Shootings Are Us
Fear, Fantasy, Fun--and Guns
Shootings are all over the news today. A young woman killed in rural New York when she drove up the wrong driveway and the owner of the house came out blasting. A Black teenager shot and wounded when he mixed up an address and knocked on the wrong door in Kansas City. And a news flash from The Boston Globe this PM reporting that at least four people have been killed and three more wounded in two shootings in Maine.
America has so many deadly shootings on a daily basis that they hardly qualify as news anymore. What gives?
No guns, no shootings, of course, but America is awash in guns, and no one is going to pry them from the hands of those who want them.
You’d think brandishing a gun would be enough of a threat, but far too often, those who have guns seem eager to use them as well. Why shoot at a car that pulls in your driveway, even as the car is turning around and leaving? Why shoot at a young Black man for simply walking up and knocking on the door? In both cases, the shooters pulled the trigger at least twice, and apparently used no warning shots or for that matter any other kind of warning. It’s shoot first, ask questions later, in this man’s America.
There’s a weird toxic brew at work here, I think. First, the guns themselves. I’ve fired plenty of them and they do give you a feeling of power. Second, fear. People are fearful. Sometimes the fear may be race-based, sometimes it’s something else, but there’s nothing like fear to paralyze the mind. Then there’s a fantasy element. Some people, mostly men I’m guessing, think they’re akin to Dirty Harry, blowing away bad people with their guns. Finally, sadly, some people just find guns to be fun, even when they’re pointing them at other people.
I know it’s more complicated than this, but fear, fantasy, and fun don’t mix well with guns. In America, guns are WMD: weapons of mass destruction. Because of their deadly power, they should be used only in the rarest of circumstances and as a last resort.
Yet Americans seem to be grabbing their guns and blasting away as a first resort and with no remorse.
Stay safe out there. And to those with guns, why not just call 911? Or keep your door locked? Do you really want to take the life of an innocent just because you felt afraid or angry and fancied yourself a vigilante?
JUST ANOTHER VET posted this to WordPress BV. It is well worth the read and ponder… :
Add this one to the list:
” A man has been arrested after two Texas cheerleaders were shot, one critically, after one of them mistakenly got into the wrong vehicle, according to police and the owner of the gym where they trained…
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-cheerleaders-shot-wrong-car-practice-rcna80366
So don’t ring the wrong doorbell, or pull into the wrong driveway, or open the wrong car door, or for that matter don’t go:
To the grocery store
To church
To the mall
To school
To work
To a bar
To a birthday party
To a park
To a protest
To a movie
Because you might get shot. This is America. This is what freedom means apparently.
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Growing up we didn’t have guns in our house. My dad said he had had his fill of them in Vietnam. Fast forward to today: my now mid-70’s parents are going to the gun range and trying to figure out which guns are best for them to carry around. They are caught up in the fear and fantasy genre of the American Vigilante. They are going to blast those bad guys by god, and defend freedom and liberty, something, something.
They have also added cameras all around their house. Mind you they have never been robbed. But they are afraid. Of what? Everything at this point based on the conversations I’ve had with them, or at least everything the television and radio tell them to be afraid of.
All their friends are the same way. Old, angry white folks ready to kill for some made up bullshit American ideal. Geriatric John Waynes with white hats going off to kill the black hats (or just blacks?).
I would feel better knowing they are not long for this world, but I see plenty of my generation out there armed to the teeth as well.
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A good essay.
Emotion rules the thinking of those wielding weapons. It would be one thing if we were witnessing a big surge in home invasions. We aren't. It would also be something if the penalty for a home break-in was death. It isn't. The reason gun advocates harp on home invasions is that for them it is an unquestionable reason for self-defense, their idea of a conversation stopper regarding gun control.
Society as a whole has been backing away from capital punishment around the world with the US tagging along. Yet, as you mention, we have individuals intent on handing out a death sentence, in fact eager to do so and for a variety of non-capital crimes such as assault, car theft, even the new "crime" of creating a threat in the mind of the gun carrier as states legislate Stand Your Ground to give it an official OK. To shoot down a person in the driveway or at the front door shows the obsession of the homeowner, vigilant and waiting for the imagined home invader.
As police have shown great difficulty in using their weapons appropriately, we move toward every man making himself a policeman along with the ability to use the standard defenses of the police: "I was afraid". "I thought the suspect had a gun", "I felt threatened"
Meanwhile, the concept of innocent until proven guilty fades into the past. Those damned courts take forever to figure things out and then coddle criminals. Better to have instant justice at the will of one armed person.
As native-Americans faced elimination, there were instances of the fantasy that the white man's bullets would be rendered ineffective with enough faith. Now we have the mirror fantasy from the white man who feels threatened, a faith that imagined bad guys will be eliminated with firearms in the hands of "good guys"