It's The Ideology

It wasn’t a gun.  It wasn’t a bomb. It wasn’t a machete.   It was a truck.  2 -3 minutes.  84 now dead, including 10 children. Do you understand now? It’s not the weapon.  It’s the ideology. ~  A viral Facebook post.

I’ve had an epiphany. Yes, I totally understand now.  If someone with a twisted ideology or some random radical Islamist wants to take out a crowd of people then he’ll find a way.  It might be fertilizer rife with ammonium nitrate, it might be a box cutter, it might be a baseball bat (as happened in Deltona Florida in 2004) or it might be a simple kitchen knife as happened in Osaka in 2001.  Most recently of course, it was a truck.  "Where there's a will, there's a way," goes the old saw.

Armed and Stupid

October 28^th, 1880.  A group of rowdies, loosened up with whiskey and high spirits decided it would be a fine night to shoot their guns into the air.  Fred White, the town marshal didn’t figure that rousting the townies with gunplay was a great idea and so he moved to put a stop to the festivities.  He found one of the men in a vacant lot and confronted him, “I am an officer, give me your pistol.”  White grabbed the barrel of the gun held by Curly Bill Brocious.  When Curly Bill didn’t immediately comply White yelled, “Now you god-damned son of a bitch, give me that gun.  White jerked on the barrel and the gun discharged sending a bullet into White’s groin, the muzzle blast setting his clothing on fire.  Almost immediately Curly Bill was sent to the ground, struck in the head by a pistol wielded by Wyatt Earp.  Two days later Fred White, age 32, died of his wound.  As a result of White’s death, an ordinance was passed by the town council prohibiting the carrying of deadly weapons in Tombstone, Arizona. 

June 2014 and Americans are strutting the streets carrying guns; holstered pistols and long guns (often assault type rifles) slung over their shoulders; they are in wild west parlance “heeled.”  I’d like to say that we’ve come a long way in 134 years – but we apparently haven’t.  In the wake of increasing mass shootings businesses have had to do what lawmakers lack the testicular fortitude to do.  They are banning the carrying of weapons on their premises.  Starbucks, Chilis, Sonic, Jack in the Box and Chipotle have all adopted policies banning the carrying of long guns into their stores.  The latest battleground is Target.  A group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense is circulating a petition asking that the store ban the carrying of weapons into their stores after an armed group called Open Carry Texas walked through a store. Could it be that the gun nuts locked on to the name Target and figured this must the place “fer bringin’ yer fowlin’ piece to?”  No Billy Bob, that’s not what they had in mind when they named the place TARGET. 

What's Happened Here?

When did it all change?  Why did it all change?  How did it all change so much?  I grew up in the suburbs of San Mateo.  It was a middle class neighborhood in the hills above the town, on the San Francisco Bay Peninsula, about 30 minutes south of San Francisco itself.  It was the fifties and sixties; a time when we boomers lived the American Dream defined by well-manicured lawns, ranch style homes and the notion that we, the children, would live in a better America. 

Reflecting on Tragedy

Shifting emotions on Friday evening’s drive home; grief, rage, confusion.  Trying to digest the news out of Newtown, Connecticut.  Looking for sense in a landscape of senselessness. 

I’d been in meetings during much of the day.  Getting back to my office a co-worker told me of the news; she’d been at her desk bawling as she read the news.  I took a quick look at a report and didn’t realize the severity of what had unfolded.  Another killing - back to work.