Carrying A Handgun

Soon after I moved back to America, after having lived in Western Europe almost 20 years, I took the classes and got a State of Texas permit to carry a concealed, loaded handgun. I have never been a gun freak, and I scoff at the paranoid right wing conspiracy theorists of the NRA and the racists such as the ku klux clan.

I have had several friends raise their eyebrows at me arming myself, but until today no one has ever had the nerve to openly ask me why I felt the need to be armed when I took my doggie for a walk or went to Wal-Mart or the bank.

I received an email today from my son. He is currently studying at New Mexico’s top geological and mining university in the field of Environmental Remediation. Like in what to do with all the toxic mining waste that is often left over after the mining companies have taken as much wealth out of the land as they can, and then have gone bankrupt and vanished. He asked me, “I'm curious what you have experienced to raise your concern about being assaulted or robbed. Your carrying a concealed weapon just doesn't mesh with the image of you that I developed growing up around you.”

I answered that I would give the matter some thought, and that maybe then I would be able to give him an intelligent, well thought out answer. It is a fair question.

Right now Americans are buying so many guns and ammunition that they have created a massive shortage. What is causing this extreme fear?

The headline grabbing news media is probably responsible more than anything else. With today’s modern improvements in communication, worldwide we get instantaneous news. Most of these news organizations are profit-making corporations. Their main loyalty is not to report the news in an honest manner, their jobs depend upon profitability and popularity.

Honest and in-depth reporting based upon multiple sources of information, which is not released until it has been properly verified for accuracy has become very old school. The very obviously biased news organizations like FOX are the worst, but even CNN is sometimes simply reporting what they read on Facebook. The Washington Post just got caught selling access to their reporters and various high governmental officials. For a donation of many thousands of dollars, the rich and powerful were assured that the Washington Post reporters would not ask them any of those pesky, hard, or controversial questions. So journalist ethics have gone out the window.

This journalistic dishonesty and the ignoring of ethics should be expected. FOX, CNN, and the Washington Post are all owned by for-profit corporations. Their main loyalty is not to society, it is to provide their shareholders with a good rate of return on the money that they have invested in the company. Good profits and rising stock prices also mean good bonuses for upper management. This is the same kind of greed and short term thinking that we have seen from Wall Street clear down to the local company which arranges mortgages for people buying their dream home.

In most cases the news people who were professionals and who deeply believed in journalistic integrity were laid off long ago. The owners call this downsizing. They have been replaced by men and women who were hired solely for their attractive looks, not for their intelligence or honesty.

A genuine cause of the rampant societal paranoia is the dishonest, greed-driven news media. They may be able to increase their popularity if they luridly report on all the bank robberies, burglaries, road rage on the freeways, and the drunks and drug addicts who end up stabbing or shooting other people.

I think some of the fear comes from racist fear mongers who are afraid of anyone who is slightly different than they are. People with darker skin, those from other countries, or people whose religious beliefs differ from theirs. The massive wall between America and Mexico and the rapidly growing Department of Homeland Security are concrete indications of this xenophobia and fear.

Another portion of society which is commonly feared is young people. There are some who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Many who grew up watching TV and playing violent video games instead of going outside and getting good at nurturing successful interpersonal relationships. All over the world there are a few sick, lunatic young people who become mass murderers at their high schools and universities.

Here on the border with Mexico there is a new paranoia. The Mexican drug mafia, which is in fact close to bringing down the elected Mexican Government. These drug barons have massive amounts of money which they use to corrupt and buy off law enforcement personnel and elected officials. Increasingly there are reports of criminals dressing up like policemen in Mexico and also in America.

Here in my hometown of El Paso, Texas we have had one scandal after another where greed has overpowered ethics among customs agents, law enforcement personnel, school board members, judges, and the men who owned and ran companies which were intended to provide jobs to disabled people. In almost every case it hasn’t been some raving lunatic who turned out to be the crook, it was a respected member of the upper class elite.

The corruption of elected officials is rampant in America. From the school boards and city councils all the way up to U.S. senators and congressmen. The politicians call it “campaign contributions.” Everyone knows that these large financial donations are nothing more than buying off these greedy and corrupt politicians. This is called Representative Democracy. These elected officials represent the rich and powerful people who make the large campaign contributions, and after the interests of their main donors are satisfied, then secondarily these corrupt politicians try to keep the voters happy.

But none of the above really answers why I feel so much safer when I am armed. Statistically I live in one of the safest communities anywhere. I preach that I have known people from all over the world, and that the vast majority of people are good. The bad apples are very uncommon, both here in America and in every other culture I have been exposed to.

On the other hand, being armed is kind of like carrying a Swiss Army Knife. The Boy Scout motto of always being prepared.

So is all of this an intelligent and well thought out rationale for carrying a concealed handgun when I’m out walking the doggie or going to Wal-Mart? No, I don’t think it is.

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