Protection racket

Detroit's overworked police force had a day at the ballgame Sunday. Not to watch the playoffs, but to demand a payoff: 

As fans poured into Comerica Park, they were greeted by about 400 off-duty Detroit police officers with a political message.
Officers handed out fliers saying when you come to Detroit you "enter at your own risk." They also urged people to vote yes on Proposal 2.
"We're not discouraging people from coming, I love the city, I want them to realize we don't have enough man hours," said union president Joe Duncan. "I don't think the city is going to get same officer 8 hours a day as you do for 12 hours a day."

Detroit will never be able to afford to put enough officers on the street to address the socio-economic basket case the city has become.  Rather than demand more resources for a force that, by definition, has to race to a scene after the fact, they need to be empowering citizens to defend themselves.

One of the more insidious -- and rarely discussed -- ways the State makes people its dependents is by promoting the idea that only its agents have the right to use force.  Law-abiding citizens set aside the right to carry weapons under the idea that if State Officers are the only ones armed, they'll still be protected.

Trouble is, it's well-established that the criminals don't abide by that disarmament agreement.  It's simple math: if a would-be thug only has to worry about 2300 armed individuals in a city, they'll find that a lot better operating environment than if they have to worry about any potential mark suddenly putting them literally under the gun.

In an ideal world, Sheriff Andy Taylor would be the voice of reason and we'd only have to worry about whether Deputy Barney Fife found a bullet to put in his revolver.

We don't live in that world.  The sooner we face that reality, the sooner we start taking back the streets. Emphasis on "we."