Published: November 10, 2009 07:40 am      

Five city council members to pack heat

DETROIT (AP) -- By Thanksgiving, five members of the of the newly elected Detroit City Council will be packing heat.

Detroit Free Press columnist Rochelle Riley says Tuesday that Charles Pugh, Kwame Kenyatta, James Tate and Gary Brown have said they are usually armed. And Rev. Andre Spivey, pastor of St. Paul AME, said he soon plans to get his concealed weapon permit.

Pugh said he's received death threats, and Kenyatta said council members sometimes must ward off irate citizens. Tate and Brown are former police officers.

Spivey says carrying a weapon is not "an indictment upon the citizens of Detroit," but he will "feel more comfortable having it."

The nine-person council has a full-time, nine-officer police unit. Members can request individual security when they feel threatened.