Detroit Police Chief Craig: Armed Citizens ‘Make a Difference,’ ‘Can Be a Deterrent’ To Terrorism

James Craig, Chief of the Detroit Police Department stated that “American citizens, law-abiding citizens who have been vetted, who have been trained, who are responsible, that does make a difference, and it can be a deterrent” on Saturday’s “Fox & Friends” on the Fox News Channel.

Craig said, “here’s our reality. When we’re faced with a violent situation, when our community — you can use San Bernardino as an example, you know, once the first shot is fired, and we’re not there, and this incident, I know it took less than a minute, and the amount of carnage, it might have been just that one law-abiding citizen who has a concealed weapon. It could have been a different outcome. I’m not saying that we should just give everyone a gun. That’s not realistic. But when you talk about a law-abiding citizen who’s trained, who’s been vetted, is not suffering from mental illness. That may be the one sole person. I mean, just recently the NFL’s position of restricting off-duty police officers from going into their stadiums. I mean, granted, it’s a hard target, there’s — they have probably the absolute best security. But it may that be one off-duty police officer who’s armed that can make the difference. And so, it’s just that, I don’t care if it’s a mass shooting incident. I don’t care if it’s a terrorist attack, it might be that one armed citizen that can make a difference.”

Craig added, “criminals have always been able to get ahold of guns. That’s one. So, when you look at a — there was a recent report — let’s look at Norway. Norway probably has the strictest gun control in the world. In 2011, 77 people were killed in a terrorist, or a mass shooting incident. But, of course, the assailant was armed, in a place where they [have] the strictest gun laws. So, we really need to think logically, use common sense on this. And this is not to say you just give guns to everyone, arm up. Because that’s not realistic. But those American citizens, law-abiding citizens who have been vetted, who have been trained, who are responsible, that does make a difference, and it can be a deterrent.”

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