Image Credit: Rep. Randy Neugebauer.

If there has been any occurrence in the past month or so that would make both Confucius and Aristotle turn over in their respective graves, it would have to be the clown show performance being staged by the law enforcement authorities of both Ferguson, MO and the Missouri State Police. The Ferguson PD was too authoritarian and enraged everyone with their heavily armored and aggressive posture. Then the Missouri State Police told everyone to fall too far back while the business district was looted. As Confucius famously said in his Analects; “To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.” When the authorities fail you, you have to protect yourself. When it gets this bad; the 2nd Amendment comes into its own.

The shooting of Michael Brown began the first phase of unrest in Ferguson, MO. The teen apparently got in an argument with a police officer and may or may not have attempted to take the officer’s gun. In the course of the melee, Michael Brown was shot more than once. He then attempted to run and was shot in the back. He died of his wounds.

Then the police department brought down the hammer. Parading in body armor as protestors marched through Ferguson yelling “Hands Up. Don’t Shoot!” Fellow Front-Pager Leon Wolf asked the question. “Weren’t they concerned about a riot?”

The Ferguson PD found out that another man named Michael Brown was robbing convenience stores in Ferguson, MO that day. They made a point of putting that data out to the public as if it would mitigate the circumstances of the initial shooting. It did not. As fellow Front-Pager Streiff pointed out, the robber was not the same Michael Brown! I can’t help but be reminded of an old, cynical joke in among African-Americans “We all look alike to the White People.”

At this point the Missouri State Police relieved the local police of responsibility and ordered them to pull back from the scene. This created a vacuum that was immediately filled by thieves and looters. As shown in the YouTube atop the post. They decided that avoiding more bad publicity was better than taking the risk of stopping the looting of businesses and stores in Ferguson. When Fred Reed wrote his old cop column at The Washington Times, he encountered the same problem in Washington, DC when White officers were accused of racial profiling. He received the letter from an officer describing the “Just let them eat each other” philosophy of policing.

Fred — After having read your article on 11/20/00 I have to state that YES!! We on the P.G.P.D for the most part are now looking the other way. After almost [deleted] years on the job I find this disheartening but a necessary fact to survive in today’s, what appears to most officers, an ANTI-POLICE environment. We are even being told by some supervisors to keep a low profile so “you’re not next on the front page”! I became a police officer to help people [deleted] years ago in P.G. County . . . but I now share the attitude of most officers, just let them eat each other, we have to survive..

So that leaves the citizen where? In desperate need of a firearm. The police will either overact massively or they will just let the looters eat you. I’m still reminded of the old 8mm films I saw of the Rodney King Riots in LA. There was one island of LA that wasn’t featured in the film. That ran from Vermont and Pico to 3rd and Olympic. It was Korea Town and it wasn’t seriously looted because the people that lived there organized a citizen’s militia and defended their stores all night long.

When people tell you the 2nd Amendment is outdated, compare what happened in Korea Town during the LA Riots to what happened on La Brea. When people tell you the 2nd Amendment is for troglodytes, remind them that our President was too busy golfing to care that Ferguson, MO was on fire. When people tell you that the 2nd Amendment is for Red Neck Losers, remind them that the Missouri State Police ordered their officers to do nothing while looters attacked and destroyed people’s businesses. There are times when the only protection you have for your life, liberty and property is the weapon you can place in your hands.