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?
Ralph
Yarl, shot and wounded when he mixed up an
address.
Kaylin Gillis, shot and killed
in rural NY.
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?
