New Orleans – Sixty-four-year- old Vivian Westerman rode out Hurricane Katrina in her 19th-century house. So terrible was the experience that she wanted two things before the 2006 season arrived: a backup power source and a gun.
“I got a 6,000-watt generator and the cutest little Smith & Wesson, snub-nose .38 you ever saw,” she boasted. “I’ve never been more confident.”
People across New Orleans are arming themselves – not only against the possibility of another storm bringing anarchy, but against the violence that has engulfed the metropolitan area in the 19 months since Katrina, making New Orleans the nation’s murder capital.
The number of permits issued to carry concealed weapons is running twice as high as it was before Katrina – this, in a city with only about half its pre-storm population of about 450,000. Attendance at firearms classes and hours logged at shooting ranges also are up, according to the gun industry.
Gun dealers who saw sales shoot up during the chaotic few months after Katrina say that sales are still brisk and that the customers are doctors, lawyers, bankers, artists, laborers, stay-at-home moms.
“People are in fear of their lives. They’re looking for ways to feel safe again,” said Mike Roniger, manager of Gretna Gunworks in Jefferson Parish.
Residents, the tourism industry, police and politicians have been alarmed by the increase in killings in New Orleans, with 162 in 2006 and 37 so far this year. A Tulane University study put the city’s 2006 homicide rate at 96 slayings per 100,000 people, the highest in the nation.
Police have accused the district attorney of failing to prosecute many suspects. Prosecutors have accused the police of not bringing them solid cases.
Kevin Cato, a 41-year-old contractor, bought a .45-caliber handgun for protection when he is working in some of the city’s still-deserted areas. “But it’s not much safer at home,” Cato said. “The police chased a guy through my yard one time with their guns out.”
In New Orleans, the number of concealed-carry permits issued jumped from 432 in 2003-04 to 832 in 2005-06.
