NEW YORK — As a Texas grand jury weighs whether to charge an armed civilian in the fatal shooting this month of an alleged robber inside a Texas taqueria, the case has cast a spotlight on people taking the law into their own hands.
A combination of a proliferation of guns,"stand your ground'' states, concealed carry permit holders and a growing lack of confidence in police to protect communities appear to be fueling a spike in incidents of U.S. citizens intervening in what they perceive to be crime, law enforcement experts told ABC News.
FBI data shows the number of homicides by civilians classified as justifiable has increased annually from 286 in 2014 to 386 in 2019. The FBI's annual crime statistics, however, lack details of the circumstances involved in each incident other than reporting guns were used in the vast majority of them.
In several recent incidents in New Jersey, civilian groups have taken it upon themselves to conduct vigilante sting operations to catch child sex predators by posing as minors in internet chat rooms. Prosecutors said the vigilante groups have recorded YouTube videos of them confronting alleged child predators when they show up at prearranged rendezvous before calling the police, officials said.
Politicians pandering for votes and gun-rights groups have also helped prompt the surge in gun ownership by fanning the perception that crime nationwide is running rampant and using the Second Amendment to"push this narrative of the necessity of more individual gun ownership," Taylor said. "If individuals feel that their local government, their local public safety entities are unable to do the job of sufficiently protecting them, then this idea of taking matters into your own hands becomes more palatable," Taylor said."The general public may not understand that when an individual decides to take action as a vigilante, the police may think that person is the shooter and kill them.
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