For years now, people with anti-2A agendas have been advocating for warning shots as the answer to preventing crime. Even in President Biden’s anti-NRA speech about only needing a double-barreled shotgun, he talked about warning shots scaring threats off. Yet as an incident on November 7th proves, they don’t solve the problem. Instead, they get the shooter locked up.
With crime and violent incidents on the rise, many people are arming themselves in the hopes of being able to defend themselves. As the cars pulled into the 49th Street subway Matthew Roesch, 40, was standing there holding the emergency door open and panhandling. As a 40-year-old unnamed woman was passing by, Roesch demanded she needed to hand over her money. He warned her that he was prepared to steal her purse to get the money.
Hearing this warning, a man, later identified as 43-year-old John Rote, sprang into action. Telling the would-be mugger to “leave her alone,” Rote then popped off a few warning shots and then ran away. Identified through MetroCard swipes and video surveillance evidence, he was taken into police custody on November 8th. Charged with criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a firearm, and menacing, he is facing some serious time.
Despite their horrifically lax attitude to crime, the NYPD still charged Roesch was arrested for attempted robbery. Previously he has only been arrested for theft of service at the Times Square-W. 42nd St. subway station back on Sept. 18th. According to various NYC transit and police officials, this draws a spotlight on two very serious and increasing crimes, guns on the subways and theft of fares. Seemingly the robbery is a trash crime to them, and one they seem predetermined to just plead out.
NYC Transit President Richard Davey has been steadfast in his commitment to these crimes. “I want to be clear: we don’t tolerate this kind of conduct in NYC Transit, period. Once again, cameras recorded a perpetrator, and we are grateful the NYPD made an arrest within hours. Thank goodness nobody was hurt here, but what occurred was outrageous, reckless, and unacceptable.”
Davey also added, “We’re here to tell New Yorkers that this kind of misbehavior will not be tolerated; we’re going to work with the NYPD to bring these two perpetrators to justice. Weapons shouldn’t be on the streets of New York; they are, and if that occurs, what happens on the streets has come down to our subways. We need to get a handle on the gun issue certainly in the city.”
For what it’s worth, many NYC residents aren’t upset about Rote’s actions. Instead, they want to see him commended for his actions. They know how useless the transit police can be and how quick they are to charge people for standing up for themselves. With Mayor Eric Adams forgetting about the people who call NYC home so he can focus on his illegal problem, it’s no wonder they want to see changes. They need a mayor and a police force equipped to keep them safe.
Warning shots, in this case, kept Rote and the attempted robbery victim safe from Roesch’s aggression. They got the robber to run off. However, they didn’t keep Rote safe from the people who wanted to toss him in jail. Instead, they want blood because he made them look useless. While many in the NYPD hate hearing it, and they love coasting off their accolades from years past, they are proving to be useless.
A necessary force in NYC, they selectively enforce the law and have now gone so far left that they are putting people at more risk from their unprofessionalism than anything. When people like Rote are being forced to arm themselves to stay safe on the subways, it’s time to bring back the hard-nosed police. It’s proof this sugar-sweet, soft policing isn’t working worth a damn.
