As reported, a convicted felon who has been arrested over 150 times in his life allegedly tried to rob a woman on a CTA Red Line train:
At approximately 7 p.m. Monday, the 35-year-old victim was riding a northbound Red Line train, police said. When the train stopped at the Clark and Division station and the doors opened, Keith Anderson grabbed the victim by her clothing and attempted to take her briefcase, a release from police said. The victim was able to wrest the briefcase away from Anderson and break free from him, police said. She then ran down the platform, pressed the nearby emergency button, and headed upstairs to the ticket booth. When he saw what she was doing, Anderson attempted to flee, police said. Chicago Police officers immediately responded to the scene and the victim was able to provide them with an accurate description of Anderson. Officers spotted Anderson a short distance away and detained him. The victim was able to positively identify Anderson who was subsequently placed into custody and charged. Anderson, of the 7400 block of South Luella has been charged with felony attempted robbery and battery, the release said.
Neither the criminal justice system nor the police can protect citizens against crime
Anti gun politicians such as Chicago’s Mayor Daley, along with anti-gun “community leaders” such as Reverends Pfleger and Jackson, like to suggest that Chicago residents don’t need a gun for self defense, and can instead rely upon our criminal justice system and the police for protection. As this case, and countless others show, neither our legal system nor the police can be counted upon for protection:
The sad fact is that our criminal justice system often fails to remove dangerous individuals from society, and instead leaves them on the streets where they can commit additional crimes. Firstly, in many cases, there is simply not enough evidence to find and convict the perpetrator of a crime. Secondly, even once a criminal is in custody, mistakes within the prison system sometimes lead to inmates escaping or inadvertently being released. Thirdly, in still other cases, budgetary constraints force states to intentionally release inmates from prison, returning those criminals to the streets years or decades sooner than anticipated. Finally, even when the system catches, prosecutes, convicts, and imprisons a criminal, chances are that the criminal will one day be released – with a high likelihood of recidivism. Using this case as an example, we have a convicted felon who has reportedly been arrested over 150 times – yet he was out on the streets free to allegedly attempt to rob and batter a woman on the train.
Nor can the police be relied upon to intervene during the commission of a crime. Firstly, 911 operators and the police have been known to drop the ball, failing to respond to emergency calls in a timely fashion. Indeed, police and 911 dispatchers in a single Chicago neighborhood told over 1,200 911 callers that no police car was available in the year 2008. As another example, in a case from Nashville, TN, a woman repeatedly called 911 for over 3 hours, yet couldn’t get a single cop to arrive and save her from a violent ex boyfriend. Secondly, even if the police promptly respond to a 911 call, they are often minutes away at best. This mens that criminal can commit their crime and flee long before the police have a chance to arrive. Finally, even when the police do arrive as the crime is being committed, there is the risk that the police will end up shooting the wrong person (which they are 5.5 times more likely to do than an armed citizen who fires in self defense). For example, this woman reportedly called 911 to report that her ex boyfriend was in the process of breaking in to her home. The police are said to have arrived to find the ex boyfriend standing over her with a knife, and opened fire in an attempt to save the woman. Unfortunately, the officers’ bullets reportedly struck the woman, rather than the boyfriend. The woman died, and according to the coroner, would have died from either her stab wound or the gunshots.
Armed self defense is the answer
The reality is that neither our criminal justice system nor the police can be counted upon to prevent a crime, nor to stop an in-progress crime. Instead, as cases after case shows, a citizen’s best chance is to be armed for self defense. Such armed citizens are in the best position possible to save themselves from murders, domestic violence, rapes, home invasions, robberies, kidnappings, stabbings, burglaries, and every other type of violent crime. As an added bonus, such armed citizens also save future crime victims, as a career criminal who is fatally shot in self defense will never again harm another innocent person.