On July 4th I was walking through Walmart with my 7 yr old son. As we are moving through the store, a man almost 15 feet away from me starts staring at me. He continues his angry stare and after a moment I give him my best, ‘What is your deal, man?’ look. He responds by puffing out his chest–at least that was what I thought he was doing. Following his now shifting eyes, I was drawn to the holster under his armpit. He smirked and continued to stare as my son and I went by.
My first thought was, what kind of man tries to start a gunfight in the middle of a department store with an unarmed man pushing a kid in a shopping cart. My second thought was a more emphatic WTF?! I’m still lingering in the realm of the second thought, curious about more than the man but the culture that created the man. My friends who heard about this first asked, ‘was he white?’ In fact, the gun toting loser was white. They immediately questioned if this could be a racist incident. I didnt at first. Until I started reading…
Reading about the recent July 4th weekend shooting in Chicago I stumbled across this quote from web responder MattyC, “The problem isn’t gun laws – I guarantee the guns used in these shootings weren’t legally obtained (except by the police officers). The problem is the poverty, culture, and lack of family values.” A quick glance through the responder’s post history shows an archetype of anger and the supposed media’s purely liberal bias, Obama’s utter failure and responsibility for everything from Fast and Furious (started way before 08, to the troop withdraw from two wars (also started and planned before 08), to a general distaste for urban areas populated by minorities. This history colors his post and changes the meaning of what would otherwise be a sensible remark on gun violence. Call me a stereotyper, but I see a bit of my gun toter in MattyC. I see a bit of that anger and moral superiority that I fear triggered the man to not only carry in Walmart, but to sense the need–the right–to behave aggressively as well.
People are angry and afraid. Politicians have jumped on this seed of anger and fanned the flames for years. The America of 20 years ago is not the America of today. It still belongs to the corporations, but the visible power is shifting away from people who look like the people who’ve always held power. Now we are seeing a backlash from those most resistant to change, those too angry or ignorant to grasp how they are being tricked, and worst of all, those who have enough power to affect meaningful change in a positive direction.
In some ways I fear the situation is similar to what happens in muslim countries where the poor and disaffected males are pushed into terrorism as a way to belong to something greater than themselves and lash out at those who they’ve been convinced are the source of all their problems. Carrying a gun in Walmart is no more going to fix the fact that our country is changing than strapping a bomb to yourself and blowing up a boat full of Americans is going to change the fact that American companies (and the military) want a piece of your nation. Both actions will have the same result. They will only escalate the conflict. They will only give people reason to lash out. We saw that with 9/11 when we decided to invade two countries over the specter of terrorism. We see that in the Walmart situations as other stores are beginning to ask people to stop bringing guns.
Walmart has been the source of several incidents regarding individuals bearing arms. There is even a blog devoted to following Walmart shootings. In 2013 there were 81. In 2014 there 34 so far. This does not include non-shooting gun incidents. It puts the running two year death tally at 29. Perhaps MattyC was right about the ‘culture and lack of family values.’ Unfortunately, he failed to define which culture and which family values. Not more than a few miles from where I work this shooting happened. This is a compelling case, because, in the end, the shooter was compelled to shoot in order to save himself from a beating. However, the incident leading up to the shooting points to a man who felt emboldened by the fact that he was armed. In other words, he wasn’t carrying a gun for self defense, he was carrying a gun for self confidence. He used that confidence to support his belief that he had the right to go and do what he pleased–especially in a situation where he left his isolated spot and basically got in the space of a woman making a sensitive transaction. When the husband asked him to step away he could have done so, or instead, emboldened, he could have done what he did–tell the husband to back off and escalate the conflict. Just as in my situation the man had no need to start a stare down. He could have simply kept on with his business as I kept on with mine.
On the way out of the store I saw a man wearing a tee shirt that read ‘Ipac’ with the symbol of gun instead of the familiar chewed up apple the shirt was an obvious play on. The man wearing it was a skinnier version of the man I encountered earlier in the store. Same piercing anger in his eyes, same strut, hell, same goatee. I didn’t see a weapon, but we’re allowed to carry concealed arms in this state. You know what I didn’t see?
Agression.
Ipac man smiled at me and nodded. I smiled and nodded back and we both kept keeping on. You see, it is okay to feel strongly about what you believe in–that’s the beauty of this nation. I like to think Ipac understood one thing the other dude didn’t: Being mad and feeling strongly doesn’t give you the right to go out and start a fight with someone who has nothing to do with your problems.
Some Thoughts:
- This quote from Donna Brazille really sums up my feelings on the recent ‘Obama is the worst’ poll: “When it comes to the “best” president, Democrats split their votes between Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy and Obama, each reaching double digits. Two-thirds of Republicans said Ronald Reagan was the best, largely ignoring everyone else.The same happened, in reverse, with the “worst”: Democrats split their votes between Bush and Nixon; Republicans “really hate Obama.”So, no surprise: The country is deeply divided on partisan grounds, Democrats share the wealth, and Republicans concentrate their love or disdain.” (read the full article here)
- Based on the crazy success of Frozen, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone pitched multiple sequels. I hope the producers have the courage we still see from the Incredibles producers and don’t sully their creation with a sequel.
- This was longer than 10 minutes.