Yes, we admit it. Shorty is not the first gun nut to make such a reckless proposal. In point of fact, there was actually a council member in another Northern Kentucky town that proposed an ordinance mandating gun ownership back in the 1990s. This type of simplistic scheme is certainly nothing new.
Setting aside the obvious fact that Mike Martin is a fool, there are some serious reasons to worry about a City leader who would make such a mindless suggestion.
Villa Hills and every city needs less potential for crime and violence, not more. Has Martin given any thought to hiring an eighth officer for the city's spread-way-too-thin police department? Almost every credible study ever conducted clearly shows that a visible police force is the best deterrent to crime. But no, Shorty hasn't given it any more thought. How do we know this? He recently said so.
There are a fair number of responsible gun owners who exercise good judgment at all times. You cannot, however, say that about every one of the roughly 8,000 citizens of Villa Hills. Given the fact that Martin himself issued a thinly-veiled threat of gun violence towards a former Villa Hills councilmember just days before the 2010 election is a strong clue that Shorty himself is not one of those responsible gun owners.
Then you have swirling hillbilly Martinites coming to the podium at council meetings to issue warnings that others are always carrying two loaded pistols. And one of the pistol-packing people identified from the podium was sitting in the audience! Sure Shorty! Give everybody a gun. What the heck? Give everybody two guns.
Guns everywhere? Really Shorty? You do realize that you have two schools in your little burg, right? And another school just a stone's throw outside your city limits? And you understand that there are more entrances and exits to your little suburb than you have police officers? You're clear on that, right?
For full disclosure, The Martin Chronicles fully supports the Constitutional right to responsibly keep and bear arms. What we oppose are chowder-headed City officials who make flippant, wing-nut proposals like Martin did simply because they aren't smart enough to come up with a real solution to their serious crime problem.
It would be funny if it wasn't so frightening.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: The Martin Chronicles is hot on the trail of several breaking stories. So much for "Peace In Our Time". It is The Pernicious Pinhead, after all.]
