Is Flint Coming South?

As long as I've been in the area, Flint has always been a place to be from...far away from.

Even back in '86 when I first started working there, it was a scary environment. After work, I would come straight home to the sanctity of Fenton, to all the serenity and supposed-security that near-country living provided. Today in Flint, it's even considerably worse! There is a constant barrage of violent crime ranging from armed robbery to shootings, and anything you can imagine in between. If you're a Facebooker, you can see for yourself here: Flint Police Operations.

Over the past few years, a number of shootings and robberies in the area have got a lot of people concerned about whether Flint is over-flowing its boundaries. Certainly, crime isn't rampant here, but one has to wonder just how vulnerable we are, and just how soon will it be before the bad activity ramps up.

There a couple of things that could be worth considering, those that afford us a little piece-of-mind. How about an alarm system and some in-home protection? Are we crazy for installing alarm systems on our homes? I don't think so. Are we crazy for having some sort of protection in our homes? I don't think so.

An alarm system, a.k.a. burglar alarm is a fairly inexpensive way to provide security. Some of them are so simple, you can install them yourself. Wireless, in particular, is a great option for the home owner or renter. After you install the system, for as little as $15 a month, you can have a monitoring service watch your alarm status, and report to the police as soon as a real threat is determined. Easy on the pocket. Soothing for the mind.

As for protection, I believe the simplest and most effective form is a pump shotgun. The sound made by the gun while being cocked is unmistakable. Many times I've read something like, 'homeowner racked his shotgun and the bad guy ran away', and nary a shot was fired. You don't ever want to be looking at the wrong end of a shotgun...

Then of course, if there are kids in the house, the most important thing we need to consider is, how do we store the gun? While there are several methods that promote safety, they all work on the principle that a loaded gun must never be available to any unauthorized person. If you decide to keep a firearm or shotgun in the house, I would recommend you take a course on gun safety, such as the one offered by Fenton Lakes Sportsman's Club.

While I don't believe we are in eminent danger of being overrun by Flint undesirables, there certainly has been some indication that negative activity seems to be trickling down, and it might be time to start thinking about defensive actions. Don't consider it living-in-fear. Consider it as taking logical precautions to help ensure you don't become a victim.