Looting? Part 2 of Hurricanes, Floods and Man's Inhumanity to Man

Its difficult to imagine the disaster that has befallen New Orleans. And although some very hard and legitimate questions may need to be asked down the road, this is not the time and place for these questions. That being said, some of the things that are going on need comment.

Looting:

Society is often judged by the way that it acts in a crises. And if this is the case, then at least a portion of the population in New Orleans has failed the test. The press reports are becoming clearer and clearer that the stores and businesses in New Orleans that survived Katarina are falling victim to looters. And it is also clear that at least some individuals are also taking advantage of the situation to resolve long standing disputes with the authorities.

Let's start with the Looters. In my mind the Looters break down into two categories -- the "Good" Looters and the "Bad" Looters. The "good" looters are those people who, for a wide variety of reasons, found themselves in New Orleans after the hurricane (whether or not they were to blame for being there is an issue for another day) and found themselves in life threatening conditions. They responded by looting what they needed for survival.. be it food or water. In such circumstances, I think most of us would have reacted in that fashion.

But the "Bad" looters took this to another level. They justified themselves with the "all crimes are the same" mentality of the mandatory minimum sentences and sentencing "guidelines" (ie Handcuffs). Once they saw the "good" looting, they moved on to the next step... the looting either for the "fun" of looting or the looting of items which have no applications for immediate survival (such as the Jewelry being taken in the French Quarter) . And once this barrier was broken, the rest of the societal rules went away.

But the worst are those who are robbing vehicles on the way to deliver supplies to hospitals and who are shooting at helicopters and other vehicles trying to evacuate others.

I really do not know what can be done. My viscera says, announce that people have 24 hours to get to any number of designated locations for evacuation and that anyone not at a location by that time will be considered to be an armed felon in the process of committing a dangerous crime with a firearm and liable to be shot. My brain says that this is wrong... but in my gut.....