'Council locked, loaded' - Rochelle Riley

[RealityCheck]

Today's column strikes me as a forum-worthy discussion topic.

Gary Brown, Kwame Kenyatta, Charles Pugh and James Tate are usually armed. . . . And the Rev. Andre Spivey, pastor of St. Paul AME, said he plans to get his CCW permit before Thanksgiving.

. . . Kenyatta said that members sometimes must ward off irate citizens.

Cockrel won't say if he packs; Jones and Watson don't.

Spivey 'splains:

" I've talked with several incumbents, and the office presents some challenges. I don't feel I have to use it, but I'll feel more comfortable having it. . . . We're in a different age."

And how do we feel . . . more comfortable or concerned about the message this sends, the image this may reinforce?

Rochelle sees a tough call:

"It is quite the conundrum: To carry or not to carry in a city where gun violence is as prevalent as Temptations music, so mundane that children are used to it."