Roving Hooligans now a State Crisis in Louisiana

Gun-toting thugs are now disrupting official logistics in New Orleans, according to a FOX News interview a few minutes ago with the coordinator of emergency medical efforts in that city. Ambulances are being guarded against hijacking, and at least one helicopter attempting to deploy emergency supplies was scared off by a mob of 100+ armed hooligans.

The administrator mentioned that he's been begging everyone in sight for enough security to complete the evacuation of critically ill patients. One of his associates has had a number of critical patients lodged on the roof of a hospital for two nights, awaiting assistance. Five of them have died.

I saw a brief video from Baton Rouge, and apparently the problem which my Dad mentioned earlier is swelling enormously...huge bands of armed individuals clustering along the highways and roving unsecured neighborhoods.

-- jj


PS Just talked briefly to a refugee from NO in my father's office. There's been no violence in his part of town.

I'm not sure I understand your point, Rose, but I'm pretty sure I don't appreciate your tone.

There are all kinds of threats and dangers emerging from this disaster, and I don't think it's appropriate to trivialize any of them.

-- jj

My point is that there are a lot of people there without food, water, power, medicine and sanitation crammed into a small area and the water is rising. People are trying to protect their families.

People are dehydrated, hungry, hot, miserable, afraid and dying. Fix that and you will solve 95% of the lawlessness.

Despite all of this - emerge small acts of human kindness that because of this are exceptional.

I'm sure those rape gangs that are roaming the city -- read CNN.com and the other sites -- are just "protecting their families." Oh wait -- they must be spreading their seed to make sure their family line continues... I get the logic. It's OKAY to kill, pillage, and rape in a time of crise. Shit, I should head down there, sounds like fun.

/sarcasm off

BUT I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT MY WIDE SCREEN PLASMA TV THINGY or whatever they are.

Didn't we go through this already in another thread?

the reports of looting, and wild armed gangs, are being overly hyped and exaggerated by the media. is it happening, yes. is it everywhere you look, no. if you read or watch any other news broadcasts besides cnn and foxnews, you get a more balanced picture.

and please remember, the vast majority of the people that didn't evacuate, are extremely poor. they probably haven't had much of anything most of their lives. now, even the little they might have had, has been taken from them. these people have no homes, no jobs, missing family members, and are watching people dying. when faced with those things, natural moral behavior goes out the window.

I don't give a rat's ass about my father's wide screen plasma TV thingy, or his 700-series BMW. I'm a bit concerned that someone might decide to walk into his living room, rape his wife, and blow his head off on the way in to "liberate" the keys and the remote; I hope that's understandable, even if I'm not the First To Post The Hawt New Topic.

And yes, I know they represent a fraction of the distressed population in the area. But see, they have STOLEN GUNS BY THE TRUCKLOAD, see, and they're ROAMING THE STREETS OF AT LEAST TWO REELING CITIES, see, including THE ONE WHERE MY FAMILY IS, see.

-- jj

PS Oh: .
There.

woops Wal-marts got looted and guns were stolen.

Yes and one of them is about 20 minutes away from where I'm staying now. I have been hearing and reading the news and I am scared. This WalMart is in the Opelousas area, about 3 and a half hours away from New Orleans, and there are more cases being reported from Lafayette, about 2-3 hours away from New Orleans.

And thank you Aaron, I was thinking exactly just that. There is no excuse, everyone is doing what they can as far as helping and supporting. Why do this..?

It's downright chaotic here. I'm afraid to go out now. I hope it calms down soon...please?

Things are getting bad.

Being in the UK and us not having a similar freedom with firearms, I just want to confirm what I think this means. Wal-mart sells guns? Am I right on that interpretation?

Yeah, mainly hunting equipment, but it doesn't matter, they still quite effectively kill people as I am sure you are aware.

WOW , I'm not sure what to say about that. I didn't know that supermarkets could sell firearms in the US. I knew that gun stores were numerous, but not that places like supermarkets could also sell them. I'm flabbergasted.

"Honey, I'm just popping down to Wal-mart for a quart of milk and a sawn-off, back soon!"

Most stores like Walmart have sporting goods and hunting and fishing depts that sell rifles and shotguns......so yes you can get a shotgun with your Qt of milk....but you'll have to buy a saw too because sawed off shotguns are illegal in the US

And I bet Walmart sell saws I can't imagine going into a supermarket in the UK and seeing rifles and shotguns and stuff for sale. I'd probably think it was time to move to Outer Mongolia and become a sheep herder or something if I did.

i'm very sorry that you are in this situation. if you have internet access, i'm sure you also have access to food & water, which is something that thousands of people don't have right now. you're one of the lucky ones. i understand that it's hard to stand back and look at the whole picture when you're in the middle of the situation. if you look at the actions from a sociological standpoint, they are explainable. that doesn't make it OK for people to harm others, it just means that there are certain motivational reasons behind their actions.

there are always going to be criminal-minded people who will take advantage of terrible situations. but the majority of people are just trying to survive. they have no food or water, and don't know when it will arrive. we see things on the news that help is coming. but they have no way of knowing that. no one is telling them the plans that are in action. they are lost and helpless, and everything they had has been taken from them.

Just about all the sporting good stores in the US sell rifles too....but stores like Kmart...Sears and such have always sold hunting equipment....when Bed Bath and Beyond starts selling guns thats when Americans will sit up and take notice....

Actually heres an even better one....there are gun shows at major convention centers just about every weekend somewhere in America.....you can walk in look around and walk out with any gun available most times without a security background check because they are selling the gun as a used gun.....

Awwww <33333

I wish I could fly you over here and everyone else, This is truely a horrible situation for all involved and I cannot imagine what everyone is going thru right now I know I went to bed worried about my Arbers ... <3

I am so, so sorry to hear this.

I lived in Lafayette (well, Carencro) for six years. I fell in love with the area, and I miss it terribly. The people of Lafayette and of Louisiana, for that matter, are some of the kindest, strongest, most courageous people on this planet. It troubles me no end to think that there are incidents of lawlessness and that people are living in fear.

Hang in there. You are all in the thoughts of many.

RIGHT ON ROSE!!

Fuck Fox News and there extreme right wing agenda.

Mad Fox beyond Superdome

Wal-Mart began it's life as a dry goods and sundries retailer. Super Wal-Marts offer groceries, as well.

By the way, why is it so suprising to you that Americans can readily buy firearms? It is a pretty major tenet of our Constitution, and is intended as one of the ways by which we "balance the powers" and ward off tyrrany. Granted, a lot of those guns get stolen and make their way into the black markets, but gun ownership is not the issue here. The issue is using this tragedy as an excuse to behave badly.

And there are swords in the asian markets.