By David Codrea
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- A man was viciously assaulted and robbed on a St. Louis MetroLink train by “several young men” who held him, beat him and went through his pockets, KTVI Fox 2 Now’s “You Paid for It Team” reported Monday. The attack happened days after a student “was terrorized on the train.”
MetroLink’s spokesflak made soothing, meaningless noises, but no concrete changes should be expected from buck-stops-there patronage bureaucrats. They blame “a provision in its contract with the various [police] departments.” The agency spends millions of taxpayer dollars each year contracting for security, but has no way of knowing where police are deployed. And the additional security personnel they say they’re adding don’t even have arrest powers.
Even if they did, and were armed with more than walkie-talkies, that’s hardly a guarantee of passenger safety. A story from a couple years back about a New York subway passenger stabbed multiple times by a murderous madman revealed that an officer who witnessed the attack hid! Which was fine, because the city’s position was that they had no legal duty to protect the victim. Fortunately, the defender was a 6-foot-2, 270-pound MMA fan who managed to take the lunatic down before being added to the death toll, only to have the confrontation-shy cop claim the collar.
Oh, but that’s just one anecdote, right? With all those transit cops, surely lightning never strikes twice…? As far as violent felonies go, it’s struck 2,241 more times so far in 2015 in New York City, “an almost 10% spike from the 2,053 felonies in 2014.”
And when it’s not lone wolf sociopaths menacing the riding public, those authorized by the state to use violence can be a greater danger. Just ask Oscar Grant. And oftentimes, that danger is posed by more than just a few bad apples.
Meanwhile, the hapless MetroLink victim complains not only was there no security around, but that no other passengers stepped forward to help him fight off his multiple assailants. Conspicuously absent from the report was a description of the bad guys, an information suppression trend among news organizations that prize PC acceptability over getting vital BOLO safety information out to the public.
Still, why should other passengers assume such risks?
If a Good Samaritan did step forward with the appropriate amount of force needed to prevail over multiple young assailants, any after-the-fact law enforcement response would go after the rescuer. Is everyone here old enough to remember Bernhard Goetz?
Missouri Revised Statutes are pretty clear about what’s expected of their public transit users:
No weapon or other instrument intended for use as a weapon may be carried in or on any facility or conveyance, except for law enforcement personnel.
It’s curious the professional journalists of the “You Paid for it Team” didn’t see fit to inform their viewers of that “under penalty of law” defenselessness mandate, don’t you think? After all, they paid for it.
And, of course, the “progressives” want to get us all out of our cars and into exactly that type of public transportation. Moves are already underway in Europe to “make private cars obsolete,” something you know you’ll soon see discussed here with greater frequency. We’re still at the stage in this country where they’re going for the end game in increments, with infringements on freedom of movement like “mileage-based road taxes.”
Wait a few more years. Then all aboard the “No Guns” Express!
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and also posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.