Carolina Politics Online

The patrol, called Neighborhood Watch Alliance, is comprised of some of Yamanashi’s friends from businesses off Central Avenue. The group is still organizing, he said. But the plan is to patrol the area with handguns, flashlights and notepads.

“We can lurk in the shadows, watch people and report what we see,” he said. “That’s not against the law.”

But the idea has alarmed some residents and concerns police.

“I’m glad that they’re getting involved,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Sgt. Tonya Arrington said. “There’s just some concern any time weapons are involved.”

Charlotte Observer

I think it’s a wonderful idea.  Yamanashi and the others in his neighborhood have a Constitutional right to have a gun and there is nothing wrong with them patrolling their own neighborhoods and arming themselves for protection.  Naturally, you’re going to have the anti-gun crowd over sensationalize the “what ifs” and make dire predictions of Old West style street shootouts, like this moron who commented on the Charlotte Observer:

More rabid gun owners, just what we need

That’s the mentality of your anti-gun folks.  If you arm yourself for protection you’re rabid.

The City of Charlotte has dropped the ball on this which is why crime has been spiking in places like Plaza Midwood and Dilworth and others.  Furthermore, the police can’t be everywhere and contrary to the conventional wisdom of Americans, it’s not the job of the police to protect us.  Their job is simply to enforce the laws on the books, not provide individual protection.  The Supreme Court has ruled in numerous cases that the only person charged with the responsibility of protecting you and your family is you.

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