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The Prollem
- On Saturday
night, the owner of
Ed's Liquors in the 2700 block of 23rd Avenue returned fire after being
wounded in the leg and shot the gunman, an 18-year-old Pittsburg man,
at least three times, authorities said.
- And two days
earlier, a clerk at Wah Fay 8th Avenue Corner Market shot his assailant
five times.
- Oakland
residents have also seen a 10-year-old boy shot and paralyzed at a
piano lesson on Piedmont Avenue
- The
gunslinging crooks seem to be just about everywhere
- Members of the
Yemeni merchants
association have armed themselves since two stores were sacked in 2005,
crimes allegedly led by members of Oakland's Your Black Muslim Bakery.
- Crime has been
bad since the
start of the year, as both homicides and robberies have surpassed
year-ago levels that earned Oakland the No. 4 spot on an annual list of
the nation's most dangerous cities.
The Plan
- The notion
that restaurateurs,
theater owners and soon enough, even moviegoers will be packing guns is
too much to fathom in a place like Oakland or anywhere else in the Bay
Area.
- It's the
antithesis of why we live here
- we're
law-abiding citizens who don't have guns in our homes and don't want
armed guards on our city streets.
- The chief's
plan seems to
include some of the philosophy of Oakland
Mayor Ron Dellums, who has
proposed a plan to hire ex-felons for appropriate city jobs.
- For the first
time in Oakland
history, the Oakland City Council last week approved a plan to hire
armed guards for merchants in East Oakland who can't afford their own
security.
- And if things
don't improve
soon, it may not be long before business owners who have already hired
guards elsewhere in the city will move to arm them, too.
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