An Armed Citizenry

The Police of the state should never be stronger or armed better than the citizenry. An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil freedom.....Robert A. Heinlein; Beyond This Horizon

I am writing today about the wrongheaded and foolish notion that the Police are there to protect you. In fact the Police are not there to protect YOU, they are there to clean up the aftermath and protect OTHERS from those who attacked you. The simple laws of physics and economics means that the "police" are not going to be present to stop the violence being perpetrated against YOU at any particular time. No, they will show up after the fact and attempt to keep the perp. from accosting others. Police were created to protect society, not individuals. It is nice if it works out that they can prevent a crime, but the truth of the matter is, most often they are not there.

The simple plain truth that our politicians and civic leaders wish to ignore, is that only one person can protect YOU. That person is YOU. YOU are the only person you can count on to be there the instant some aggression is taking place upon or against you. Each CITIZEN should be not only encouraged, but required to know how to defend themselves, with arms and without. No strike that, the State has no business requiring you to know how to defend yourself....I think a simple Darwinian fix should be allowed to prevail, those who refuse to learn, or refuse to arm themselves, should be permitted to perish if that is their desire. One cannot force someone to work for their own survival.

Sure we can form police departments to attempt to enforce our social laws but no one should never confuse the police for personal protection squads. Only our politicians get that fringe benefit from the tax payer funded police departments.

I am not attempting to denigrate the honorable people who choose to "Protect and Serve" I am merely asking that people not kid themselves about the reality of the world.

By the way someone on some blog was wondering if Heinlein was a Gun man or a Blade man. I have to point out that in several of his books, his characters seem to favor the .45 Automatic Pistol so I do believe the man was M1911 enthusiast. (during his stint in the Navy the 1911 was the sidearm issued)