A DOUBLE EDGED SWORD

A DOUBLE EDGED SWORD

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

“When they outlaw guns…..only the outlaws will have guns”, catchy phrase, I’m wondering if some Wall Street advertising agency wasn’t commissioned to think it up. It is estimated that 30,000 people die every year from gunshot wounds, I say estimated because some deaths actually slip through the cracks, I’m not really sure how a death…..caused by any reason could slip through the cracks but they do.

 

The United States has had its share of shooting deaths just this year, in the first three months of 2015, there have been 83 recorded shooting deaths by police departments around the country. January has been the bloodiest month so far with 39, while February had 37. Of course there’s more out there, but they slip through the cracks!

 

These shooting deaths run the gamut of circumstances from cops being shot at by the descendants of a women with a knife, to a man hitting a police dog with a hammer and advancing on the dog’s handler, to mental patients, to a man being shot by undercover police officers in Scottsdale, Arizona.

 

I’ve written about what I perceive as a huge social problem here in the United States, and I know that there are other people who feel exactly as I do, but for a myriad of reasons, the cause for gun control of some sort hasn’t gained much traction.

 

Without exception here in the United States, every policing agency, city, county, state and at the federal level have had incidents of violence, whether in how prisoners are processed and handled, to profiling traffic stops to actually shooting to death a potential perpetrator.

 

I also am convinced that many, many police agencies throughout the country, and the offices of the prosecuting attorney at some time is just one step above those vile criminals that they deal with on a daily basis. It’s all in the numbers games that these law enforcement officials play to convict at any cost. As one cop told me, “a good criminal case is a closed criminal case”.

 

Politicians and law enforcement authority figures protect their turf as if it were their own, they have no clue that they are just renting the space that they occupy…..there’ll be another official to take their place when they either are voted out of office or retire.

 

ONE SUCH CASE

On March 6, 2015 at 6:30 P.M. a 19 year-old biracial teenager was shot to death in Madison, Wisconsin by a white 45 year old cop…..Matt Kenney. The shooting took place because the teen was darting in and out of traffic…..on foot!

 

Kenney said that the shooting victim, Tony Robinson had allegedly committed battery against him and during the scuffle the police officer drew his weapon and shot Robinson. It is still unclear how many times the police officer shot Robinson, but however many, the shooting did the job, killing the young man.

 

I have had a problem with how and where the assault and death occurred, according to reports that cop entered the apartment of Robinson in a confrontational manner and seemed somehow to lose control of the situation and had to resort to violence and ultimately had to shoot Robinson in his own apartment.

 

Of course Robinson had a criminal record and was on probation after pleading guilty to armed robbery in 2014. An uncle had written Robinson’s defense attorney warning that he (Robinson) faced a decision, whether he wanted to fall deeper into a life of crime or to change his attitude and life a better life.

 

Of course the Madison Mayor, Paul Soglin, the Madison police chief, Mike Koval, and the cop, Matt Kenny are all white, while the shooting victim, Tony Robinson was black. I have an observation here; it may not be pertinent, but do I detect a pattern here, of white cops shooting black people and then have their authority figures back them up, protecting them from prosecution.

 

Of course this is exactly what happens time after time in the United States, and I for one am sick and tired of this action. I’m white…..100% and I still have a problem with this type of treatment that black people get. Can you imagine how blacks feel about this action…..if you’re white like me, like me, you can’t imagine the outrage?

 

THE ALTERNATIVES

There are a bunch, but until, as a country and a species of people, we honestly address our racial differences we will be doomed to continue the idiotic activity that we now practice. Until white people decide not to cross the street to avoid a group of blacks we are lost.

 

Until we not only voice are outrage at shoddy and illicit handling of minorities, but step up and voice that outrage to the authority figures…..things are going to remain the same. Until we become aware of the fact that we need to police ourselves we are in the deepest of dodo!

 

The gun advocates out there aren’t all bad, nor are those people who want strict weapons controls all good. But I can tell you this, if a cop enters my home for some kind of a bust operation, he’d better be righteous…..and right.

 

I don’t own a gun, I don’t hunt nor am I interested in target practice. I love a good hamburger or a steak, but am also not interested in harvesting my own meat, I don’t even fish. So it wouldn’t bother me if nobody had guns. I have nothing that is important enough for me to take a life, that is until time that somebody threatened my family, I suppose than I would want a weapon.

 

However, believe it or not, I don’t blame a person who figures that they might need a firearm for personal, or property protection. But this people would be far and few, and would need a huge reason to be packing.

 

And please spear me the argument about the US Constitution’s 2^nd amendment protecting it’s citizens the guaranteed right to keep and bear firearms…..it’s not the way that it is read. As a country we do not need to shoot our breakfast, lunch and dinner, and by and large we don’t need a weapon to protect ourselves. Those people who want a six shooter strapped to their hip, or have a rifle slung over their shoulder are usually simply frustrated Clint Eastwood wanna-bes.

 

This issue, to keep and bear arms, is one of the few complicated issues that the country faces today. This attitude and the atmosphere that nobody can enter my space, or that police officials are untouchable for their actions is just so much malarkey.

 

The issues here are huge, police brutality, police killings, authority figures covering thing up, keeping score of arrests and convictions like you would in a bowling match, and you red-necks out there who figure to waltz around with a hand-gun and a rifle always at the ready…..get a grip before its simply too late.

 

Do you realize that if 30,000 people die of gunshot wounds every year, no matter the reason, no matter the circumstances, the number is more than all of the US military personal that have died in the war on terror by a factor of…..well I don’t know, but I do know it’s a huge figure.

 

For me, the Double Edge Sward axiom is an issue with varying sides and differing opinions, and again…..one that we need to, as a country address, and deal with.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!