I’m not a fan of wild west shootouts unless they are in the movies, so when I saw this notice on the window of a restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga where I had planned on eating lunch yesterday, I went elsewhere.
My thinking on this matter is because, as many law enforcement officials have told us, when police arrive they don’t know who’s the bad guy and who’s the good guy. They have to assume that anyone waving a gun around and shooting is the bad the guy. Perhaps if concealed carry AND open carry actually required training and insurance at a minimum, kind of like a driver’s license, I might have greater confidence in the people who feel a need to eat lunch or shop at Walmart with guns proudly displayed. Just doesn’t make sense to me. And as we have seen too often, these people (I’m painting with a broad stroke here but as my wise old gramdmother said, “A few bad apples do, indeed, ruin the whole bunch.”) don’t understand what “protection” means. To wit:
Woman kills homeless man who asked her to move her Porsche SUV
Woman pulls gun at Walmart over last notebook
I grew up with guns and hunting, both let’s-kill-something-because-we-can-hunting and we-need-food hunting. My dad killed himself with a handgun when I was six. Maybe he would have killed himself anyway with a knife, razor blade, car exhaust fumes…. I don’t know. But the fact is that he killed himself with a handgun. I’m biased. I freely admit that.
As my wise old grandmother also said, “When it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go.”
Russel Ray Photos 