Wiki defines a vigilante as "a person who violates the law in order to exact what they believe to be justice from criminals, because they think that the criminal will not be caught or will not be sufficiently punished by the legal system." When social control systems fail to function, or become overrun, it is possible that vigilantees will fill the gap. With the environment for crime opportunity rising, at the same time the funding for law enforcement and security decreasing -- the unintended consequence of inaction may be vigilantee action. Think this is far fetched? Why are the gun manufactuer stocks on fire and rising rapidly in value? Why does it symbolically appear that guns are being purchased today nearly as much as gold coins? To protect the gold, perhaps? To protect the gun owner, absolutely. The trouble is that without adequate training in firearm safety and use, a gun in an untrained hand may be more dangerous than no gun, particularly if the gun is taken away from the gun-owner by a more experienced criminal offender. Nonetheless, people are protecting themselves for their own purposes yet to be explained.In Mexico, vigilantees along the US/Mexican border are putting up their own fight for normalcy, law and order. Under the headline, "As Crime Mounts, Mexicans Turn to Vigilante Justice" Time Magazine reports that with the "conviction rate in the thousands of murders and kidnappings afflicting the nation every year [it] is estimated to be as low as 5%. Women and children are also increasingly among those killed by criminal gangs. And the limits on the legal system's ability to stem the tide of violent crime has produced a growing, shadowy movement for vigilante justice. In recent months, at least three new clandestine groups have promised to hunt down and murder criminals to help restore order. As in the killing of the alleged thief by Flores, such groups have been cheered on in public forums. "My sincerest congratulations to these brave men with their courage and determination," wrote a reader of Mexican newspaper Milenio. "God help them with their noble cause." Read the entire article at:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1880450,00.html
