Arm yourselves now, ex-radio host urges Houstonians

We'll bet you were sitting around just now saying to yourself, "Hmm, I wonder what happened to Jim Pruett of the madcap 1990s radio duo Stevens & Pruett?" (Go ahead, admit it: You talk to yourself that way.) Turns out Pruett, who now owns a gun shop, is stirring up a bit of controversy with a new radio ad that essentially urges Houstonians to arm themselves against Katrina evacuees. In the ad, Pruett refers to some evacuees' threats that they would raise hell if FEMA deadlines weren't extended, concluding, "it's time to get your concealed weapons license." Just what we need.

Though Pruett pinned Houston's increasing crime rate in part on evacuees, he acknowledged that all evacuees aren't criminals:

"It's not all of them," he insisted. "Many of the people who are here, they have jobs. They are contributing. They are Houstonians now. And that's a wonderful thing. But there is a certain element out there that wants to prey, whenever disaster strikes, or people are weak, they prey on that moment."

True enough — and by the same token, many Houstonians act the same way. Seems to us Pruett's ad is just a way to get noticed, something he's always been good at. However, that's not enough to calm people like Debra Campbell, an evacuee Channel 13 interviewed: "I think that commercial is very inhumane. It is targeting us now. It allows Houstonians or whatever criminals to gun us down for no reason."

It's interesting to watch this all play out: The numbers show a link between evacuees and increased crime, local residents aren't happy about it and ... what? We'll see. But assuming that talk on the radio is going to lead to people gunning each other down — well, that's a little extreme. We hope.