Right now as you read this someone is being violently
attacked, do you care what kind of weapon was used? I would hope not I would hope that as a human
being you would have concern that a violent attack was committed and that alone
should drive you or someone into action but that is NOT happening today.
We have managed to compartmentalize violence as if one
action was worse than the other. Some
people might think a killing is the worst violence but a survivor of sexual
abuse might disagree and that is because it is impossible to rate violence on a
level of what is OK and what’s not. The
interesting thing is that our culture in our society that is exactly what we’ve
done, it’s better to get shot in the hand then in the head. In terms of survival it may very well be from
a simple perspective of survival but in terms of the act it is truly one in the
same. How can we stop ourselves from
thinking that violence can be compartmentalized and see it as one big issue?
To do that we would need to confront many things dating back
hundreds of years and not because there is anyone alive from back then but
because people today feel the effects of actions taken by those in powers
hundreds of years ago. Part of the
violence issue is denial of the actual violence by people that rather not talk
about certain things because “our family doesn’t talk about controversial
issues…” or “I really just rather live my life and let God deal with it” those
two points of views, and many more, are part of what keeps different types of
violence in a neat little box.
Let’s look at the gun issue people right now are angry with
the thought that the government wants to put restrictions on owning a gun. Many
quickly go to the 2nd Amendment and I quote “A well regulated
militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the
people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” What people make out of these 27 words really
amaze me and what really sends me in a loop is when non-whites defend the that
very same amendment , do they not realize that their ancestors were not even
considered a full human being by the people that wrote this?! I do believe that plays a role in this
because a written document is expressive of what the writer(s) believes and
what they stand for and I’m sorry to break it to you but most of the people
that signed the constitution were slave owners!
So is it valid to say “gun” violence is different from gang
violence? or domestic violence? If a
gang member shoots a gun a kills someone how can we separate the event? What if an angry man shoots and kills his
wife/girlfriend in their house can we truly separate the event from the gun? When we talk about things like domestic violence
it is said in that way to direct attention to where it happened and mostly is
used within legal and social service settings.
There are events geared towards domestic violence but that is to raise
awareness to victims to seek help and funding for programs that deal with that
issue but we don’t go to the owner of the house and protest that the domicile
being used by this couple is causing the violence so we want the owner to fix
it. There’s the difference with the gun
issue is that we are attacking gun companies and ammunition makers for the
violence being inflicted by humans.
Yes pause for a minute because I’m sure you’re asking
yourself if I just defended the gun industry.
I’m not but what difference would it make if we attack the gun industry
but don’t hold our government accountable when they decide to cut services to
those in need, when they defend people on Wall street that have committed
crimes and not paid for them, when school funding is not even taken
seriously? In our minds that would mean
that we would have to leave one compartment and move on to another compartment
to deal with those other issues and frankly people that SHIT ain’t working!
I have had guns in my hands over periods of my life and I
have never had the desire to kill anyone and it can become reality if things
move along a destructive path. I’ve had
the opportunity over the years to have conversations with people that have been
accused and/or admitted their participation of using a gun to kill
someone. NONE of them have ever bragged
or even defended their actions that lead them down that path several have even
admitted to blacking out while the shooting took place and I have corrected
them in letting them know that it’s not so much a black out but blockage that
your mind knows you are unable to deal with right now. So many people believe it to be a right as an
American to own a gun and if people really took the time to sit down and read
why the 2nd amendment in the Bill or Rights exist they would
understand that it had nothing to do with the “right” they believe today. There’s a lot of possible reasons that
historians have talked about around why the 2nd amendment was
written one of them has to do with an event in Boston when the British
basically took away everyone’s gun powered and guns. The British wanted the colonies to buy guns
from Britain as well as the gun powder and the colonist said screw that! If you really know your history and military strategy
you would quickly realize that the 2nd amendment was a big FUCK OFF
to the British Crown. It was a nice way
of saying ‘want this land back come and get it just know that everyone you
encounter has a gun.’ Also there was strong support to have a monarchy here
with its pledged allegiance to the British Crown so this country started off with
a very strong paranoid schizophrenic society.
Back in 2013 there are people with several hundred rounds of
ammunition in their homes with a shotgun over the front door, guns in every
room, gun magazines as reading entertainment on the kitchen table, and weekend trips
to somewhere to shot off that ammo, and in many cases, just for fun. There are also people that are very concerned
with their safety but when we compare ourselves to other “developed” Nations we
are really on the “no need to freak out” list simply because everyone the
country has pissed off and willing to take a shot at this county is thousands
of miles away and when they do attack its big like 9/11. What would 5000 rounds and 3 heavily equipped
submachine guns do that could have changed 9/11???? Nothing!
So what is it that you are worried about? Taking on the government is implied where the
2nd amendment talks about “…a free state…” based on the reasoning
for the call of independence. Do you
know how much you would have to own to take on the government? A lot! So what is it that YOU are protecting
yourself from? Is it the criminal that
might break into your house?? Well that’s
a sign of a larger issue so if you address that larger issue then that criminal
disappears, don’t believe me? Well I’ve
placed a lot of things into play and I have proof of how being active in
someone’s life and giving them positive feedback and supporting them like a
Brother will and can change things.
There was a Brother on the East Coast that was hell bent on
making a name for him and felt the need to “impress” those that he thought
needed impressing. I spoke to him about
the fundamentals of our Nation and how we needed to focus on making sure
everyone was fed, housed, educated, and generally taken care of. At some point our communication stopped and a
couple of years later he was indicted by the federal government. All of the accusations took place AFTER our
communication had stopped and the proof was that my name appeared in his indictment
as someone he communicated with.
I don’t feel bad for him because he was forewarned about
negatives actions and where that would lead and he obviously took a path that
lead him to really “impress” someone somewhere…maybe not.
So are you still going to rally around anti-gun slogans or
are you going to impact someone in a positive way to cut to the core of the
violence issue in our country?
I hope you chose to impact someone’s life and stop bullshitting
yourself in believing that if we didn’t have guns we wouldn’t be going through
this.
Peace/AMOR
Gerardo
