A well armed citizen is the best defense against terrorism.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/697304/posts

It is a mistake for people to think the police have to
protect them.

THE LAW: THE POLICE ARE NOT THERE FOR *YOU.”

State and city governments – rather than the Federal
authorities – are responsible for local law enforcement.
So, only occassionally have Federal Courts ruled on the
matter of police protection.

However, in 1856 the U. S. Supreme Court declared that
local law enforcement had no duty to protect a particular
person, but only a general duty to enforce the laws. [South
v. Maryland, 59 U.S. (HOW) 396, 15 L. Ed., 433 (1856].

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution give
you no right to police protection. In 1982, the U.S. Court
of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, held that:

“…there is no constitutional right to be protected by the
state against being murdered by criminals or mad men. It
is monstrous if the state fails to protect its residents
against such predators but it does not violate the due
process claus of the Fourteenth Amendment or, we suppose,
any other provision of the Constitution. The Constitution
is a charter of negative liberties: it tells the state
to let people alone; it does not require the federal
government or the state to provide services as maintaining
law and order.” [Bowers v. DeVito, U.S. Court of Appeals,
Seventh Circuit, 686F.2d616(1982). See also Reiff v. City
of Philadelphia, 471 F.Supp. 1262 (E.D.Pa. 1979).

There are a few, very narrow exceptions. In 1983, the
District of Columbia Court of Appeals remarked that:

"In a civilized society, every citizen at least tacitly
relies upon the constable for protection from crime. Hence,
more than general reliance is needed to require the police
to act on behalf of a particular individual. ...Liability
is established, therefore, if the police have specifically
undertaken to protect an individual and the individual
has specifically relied upon the undertaking.
. . . Absent a special relationship, therfore, the polic
may not be held liable for failure to protect a paricular
individual from harm caused by criminal conduct. A special
relationship exists if the police employ an individual
aid of law enforcement, but does not exist merely because
an individual requests, or a police officer promises to
provide protection." [Morgan v. District of Columbia, 468
A2d 1306 (D.C.App. 1983)].

As a result, the government – specifically, police forces
- has no legal duty to help any given person, even one
whose life is in imminent danger. The only exceptions are
a person who:
* has helped the police force (e.g. as an informant or a
witness)
* can prove that he/she has specifically been promised
protection and has, as a result, done things that he/she
otherwise would not have done.

From: “Gun Control” Gateway to Tyranny
by Jay Simkin and Aaron Zelman