Liberals and crime spikes

AFTER THE sweet tea was poured but before the tomato soup arrived, in the middle of a crowded restaurant, Bill White lifted his shirt-tail to reveal the rubberised grip of a .38 revolver. “Everyone’s got one these days,” he says. Over lunch, he and two other residents of Buckhead, the wealthy northern section of Atlanta, swap stories: packs of cars blocking intersections for illegal street races, would-be thieves casing houses, neighbours too frightened to leave their homes. Lenox Square, an upscale mall, installed metal detectors after a spate of shootings. Mr White is CEO of the Buckhead Exploratory Committee—a group of residents who have organised to push for Buckhead’s independence from Atlanta, driven, he explains, by three factors: “crime, crime and crime”.