The mistrust goes deeper than that. I hesitate to talk with neighbors as to if they have firearms and would be willing to meet to discuss mutual defense if things really go south. The discussion I want to have is broader, who is doing what about water, communications, survival food, and defending ourselves, what we have, from those making no plans or figuring somebody else’s plan will be their salvation, by charity or by taking whatever they can find.
Not that I have automatic weapons and grenades (though a few of each seem like better and better ideas as time passes) but the idea of active self-defense may scare some people enough for them to call the local gendarmes to keep an eye on me. And if things go south, the order is issued to gather the arms of citizens to further empower the local cops (think New Orleans during Katrina and the recent proclamation of the governor of the US Virgin Islands), maybe I would be one of the first places they go, for reports of my local “friends”.
I have no arsenal, nor exotic arms, but perception (imagination?) is as good as truth for some actions by government. The Precautionary Principle activates. The local cops carry full-auto assault rifles on their motorcycles, in addition to sidearms with standard magazines (13-17 rounds) compared to the 10-round mags I am trusted with. The black and whites carry similar rifles and shotguns.
It sort of bothers me that cops need this kind of firepower, but I should not have any. They can’t possibly be everywhere at once, and that they might generate very detailed reports which eventually convict someone comforts me, having been killed quickly or slowly, not very much.
I have some rights, too. Or I thought so.
Huxley was a little off. It’s not a Brave New World. It’s being brave in the face of a new world where deviancy, of any sort, is just “diversity”.
Well, so much for a celebratory Friday night. The lack of frivolity is due to how my mind works and things I see, not a reaction to you all. I am an accountant and an Eeyore by trade and habit.
Take care, y’all.
By George Schirtzinger via Facebook
