Americans must be a bloodthirsty lot. I was watching this post school shooting show on a network channel where 2 equally stupid PhDs talked about gun control. One argued that if everyone on the Virginia Tech campus had a gun, 32 would not have fallen to a lone, crazed fellow.
I understand the politics of the NRA and America’s long history of carrying arms, particularly to subjugate and control a certain group of people who were kidnapped and chained to the new world. What I don’t understand is a grown man advocating that everyday folks, mostly young in this case, carry hand guns on a daily basis. The probability of being shot by a classmate or a coworker is minuscule but what he is advocating would certainly change the way people settle arguments, wouldn’t it?
I spent a couple of days in small city, southern US and had to take some pics of gun stores. Other than churches, pawn shops, and porn outlets, gun stores are more frequent than grocery stores. What a strange mix of violence, Christianity, decadence and poverty.
I went into a convenience store called Bengal Grocery and bought water from a decidedly non-Bengali, hefty man in his 60s. I was curious about the kind of gun he had, if any. He bent behind the counter and took out a shot gun.
My nomad instincts and feet told me to run but I stood frozen for a moment. He grinned and his wife giggled as they showed me the gun. He explained that one of the bullets could make a hole in the torso as large as a man’s head. How comforting. I would have asked for his picture with his prized weapon but sweat was running down my back and I was beginning to wonder if I had locked my car in the dilapidated neighbourhood. I thanked him for the water and the demo and cowered back to my rental.
Notice there is tiny writing on the lower left side of the yellow concrete!
Here is what it says:
This is what most homes looked like.
Churches tended to be better kept and their streets well maintained.
