Alderman: Citizens, arm yourselves

As long as we still can arm ourselves we should.

If a criminal thinks your cocked and loaded He's going to find an easier target and he doesn't want it to be his chest!

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As far as missing 1 or 2 shots are concerned, that's what "Glaser Safety Slugs" are for...You can shoot at an invader within Your home, and IF You miss, & a loved one is in the next room, the frangible bullet WILL NOT penetrate even a sheetrocked wall & harm them, if You hit the burglar, it won't completely penetrate them thru & thru, but will expend it's full energy WITHIN their body, with such massive shock imparted that it will stop them in their tracks....If You're in public, & assaulted, the criminal is usually so close that missing isn't a worry...if they're far enough away to MISS, You shouldn't be trying to shoot them anyway, and If You're carrying in public legally, You've had to go thru a firearms safety course & demonstrated You're capable of hitting a target a high % of the time, @ any distance likely to require deadly force, just like a cop, before You're issued a "Concealed Carry" permit.
I don't know Which State North St. Louis is in, but Missouri IS a "Concealed Carry" State, (not sure about ILL.) & the Chief of Police SHOULD be aware of these facts...Most of the Police Officers I know SUPPORT Concealed Carry permits for Law Abiding Citizens with competent Firearms Skills & Understanding of the Legal Responsibilities & Ramifications of Deadly Force.
In closing, I'll mention it's a proven statistic that violent crime rates drop , in areas concealed carry is legalized.

I totally agree, Gargaryun. There's a town in Georgia, USA, where its MANDATORY that each head of household own and know how to use a firearm.

Ever since they passed that law in the seventies, they've had hardly any amount of violent crimes or robberies, and almost no burglaries.

the truth is that there is a problem with crime not with the people. In the old days a sheriff could deputize in well warranted circumstances, and this might be such, but I could see it becoming much worse. I think what he's trying to achieve is arming more and more people should the worse case scenario arise ie: full scale depression, looting and robing and the necessity of marshal law is induced nationally, in such a case it will be hard to maintain local law and order, in such cases the sheriff or whoever is in charge of law enforcement has every right to be scared.

Good point in case of a terrorist attack or an Obama assassination. The later would put anarchy on every street in the USA.