Power

 It hit me just a short time ago that a lot of this…whatever we are in right now is about power. It’s a common thread that just continues to pop up.

Wielding a gun is placing a lot of power in your hand. Let me tell you what I think being a gun advocate should mean. Let me first state that I personally do not care if you own a gun. Literally couldn’t care less. Now, being a gun advocate to me should mean you own a weapon (or 2, or 12) and you could fire each one with precision, which means you train at least semi regularly with the weapons you own. It means that you have them secured where just no one can get them. It means anyone in the house within a reasonable age should be trained on the weapons you own. Wait, I’m not done. It should mean that you would want that same standard for anyone who owns a gun. Why am I rambling about this?

Unfortunately there have been many shootings that have occurred in the United States and nearly every one follows the same script: shooting happens and the majority of gun owners immediately jump on anyone who gets any detail of the gun involved in the shooting wrong and if asked what can be done to fix the issue then ultimately conclude nothing can be done. But you better not take away their guns. THEY’RE responsible gun owners. 

My thoughts on that are if you as the gun owner know everything there is about guns and there is a problem ongoing with guns and the gun owners aren’t moving their finger to solve them you’re left with people who aren’t gun owners trying to solve the issue. Gun owners have the power to force change. But they don’t feel the issue is going to affect them. So they ultimately do nothing.

Being a police officer is putting a lot of responsibility in the hands of one person. They are charged with protecting and serving the communities in which they police. It is not an easy job. They aren’t paid nearly enough. I understand all of this. I see in the news story after story about police officers treating citizens badly or without humanity; over and over the refrain I hear is “Not all cops are bad! We must support them!”

Well, I agree. Not all cops are bad. But if the impetus isn’t on the citizens to ask police officers to continually monitor and refine their behavior, to constantly seek improvement, then it is on the police officers themselves. The cops who perform badly shouldn’t be pushed to another state or region without their records following them, right? That shouldn’t be a political thing. That should be good police officers not wanting to be lumped in with bad ones. That should be the good police officers doing everything they can to make sure their forces are as good as they can be. Because after a while, continuing to make excuses for the bad entities within your organization can become justifying their actions no matter what. That is a dangerous thing.

White supremacy falls along the exact same lines. I had a friend (for this instance, it matters that he’s black) post about a Ku Klux Klan rally/parade that occurred right up the road from him. Someone (for this instance, it matters that he’s white) mentioned that it’s only 3-4 people who attended this rally so it’s not very important or eye raising.

Well, not to a white person it isn’t, I suppose. Or I should clarify: the white person who indifferently only views things within his/her own bubble of how it affects them never once has to address any issue of white supremacy. That goes from acknowledging any number of social issues that disproportionately affect minorities to even acknowledging white supremacy exists. 

I’ve mentioned recently about how I’ve told stories on social media to friends about some experiences I’ve encountered as a black man only to be told in one way or the other that I was “wrong” or “mistaken” or if I was bringing up fears I had for minorities that there’s “no way it could happen to me”. 

It all goes back to power. I wish those people would instead ask what they could do to make sure these things never happen to anyone again. I wish more police officers would work to make sure bad ones never put on a badge and carried a gun in the name of protect and serve again. I wish more gun owners were furious about the shootings that occurred and worked with lawmakers to ensure the risks were mitigated and the training was increased…

…but for now way too many with power are only concerned with having it. And not the responsibility of what to do with it.

And here we are.