This is not a good idea
The president of El Salvador's legislative National Assembly told reporters that he has donated money to local community self defense groups of private citizens so they could acquire gun permits and weapons. Guillermo Gallegos of the GANA party stated that El Salvador's constitution included a right to self defense, and since the gangs had large caliber weapons and even grenades, local communities should be able to arm themselves.
Gallegos stated, "I prefer a dead gang member to one dead policeman, soldier or honest citizen."
The idea to arm community self defense groups was rejected by the Minister of Public Security and the Minister of Defense. The Human Rights Advocate (PDDH) stated that if communities were in need of defense that more resources should be given to the government security forces rather than arming civilians.
The proposal was also not seen positively by Javier Simán, a leading businessman, who stated that before anyone goes around arming local communities there should be better control and registration of the weapons circulating and removal of unregistered weapons.
At the very best, a community self defense group might serve as some deterrent to bad actors entering a neighborhood. But more likey is something which morphs into a vigilante death squad, meting out its own form of justice. In El Salvador, there are already too many extrajudicial killings and shootouts between gangs and security forces. Handing out more wepons to such groups will only increase the number of bullets flying and the number of people caught in the crossfire.
Gallegos stated, "I prefer a dead gang member to one dead policeman, soldier or honest citizen."
The idea to arm community self defense groups was rejected by the Minister of Public Security and the Minister of Defense. The Human Rights Advocate (PDDH) stated that if communities were in need of defense that more resources should be given to the government security forces rather than arming civilians.
The proposal was also not seen positively by Javier Simán, a leading businessman, who stated that before anyone goes around arming local communities there should be better control and registration of the weapons circulating and removal of unregistered weapons.
At the very best, a community self defense group might serve as some deterrent to bad actors entering a neighborhood. But more likey is something which morphs into a vigilante death squad, meting out its own form of justice. In El Salvador, there are already too many extrajudicial killings and shootouts between gangs and security forces. Handing out more wepons to such groups will only increase the number of bullets flying and the number of people caught in the crossfire.
Comments