EDITORIAL — If enforcers feel threatened, they should go work somewhere else

We are living in a dangerous world. The danger is particularly more pronounced in this country, where law enforcement is weak and the justice system does not cut through equally through all the social strata.

Recently, though unofficially, Citom traffic enforcers have started arming themselves, citing threats to their lives. The response of Citom was in fact a no-response: We will not stand by you if you get caught. Read that to mean tacit approval.

But what makes Citom enforcers so special that they can get away with arming themselves? The threat to their lives is in fact minimal in relation to their response. There has only been one recent attack on an enforcer. And the threat comes only from angry drivers.

Clearly the problem can be solved without enforcers having to arm themselves, thereby adding to the number of people out there with weapons that can kill. If the threat comes from angry drivers, then maybe the enforcers should simply not make drivers angry.

Admittedly, some drivers are abusive and quick to anger. Some could even be drug addicts or worse, downright psychos. But, hey, some traffic enforcers are no angels either. Discard the uniforms and some drivers and enforcers are actually interchangeable pieces of the same game.

This is not to say that there is no threat. But the threat, as we said, is to everybody. It is a dangerous place out there. But if we all start arming ourselves, then we all are just a pull on the trigger away from Kingdom Come. And that is not what life is all about.

Our mothers did not carry us around for nine months, our parents did not struggle to put us through at least 15 years of school, we are not working to earn a living for ourselves and our families, just so some wacko with a gun goes berserk and puts an end to all that in a second.

Let us stop this crazy idea of a gun being the answer to threats. It's bad enough already that Kim Jong Il has learned to play with a nuclear bomb in North Korea without us having traffic enforcers roaming the streets with guns. If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen.