<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Several times in Moscow I have seen someone open carrying a handgun in a holster, but they did not appear to be trying to make a point about it to anyone. <br>
<br>One time it was a women in Safeway, thus her motivation to open carry a handgun could not have been male machismo, though of course a women could manifest a female version of this state of mind. I asked her if she was law enforcement, thinking she might be a law enforcement officer in plain clothes, but she said she was not. <br>
<br>I seem to recall that armored trucks carrying cash in Moscow are staffed by those carrying guns, and if so, the reason is obvious.<br><br></div>I am alarmed when I see someone with a firearm of any kind, and I suppose this reaction is in part simply due to imagining the harm the weapon could inflict on my person.<br>
<br></div><div>Sensible firearm regulations appear to me to be no more of a burden than the regulations and licensing applied to drivers of motor vehicles, but some of those who defend the second amendment argue there is no constitutional right to drive, but there is to bear arms.<br>
<br></div>Frankly, I am more concerned with the carnage on the highways from accidents with cars and trucks, though most of these are not intentional violence. But the machismo psychology involved with reckless driving I think could involve a similar mindset to machismo about guns. People drive their cars and trucks aggressively to express power over other people, and fast powerful cars might induce an emotional thrill somehow similar to firing weapons.<br>
<br>Drunk driving, while not usually explicitly involving an intent to kill, is so irresponsible that it comes close to intent to kill, unless the driver is mentally handicapped.<br><br></div><div>John Lennon's "Happiness is a Warm Gun" is relevant to this discussion:<br>
<br><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE2Vdcv9Q_o">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE2Vdcv9Q_o</a><br></div><div><br></div>Info on highway deaths below, which far exceed deaths due to firearm violence:<br>
<br><a href="http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1103.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1103.pdf</a><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br>------------------------------------------<br>
</div><div class="gmail_extra">Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett<br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 1:09 PM, <a href="mailto:rhayes@frontier.com" target="_blank">rhayes@frontier.com</a> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rhayes@frontier.com" target="_blank">rhayes@frontier.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Courier New,courier,monaco,monospace,sans-serif">
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Last year at a Tuesday Grower's Market a guy stood at the door of the Co-Op with a pistol on his hip doing his open carry thing. His arms were crossed in obvious defiance, and the look on his face was not pleasant. To get in to the store, I had to make my way around him, and I can tell you honestly that I was intimidated, just as I am sure he intended me to be. Given how much gun violence there is in this country, anytime I see someone with a gun in public I immediately become <span><span>vigilant</span></span> and nervous. </div>
<div>Is this the sort of world you want? </div><div>By the way, since 1980 over 1,057,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by gun violence. </div><div>What I, and the
<b>majority</b> of Americans are suggesting is a conversation on how best do we address this carnage. More guns is not the answer. </div><div>It will take <u><b>courage</b></u> to bring a meaningful and positive change to our culture of violence and machismo. And courage is not found in our trigger fingers, but in our hearts and minds. </div>
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