a drop of more than 6 percent. It was, however, about 11 percent more than the 1,261 gun robberies reported to police in 2011.
Robberies, particularly those involving weapons, are often considered a key measure of crime and safety. More numerous and widespread than slayings, they have a strong effect on residents’ perceptions.
Right. ‘Cause it’s perception rather than the actual fact of a crime that matters. Politically. Personally, I’d rather have a gun. As I do. But then I think it best to be able to defend my life, rather than hope me and mine will emerge from an armed robbery intact.
In Wednesday’s incident, police said they located two suspects on 8th Street but about three-quarters of a mile away, south of the Southeast Freeway. Two arrests were made.They said some of the victims’ property was found a couple of blocks from the robbery scene. The rest, was seized during the arrest along with a weapon, the police said.
No injuries were reported.
Hello? What about the dozens of armed robberies that didn’t go so well? Here’s one from October’s Washington Post:
Police are searching for four armed men who broke into a house in Southeast Washington early Wednesday, held the occupants against their will, and beat some of them. Police said one victim was sexually assaulted.
By choosing a story with a happy ending, the Post insinuates that carrying a firearms for self-defense is unnecessary. We need more police! Crap. People need to be able to defend themselves against criminal predation using the best possible tool for the job: a gun. Period.
Those thugs are amateurs. I know small a gang of 100 people in D.C. who steal billions with a pen and no gun, and it’s all legal. We call them the Senate.
For the win out of the gate!
YES!
You win the internets today.
As much I would love to see the perps eat lead in this instance, I have to say that when they have the drop on you like that it would be difficult to turn that into a successful DGU. Unless maybe you shoot like Jerry Miculek.
On a case-by-case basis, yes. As a general rule, if the BGs KNOW that a certain percentage of potential victims might be armed and ready to fight back they go looking for less hazardous work. Those that don’t, will odds on wind up shot or in jail.
Perhaps the good sheeple of DC can shed their wool and go all “Book of Eli” on the perps. That’ll get one gun off the streets and the cops will be able to get fingerprints…
That is very disrespectful to the House.
I work a few blocks from there and was working that night. Folks better be careful, some of us sheepdogs bite back (regardless of the rules).
OK, I’m officially confused.
The WaPo keeps referring to “gun robberies.” Do they mean armed robberies? Or do they mean robberies where a gun was stolen? Or do they mean robberies committed by a gun? This Bloomberg-speak is SO confusing…
Those damn guns! Always sneaking out of the house at night and holding people up, then heading out to the strip club with their new found riches and dropping it in Candy’s G-string. I guess they just weren’t raised right or maybe they were manufactured with a defect of some sort. We’ll just have to come up with another law and believe a little bit more.
DC does not allow carry but if memory serves me you are allowed to have a gun loaded in your business and home. I’m not sure if you have to be a resident too though. Thank you Mr. Heller!
Good luck legally getting that gun.
Lol you may “technically” be “allowed” to have a gun, good luck actually being “allowed”.
I can probably count legal firearm owners on my fingers and toes
Surely that’s the problem and how these robbers obtained their weapons.
Washington DC needs to be pre-victimized in its entirety. That’s what it’s trying to do to the rest of the nation.
It already has been. I’ve never seen a bigger collection of whining, spoiled “victims” anywhere, ever.
were there anti-finger-print caps on the guys fingers.
It almost looked like a stain.
More citizens legally armed = less violent crime.
http://pjmedia.com/michaelwalsh/2014/01/03/the-bleeding-obvious/?singlepage=true
Blast the perps,give em a taste of their own medicine,they understand that.
Oh? I’m sorry too bold?
How it should have ended:
“Police identified the bodies of for four armed men who broke into a house in Southeast Washington early Wednesday…”
We have a lot of veterans from the military who have trouble adjusting to civilian life. Many have skills unique to the battlefield, but those skills make it difficult to employ them. We have a war with armed criminals preying on an unarmed citizenry. Gentlemen, we have a solution: roving sniper teams! Put about 20 two man teams in the urban jungle. Give them specific rules of engagement. Let them set up in abandoned homes, trees, fields, cars/vans, wherever the data shows the criminal populace to have a high concentration. Give them the green light if they see suspected “activity” and pop the popcorn.
Part of me wants to applaud, the other part wants to ask what is the difference between that and an over militarized, over trigger happy police force? We’ve already gawt one…..
One is required to respect civil liberties, the other is on the prowl for enemy combatants. I didn’t say make it permanent. . . . give it 30 days and watch the results
Bad idea. It sets a precedent. Today’s activist could be tomorrow’s criminal. Then there’s that whole Bill of Rights Preamble thing…
No this would be wrong and I expect that you are jokjng but we need to keep a respectful balance between calling out exceptions to the rule on LEO examples and avoid gross generalizations that mock the military as well.
Its disrespectful to vets to insinuate “they” can’t adjust. PTSD is not a new phenom nor is it confined to the military.
Here’s more: read down to the discussion of PTSD
http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/feinstein.asp
PS: I am no fan of DiFi so dont mistake the intent of this post. The HUGE value of TTAG tonme is the truth telling. And to a lesser extent the informed commentary by some of the POTG. But if we self pollute this space with InfoWar like gruop think we lose both credibility and the ability to inform new readers who come hrre to learn.
Another gun control “paradise.” When we keep electing people like Obama and Feinstein, our nation will have many more.
And another unremarkable day passes in Congress’ Plantation on the Potomac . Where fantasy is a way of life.