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Mayor Bright suggests crime solution: Buy a gun
Sept 15, 2005, 10:26 AM
"What we need to do... Is there any media? Chief, can I say this?," asked Mayor Bobby Bright at Tuesday's Kiwanis Club of Montgomery meeting.

"I've said it one time. Get a gun and teach our folks how to use them and shoot 'em."

Several members of the audience, approximately 100 members of the Kiwanis Club of Montgomery, broke out into nervous laughter and applause after Mayor Bright said this as the guest speaker.

To put this in context, Mayor Bright spoke directly to the issues of having an understaffed police force, clogged courts, and a vast majority of crime in Montgomery committed by the same relatively small number of people over and over again.

Bright went on to say,"There's going to be people out there who write me and say, 'God, Mayor, why are you doing this?' Listen to what I'm saying. Get your gun, learn how to shoot it, learn how to use it and use it. "

We asked the Montgomery Police Department what it thought of Mayor Bright's statements.

Spokesman Lt. Huey Thornton says, "The mayor made some good points. If a person chooses to own a handgun, then we think it is important that they know how to use that handgun and they know when the law allows them to use it."

Bright adds, "That's the only thing that we can really tell our folks to do at this point in time. If there's anything else that you know that the chief and I can do to keep this crime down, keep these guys from stealing... let me know."

Montgomery Police Chief Art Baylor is a Kiwanis Club member himself and was in attendance at Tuesday's meeting at the RSA Activity Center. WSFA 12 News tried several times to speak with Mayor Bright on camera, but he was unavailable for comment.

For people who do own a gun, or thinking about buying one, the city of Montgomery does offer a firearms safety course free of charge. You can call the police academy at (334) 240-4812 to sign up.

Reporter: Theo Travers

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