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Sick of it all
Sep. 30th, 2003 08:32 amTwo men were shot to death in the middle of the night about a block and a half from my house last night. Apparently, there was an altercation at a party. Another woman was taken to the hospital. The girls could see the police tape wrapped around the trees, sealing off the block of the crime scene from where they got on the school bus. I drove by there this morning on my way to work. If I'd been a half an hour earlier, I would have seen the two corpses, one in the street, and one on a lawn. The girls were out there early enough that they could have seen the corpses, if they'd just walked down a half a block. I pray to God that they did not.
This week, two high school students were shot in a Minnesota school. One died, one is in critical condition. The shooter, a freshman, is by all accounts unable to explain why he did it.
Yesterday, a woman brought a gun into the county building a few blocks from where I work and shot to death her cousin, whom she'd been wrangling with in a probate case, and her cousin's attorney.
I am sick of news of violence. I am sick of news about guns.
Most of all, I am sick of my state, which just passed a conceal carry law, which will ensure that we'll have more guns out there. And I'm sick to death of my country, that allows things like this to happen, that seems to expect it, and perversely, accepts it as a regrettable but necessary price we have to pay for the "freedom" of the wonderful right to own guns.
Edited to add I didn't say that these crimes occurred because of the conceal carry law. The jury is still out on this question, although I'm inclined to think that with conceal carry, there are going to be more guns out there floating around, which can be filched by an impulsive kid or angry spouse, whether or not the permit holder is law-abiding.
But what I'm getting at is my own perceptions, my own personal visceral revulsion, looking the world around me, which has really gone up in the last several months. Security, as B says, also involves states of mind. Do I feel more secure since conceal carry was passed? I look at all those signs on just about every building I enter, I look at the news, and I look at the police tape a block and a half from my home, and I say, hell no. I don't.
And I absolutely hate it.
This week, two high school students were shot in a Minnesota school. One died, one is in critical condition. The shooter, a freshman, is by all accounts unable to explain why he did it.
Yesterday, a woman brought a gun into the county building a few blocks from where I work and shot to death her cousin, whom she'd been wrangling with in a probate case, and her cousin's attorney.
I am sick of news of violence. I am sick of news about guns.
Most of all, I am sick of my state, which just passed a conceal carry law, which will ensure that we'll have more guns out there. And I'm sick to death of my country, that allows things like this to happen, that seems to expect it, and perversely, accepts it as a regrettable but necessary price we have to pay for the "freedom" of the wonderful right to own guns.
Edited to add I didn't say that these crimes occurred because of the conceal carry law. The jury is still out on this question, although I'm inclined to think that with conceal carry, there are going to be more guns out there floating around, which can be filched by an impulsive kid or angry spouse, whether or not the permit holder is law-abiding.
But what I'm getting at is my own perceptions, my own personal visceral revulsion, looking the world around me, which has really gone up in the last several months. Security, as B says, also involves states of mind. Do I feel more secure since conceal carry was passed? I look at all those signs on just about every building I enter, I look at the news, and I look at the police tape a block and a half from my home, and I say, hell no. I don't.
And I absolutely hate it.
