About My First US Gun Scare
A couple of weeks after I arrived in the States I spotted a news headline that read ‘Kansas Bans Cruises for the Poor”. It sounded like a quirky story. For a start cruise ships don’t sail out of land-locked Kansas and a cruise is way out of the reach of the average impoverished American. So I read on.
It turns out it was a catchy headline to a story about the State of Kansas cracking down on how welfare recipients could spend the money they received. A long list of spending possibilities was now off limits to them including a night at the movies, public swimming pools, lottery tickets, expensive restaurants, tattoo parlours, lingerie shops and concert tickets.
But the most shockingly ridiculous revelation was buried far down the story. It was of course perfectly acceptable for these people to buy essential items. And among the items state politicians deemed essential for day-to-day life in Kansas were GUNS AND AMMUNITION – yes, you read that right.
This was justified on the grounds that weapons were needed “to protect a family in a ‘dangerous neighborhood’ or to hunt for food”.
So welfare claimants in Kansas can’t see the new Star Wars film, but they can buy a Glock or a Beretta in their neighbourhood gun store. It is as crazy as it sounds but it is, sadly, symptomatic of America’s obsessive love affair with guns.
And the reason I am writing about this? Well this week, for those of us living in Phoenix, that obsession came dangerously close to home – way too close for comfort.
It started last weekend when several pot shots were taken at cars on the various highways and freeways that criss-cross the city. No-one was injured but bullets had struck car doors. These were real bullets, not air pellets or ball bearings. If they had hit a driver or passenger, they could easily have been killed.
After that it happened every day – 11 shots in all. Different roads were targeted by “the shooter”, the story led the news all week, police issued warnings to drivers not to use their cars unless necessary. But of course a car is necessary here.
People were, not surprisingly, terrified. It was the talk of every household, workplace, coffee shop and radio station. The closest call came when a bullet hit the windshield trim on the door of a small truck, only a foot or so from the driver’s head. That picture was published and only served to increase the panic.
Eventually on Friday a 19-year old was taken into police custody. On Saturday two more “copycat” suspects. Since then the shootings have stopped and people are beginning to breathe more easily.
Over the years I have had conversations with Americans about the gun infatuation and why it persists. I haven’t yet got a proper answer. Some cite their Constitutional right to “bear arms”; others say it is for protection.
Every single day in life, there are fatal shootings in America. Some, like the Sandy Hook school killings and the TV journalists shot while broadcasting, make worldwide headlines. There are hundreds of others, domestic incidents for example, that warrant just a few paragraphs in newspapers.
Of course many hundreds of thousands of people own guns and behave responsibly. But guns are as readily available as sweeties in the US. Whenever there is an atrocity, nothing is ever done to curb that availability. If relatives of the victims call for gun restrictions, they become the “enemy”, such is the power of the gun lobby.
To be honest I find it a strange and alien culture, I don’t pretend to know the answer and I’m not in a position to make judgments. All I can say is that people are shot to death here every day. Surely that death toll can be minimized.
It is the first time I’ve felt threatened by America’s love of guns. Yes, this is a huge city but the knowledge that someone could be across the road ready to fire at my car is not a comfortable feeling. For now the panic has subsided but I daresay it will rear its ugly head again.