Looting and guns

As the looting plaguing New Orleans makes it's way to the front pages of papers like the Red Star, we find this account of the growing lawlessness:

"There are physical threats to safety from roving bands of armed individuals with weapons who are threatening the safety of the hospital,'' said [Tenet HealthCare Corp.] spokesman Steven Campanini. He estimated there were about 350 employees in the hospital and between 125 to 150 patients.

This is why many Americans want their guns:

New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert, said looters were breaking into stores all over town and stealing guns. He said there are gangs of armed men moving around the city. At one point, officers stranded on the roof of a hotel were fired at by criminals on the street.

Here's another story from the Old York Times, "Police and Owners Begin to Challenge Looters":

Some frightened homeowners took security into their own hands.

John Carolan was sitting on his porch in the thick, humid darkness just before midnight Tuesday when three or four young men, one with a knife and another with a machete, stopped in front of his fence and pointed to the generator humming in the front yard, he said.

One said, "We want that generator," he recalled.

"I fired a couple of rounds over their heads with a .357 Magnum," Mr. Carolan recounted Wednesday. "They scattered."

He smiled and added, "You've heard of law west of the Pecos. This is law west of Canal Street."

When law and order break down, we're on our own. The criminals will acquire guns, or use other lethal means to get what they want. Our right as citizens to possess firearms is the right of self-protection. New Orleans is evidence of that.