Detroit's top cop's stance on arming residents in the fight against crime has caught the attention of National Rifle Association, which made him the cover story in their magazine's latest issue, reports the Detroit News. Police Chief James Craig, in a candid question-and-answer session for the NRA magazine America's 1st Freedom insists he is not responsible for a rash of at least eight incidents in which residents have shot home intruders since January. He said self-defense shootings “actually started before I arrived here.”
“I believe responsible, good Americans have a right to protect themselves from an immediate threat to their life or to the life of another,” Craig says in the June web article titled “A Show of Courage in Detroit.” “I believe our focus should be on how to keep guns out of hands of criminals and those who aren't responsible.” Since January, when Craig first made public statements that homeowners arming themselves could help deter crime, seven homeowners have shot intruders. Six of them were killed. Those cases are among a dozen deaths so far this year ruled justifiable homicides by police.