The Idea of Justice

                                                                        

 The not guilty on all counts in the Rittenhouse case just doesn't feel like any kind of justice. The letter of the law may have been followed but to my non-legal mind, seeing that person walking free is a mockery. There needs to be accountability. It's uncomfortably like the old joke about the fellas who killed his parent and pled for mercy because he was an orphan. It also raises a number of questions of my mind. 

 The first is: How would this case have played out if Rittenhouse had been a Black teenager, carrying a gun and feeling threatened? I suspect there would have been no case as the police would have shot him right away rather than ignoring him as they did at first.

The second question: What about "the duty to retreat" that I was taught in concealed carry class?  And I seem to remember that it wasn't legal to kill in defense of property. No shooting the fella who's making off with your TV. Which would mean this young vigilante had no reason to be there defending others' property with his big gun. But maybe that's just in North Carolina--gun laws are different in every state.

Third: As the Right turns this sniveling little punk into a hero (truly worthy to be an intern to the likes of Gosnar, Cawthorne, and Gaetz) will we see even more gun-wielding teens, chaos tourists looking for thrills? Anti-abortion vigilantes in Texas, hunting down women suspected of seeking to terminate a pregnancy? Guns brandished freely everywhere?

Fourth: If I were all-powerful and unconstrained by technicalities like the letter of the law (because sometimes the law is an idiot,) what would be my judgement? I believe him when he says he feared for his life--he was in way over his head and that gun he was carrying offered a quick way out. But, considering that he put himself in that situation, I'd have to rule that he deserved a punishment. Yes, his victims put themselves in their situation also. But, boy, were they punished.

I think I'd be tempted to mandate that he enlist in the Marine Corps for a four-year hitch. Let him play with guns and pretend to be a big man there. And when he comes out, if he does, keep him on parole for a very long time. Do not allow him to become a mascot for the Proud Boys and their ilk.

Then I think I'd go after  the gun laws. Since I'm all-powerful.

Just dreaming.

                                                

Again . . .

Another mass shooting.

Another legally acquired military type rifle.

And the predictable 'thoughts and prayers . . .'

And we're told that the aftermath of such a tragedy 

Is not the time to discuss gun control.

Sandy Hook and all those murdered children

wasn't the time.

Gabby Giffords wasn't the time.

Nor the church folks in Charleston.

Nor the night clubbers in Orlando.

Nor Virginia Tech, Columbine, the Navy Yard, Luby's Cafeteria, the California McDonald's, the Edmond post office, the Inland Regional Center, nor any of the many other mass shootings in this broken country of ours . . . 

Not the right time, when innocent people have been gunned down by crazy/radicalized/angry shooters carrying weapons of war. No, not the right time to talk about gun control.

"Can't you at least wait," someone asked, "till the blood has dried before you politicize this?"

The blood never dries. 

One shooting follows another and we become numb,

Adjusting to the new normal. 

Our President and many of our Congresspersons tweet their prayers, their thoughts, their warm condolences. They stand for an uncomfortable moment of silence then it's back to business as usual -- dancing to the NRA's tune, making guns available to almost anyone, legalizing silencers for long guns -- while cutting funds for mental health, while advising us that though we have a right to guns, we don't have a right to affordable health care.

Those prayers, those thoughts, those warm condolences are empty and worthless if they aren't accompanied by action. They are a slap in the face of each victim, each survivor, each family member, each American who longs for some effort to stem the proliferation of guns meant only for killing people.

Keep your prayers for your own black souls, all of you hypocrites.

Jesus wept.

Guns for Peace of Mind

Yesterday on Facebook a local entrepreneur who is rehabilitating an old theater in a nearby town posted the following notice: "When _____ opens we will welcome sane law abiding adults with legal hand guns. I want anyone who entertains the thought of harming any of our patrons to consider the fact that they may be sitting next to a glock."

Living where I do, I have always known that others may well be armed. Even if one is a Southern Lady attempting to be polite at all costs, one is far less tempted to flip off a rude driver who is likely packing heat.

Still, I and quite a few others found this open invitation a bit unsettling, not to say appalling.  To a woman (yes, it was all women, at least as I'm writing this,) we announced our intention of never patronizing his theater. (There was one woman who applauded the notice and said she would be there and she would bring her gun. And a man applauded the theater owner for having the cojones to post this notice. But the reaction was mainly negative.)

The theater owner responded that he was concerned for the safety of his patrons, hence the welcome sign for legal and sane gun toters.

Some of us asked how he planned to determine legality and sanity -- one pictures little interviews with each customer before entering the theater. Others accused him of fear-mongering and/or publicity seeking. Various statistics were cited but it was all done in polite and measured words. 

Then came another dissenting voice, a fella (whose profile pic shows him leaning against a church pew) said, and I quote: "Shut the hell up I will be there with bells on Liberal trash this is madison co go back to your wimpy spineless gun free high crime rathole you came from"

Though, as I've mentioned before, I own a gun and have a concealed carry permit, I would not be at all comfortable sitting next to this angry guy -- and imagining a whole room full of similar folks is enough to keep me away forever.

And what if the fella below was in the seat on the other side?