DON’T WORRY, THE CITY WILL PROTECT YOU — EXCEPT . . .

Strangely, NYC doesn’t take that position in court. A madman kills four, NYPD manhunt follows. Two officers are in a subway cab when the madman enters the car, and they do nothing to stop him. He stabs a passenger right next to them, who in turn wrestles him down, at which point the NYPD folks finally emerge. Now he sues the city, and it of course argues that it has no legal duty to protect the citizenry.

Perhaps we need a federal law — clearly appropriate under Congress’s 14th Amendment powers — making cities that ban ownership and carrying of guns strictly liable for citizens’ losses from violent crime.