Is Detroit the wild, wild … Midwest?

In a recent conversation with media, future city council members elected just last week revealed a personal yet controversial choice: that they carried concealed weapons for self-protection.

As Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley writes, “The majority of city council members will be packing” come January.

The majority — that is, five out of nine council members — say they carry a gun or plan to carry a gun for protection. Former police chief Gary Brown, returning councilman Kwame Kenyatta, journalist Charles Pugh, and former police spokesperson James Tate say they are usually armed and Rev. Andre Spivey says he plans on getting his CCW before Thanksgiving. None of the female council members said they would carry a gun.

Some, like Council President Elect Charles Pugh, say they have received death threats and feel a gun is necessary. Others, like Kwame Kenyatta, say walking armed is measure of safety for a city official especially among sometimes angered citizens.

But the disclosure of such information from elected officials does raise a question about the message sent by those carrying a concealed weapon and about whether the act of a carrying gun lends itself to violence.

Newly elected city councilwoman and non-profit leader Saunteel Jenkins didn’t raise this an issue during the discussion about baring arms, but the next day she voiced her disgust for guns, saying “I wished I had spoken up” during the conversation because guns are “no joking matter.”

Jenkins does not agree with most of her fellow council members on this issue:

When I say I’m anti-violence I mean it. It’s an indication of the failure of leadership in this city when people think that the only way to protect themselves is to strap on a gun. That’s exactly where we don’t want to be in this city, taking the law into our own hands. It made me kind of sad.

The issue also raises a fiscal question, As Riley points out, each council member is given one officer as security detail. That’s nine police officers carting to city council. If council members carry their own weapons, is security detail overkill? Perhaps if council members carry guns, the city could save money or get those nine officers from the council to the streets.