The Curse of Violent Crime

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Next day Nunnally learned that his shots had struck John Allen Reeves, 20, and Walter Franklin Shook, 19. Reeves' wound was slight, but Shook was paralyzed from the chest down. He has filed a $1 million suit against the Nunnallys for the shooting, although the police have ruled it a justifiable act of self-defense. Now the Nunnallys are terrified; they sit up most nights with the lights turned off and wait in the dark with a .22-cal. rifle. They have thought of moving away. "But it's bad everywhere now, and we've got good neighbors," says Mrs. Nunnally. "We're close to the stores and the hospital. So where would we move?"

One response to this surge of mindless cruelty has been a spectacular and, in the view of most police officers, alarming increase in the purchase of handguns by fearful citizens. A few police departments, such as those in Moore, Okla., Hialeah, Fla., and suburban New Orleans, have bowed to the inevitable and are holding classes in how to use guns. They hope to decrease the chances that the members of a family with a gun in the house will themselves be shot rather than wounding an intruder—odds that now run against the family about 6 to 1.

Some experts argue that the profusion of handguns makes life easier for criminals. Guns stolen by burglars have often been used later in holdups and armed robberies. Moreover, many prosecutors warn that the law is not always on the potential victim's side. Careless and indiscriminate firing at a suspected intruder can be considered criminal. Still, insists Los Angeles Police Officer Loren Zimmerman: "I would rather be judged by twelve than carried by six." In any case, the arming of America is now out of control. One startling sign: making a spot check one recent night, private guards at a Memphis nightclub found 32 patrons carrying guns.

Women are crowding into classes on the use of tear gas, contained in tiny canisters that can be hooked on to key chains. One important lesson: how to use the gas before an assailant turns it against the victim. As Los Angeles Police Sergeant John McCarthy puts it: "Being aggressive is kind of hard for a lot of people." After attending one such class, Patricia Sherman, 29, a lawyer, complained: "I think this incites fear in people. I wasn't as scared before as I am now." But another class member, Phillip Heffernan, 30, contends: "If the crooks knew that 90% of people had Mace cans, I think they would go into other lines of work."

Neighborhood watch groups are springing up in most large cities, often with the enthusiastic support of police. These groups try to get to know who belongs in a neighborhood and who the chronic troublemakers are, and they keep an eye on suspicious strangers. Many have car patrols that stay in touch by CB radio. The watch groups usually avoid confronting a potential criminal but call the police.