Word.ws English Dictionary

when the looting starts, the shooting starts

when the looting starts, the shooting starts proverb: lethal force is justified against rioters and looters.

Proverb

when the looting starts, the shooting starts

  1. (US) Lethal force is justified against rioters and looters.

Origin of when the looting starts, the shooting starts

Originally used by Walter E. Headley, the police chief of Miami, Florida, in response to an outbreak of violent crime during the 1967 Christmas holiday season. He accused "young hoodlums, from 15 to 21", of "taking advantage of the civil rights campaign" that was then sweeping the United States.

Questions about when the looting starts, the shooting starts

What does when the looting starts, the shooting starts mean?
When the looting starts, the shooting starts means lethal force is justified against rioters and looters.
What part of speech is when the looting starts, the shooting starts?
When the looting starts, the shooting starts is a proverb.

Words near when the looting starts, the shooting starts in the dictionary

  1. when the cat's away the mice play
  2. when the cat's away the mice will play
  3. when the chips are down
  4. when the going gets tough, the tough get going
  5. when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
  6. when the looting starts, the shooting starts
  7. when the music stops
  8. when the time comes
  9. when they go low, we go high
  10. when they go low, we go lower
  11. when they go low, we go submarine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: when the looting starts, the shooting starts (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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