Security: September 2005 Archives

ORLEANS, Sept. 8 - Waters were receding across this flood-beaten city today as police officers began confiscating weapons, including legally registered firearms, from civilians in preparation for a mass forced evacuation of the residents still living here.

No civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to carry pistols, shotguns or other firearms, said P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police. "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," he said.

But that order apparently does not apply to hundreds of security guards hired by businesses and some wealthy individuals to protect property. The guards, employees of private security companies like Blackwater, openly carry M-16's and other assault rifles. Mr. Compass said that he was aware of the private guards, but that the police had no plans to make them give up their weapons.

That's an interesting distinction. One can understand the practical aspects. Those who can afford to hire armed security forces presumably can afford to keep them healthy and fed. And those forces (perhaps) are less likely to engage in illegal activities than non-incorporated forces. But fundamentally, this means that people with money can protect their property by means that violate the law, but people without money cannot. Whether the decision is valid or not, the result is that the poor will lose more than the rich.

About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Security category from September 2005.

Security: February 2006 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Subscribe via Reader

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

About Me

I'm the CEO/CTO of Somewhere, Inc., a company building a unified social networking layer that gives people the means to track their friends across multiple social networks.
Creative Commons License
This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.