County Judge Instructs People to "Arm Themselves"

(Ashtabula, Ohio) The local law enforcement has been cutting manpower due to budget constraints so it's now recommended that people get guns to protect themselves.

Ashtabula County Common Pleas Judge Alfred Mackey has specifically instructed residents to "arm themselves."

The Ashtabula County Jail has confined as many as 140 prisoners. It now houses only 30 because of reductions in the staff of corrections officers.

All told, 700 accused criminals are on a waiting list to serve time in the jail.

Are there dangerous people free among the 700 who cannot be locked up?

"There probably are," Sheriff Johnson said, "but I'm telling you, any known violent criminal, we're housing them. We've got murderers in there."

Although it's rare that citizens are instructed to go and get guns for protection, I suggest it's absolutely bizarre for the corrections department to put convicts on a waiting list for incarceration.