UN-GUN AMERICA

I have written extensively on this blog about gun violence in America. It is epidemic and shameful. The spotlight is now on the killing of Black men and women by police; the majority of these killings are by gun. (There are also many Black persons wounded by police guns.)  We tend to attribute this horrific toll of human life to racism, and that is certainly a major factor. In this post, I want to talk about guns as a major factor.

Why do police officers carry guns? There is not a simple answer to that question. One answer is to protect themselves from armed criminals. Another likely reason is to look militaristic and convey fear among citizens as a control measure (this could be another post about the history of policing). 

Too often we see or hear about police officers killing someone and think that there was really no reason to use a gun in that situation. Of all the deaths by guns used by police, the alleged crime, if there actually was one, prompting the police action is not punishable by death. (In fact, 25 of the 50 States do not have the death penalty.) Too often recently, we've seen police with their guns out and pointed at someone who either has committed no crime, or perhaps is suspected of committing a crime that absolutely is not punishable by death, and is not doing anything threatening! How many Black men and women have been killed by police guns as they were running away, or sleeping in bed, or getting into their car, or just standing while black? So why do the cops have their guns out?

What if cops didn't have guns? What if they only carried a baton, handcuffs, and maybe a can of pepper spray? That's what cops in London carry, as described here.  OK, that works in England you are thinking, but it would never work here in the US of A. Correct, as pointed out in the quote below from the article linked above: 

Of course it's easier for police to remain unarmed if civilians do the same. Out of every 100 people in Britain, fewer than four of them owns a firearm, according to GunPolicy.org, a project run by Australia's University of Sydney. In the U.S. there is more than one gun per person.

The fact is that America is awash in guns; there are more guns in the hands/homes of people than people in this country. An official estimate is about 423 million firearms (about 1.2 per person in America), and many billions of rounds of ammunition (8.1 billion rounds were manufactured in 2019 alone). There are about 17.7 million assault-style rifles, or long guns (AR-15 and AK-47) in private ownership; this is the most popular gun in America.  (Put the word "guns" in the search field of your browser and you might be shocked at the number of places where you can purchase them online. But beware, you'll likely start getting ads about them!)

So why don't we un-gun America? "Good luck with that!!" is the reply I usually get when I ask this question. No politician would dare suggest we collect people's guns. Hey, Second Amendment, Freedom, My Rights!! Sure, it would not be easy, and it might start another Civil War - but guess what, we are already in a civil war...but that, too, is for a different post. 

Here's the deal. Right now there are about 274 million dangerous machines owned by people in America, but they are highly regulated. To own one of these, you must be old enough, register it with the state in which you live, be certified to operate it, get re-certified every so many years, have insurance covering any damage it causes to other people or their property, and operate it according to laws, upon penalty of fine or arrest. Yes, motor vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles, mobile homes), very dangerous machines owned by Americans, are heavily regulated. In fact, the machines themselves must meet certain standards of safety, which change over time. 

So change the Second Amendment to say that you can own a firearm if you comply with the same kinds of rules and laws governing motor vehicles. Who could argue with that, in a rational way? In fact, surveys have repeatedly shown that the vast majority of gun owners favor more regulation. 

Here is the text of the Second Amendment:

 A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. 

Makes a lot of sense, right? Wrong, it makes no sense at all in 2020. 

And here is the revised Second Amendment I proposed on this blog in 2013:

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, shall be maintained by the federal government. The right of the people to keep and bear arms, under a well-regulated set of laws and rules to protect the health and welfare of the people, shall not be infringed.

What kind of society is so fixated on firearms that 40,000 people are killed by them every year, that school children are trained how to respond when a shooter enters their school, that a person can walk around with a military-style weapon and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in broad daylight, that over and over and over and over someone with one of these weapons commits mass murder, that thousands of people per year are killed by police with guns? What kind of society is that? Welcome to America.

Come on America. Let's do this. Un-gun Americans and un-gun police officers.* We could do it if we had the will to do so, and if the people we elect to public office grow a spine and make it happen. Make this part of the New American Revolution. 

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* Note: in England, there are special police units that carry weapons and are highly trained to use them for situations where they are warranted, such as terrorism. We could do the same here. And in America, private ownership of semi-automatic long guns (AR-15s and AK-47s) should be banned outright.

HOLDING CITIZENS RESPONSIBLE AND ACCOUNTABLE

 The United States is in the throes of a great upheaval that will affect every aspect of government and the social order. The events will be transformative, in positive or negative ways. A lot depends on the results of the 2020 federal election, as well as those at state and local levels. And a lot of the outcome depends on the actions and behaviors of citizens now, and going forward.

This post discusses the responsibilities of citizens, and how citizens could help be accountable for ending the turmoil in Portland, Oregon that has become global news, and fodder for the Trump re-election campaign. And yes, it is my opinion.

We live in Portland, Oregon, the Portland where nightly protests against police turn violent, and the videos of the violence appear in Donald Trump re-election campaign commercials. A lot has been said and written about police violence. In liberal circles, which includes my friends and family, the majority opinion seems to be that the police are using violence against mostly peaceful protesters, and this is the problem.

Police reform, or reimagining (not abolishing) is long overdue and drastically needed across America.   This is self-evident, people in government know it, people in policing know it. We can all, or mostly all, agree that officers of the law need to be responsible for conducting their business in respectful, non-biased and lawful ways. And they need to be held accountable for any transgression of those responsibilities.  

I wonder if I will find agreement among my liberal friends and family regarding the question of the responsibilities and accountability of citizens. Let me explain.

Protests in Portland have been going on, daily, for almost three months. The majority of protesters/demonstrators are peaceful, and working under the mantra and goals of Black Lives Matter. There are people, anywhere from a couple hundred to several hundred, who go out every night to protest at law enforcement buildings (police stations, a justice center, a federal courthouse, the police union building). Almost every night these events turn violent; some of the demonstrators throw things at police and buildings, fires are started in dumpsters or piles of combustible materials gathered from the area, people try to break through windows and doors and, if successful, get inside and loot/trash the premises and light it on fire (a news channel video of a recent demonstration showed a man leading chants with a bullhorn, including: "Burn the precinct to the ground; burn the precinct to the ground"). The police respond, first with warnings over a loud speaker, and more often than not this escalates to the use of various crowd control munitions (pepper spray, irritant gas, flash-bangs, rubber bullets, etc.) and physical "bull-rushing" or "hand-to-hand combat." This is a bad situation from every angle, and truly has no relationship to Black Lives Matter. (For those readers not from here, Portland has a very small Black population, and the majority of protestors, peaceful or otherwise, are white.)

Many Portlanders feel that the police are too violent in these situations. From where I sit, this is a tough call. But the point of this post is not about the police, it is about citizens. The actions of police during these demonstrations will be reviewed by city government and the courts (as a result of lawsuits filed by people at the demonstrations). Who will review the actions of citizens, other than those arrested? 

People are going to nightly demonstrations with the knowledge that there will probably be violence. There does not appear to be a strategy behind these nightly actions, other than to provoke the police to use force, and then complain about the police using force. Many leaders in the Black Lives Matter actions, as well as community leaders, have spoken out against this violence as being non-productive, changing the narrative, and playing into the hands of the Trumpsters. 

What are the responsibilities of Portland citizens in relation to this cycle of violence and destruction? I would say this: 

• Stay away from demonstrations that you know will turn violent (an obvious hint, from my experience at a daytime demonstration, is young white people dressed like Ninja warriors and carrying large plywood shields); 
• Go to demonstrations that are peaceful (these are mostly during the day);
• If you are at a demonstration and the police issue a legal order to disperse, go home immediately; 
• Don't go to demonstrations that are known to be violent with the intention of protecting the protestors from the police (yes, I'm talking about you Wall of Moms, Wall of Leaf-blower Dads, Wall of Vets, and all other Walls of); 
• Support, in any way you can except perpetrating or condoning violence and vandalism, the goals of Black Lives Matter and other social/racial justice movements;
• Educate yourself and others about the history of systemic racism;
• Educate yourself and others about the workings of the Police Bureau, including what it does right as well as wrong (for example, what has the Police Bureau accomplished under the terms of a settlement agreement with the U.S. Dept. of Justice?);
• Don't demonize police officers; policing needs to be fixed, but the vast majority of the women and men who are Portland police officers truly want to serve their community, and they put their lives on the line every day to do that.

How do we keep ourselves and our fellow citizens accountable for our actions and behaviors in relation to the above? Here are a few things:

• If you see something, say something. This includes seeing someone acting violently towards police or anyone else, and those who are committing vandalism; and also police acting unlawfully;
• Don't promote false news or stories; there is a lot of fake stuff on social media that is meant to confuse people or provoke them to anger - check sources, and ask others to do the same;
• Help people you know understand the complexities of this time of social upheaval;
• Be respectful, and demand respectful treatment for everyone, even those with whom you disagree, and respectfully talk to people who are not;
• Accept the kinds of citizen responsibilities listed above, and add your own ideas to the list.

 I am saddened by the violence and destruction I'm witnessing in Portland. Areas of our beautiful downtown have been trashed, and many businesses are boarded up. Neighborhoods that have a police station are scenes of demonstrations and often violence until early morning hours. Our City Council has been unable to deal with the situation, and does not seem to have a plan for doing so. Some City Council members contribute to demonizing the police, instead of supporting officers as public servants. The cost of police and fire services to deal with these nightly events, as well as the future costs of restoring buildings and public spaces, will be a burden on all of us. (The City Council recently pulled about $15 million from the Police Bureau budget and redirected the funds to community services. The costs for police and fire bureau response to the nightly protests, and the public costs of cleaning up and restoring public property will certainly exceed that $15 million.) 

It needs to end. We hold police accountable. We need to also hold ourselves accountable.

(What do you think? Your comments here would be appreciated.)

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MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN AGAIN

The Republican National Convention is upon us. What new and exciting things will the GOP propose for the next four years under Trump? Nothing. Nada. Zip. The platform of the Republican Party for the 2020 election is exactly the same one they had in 2016. They have made one change, the addition of one word - again. "Make America Great Again Again" is the new old slogan. 

Basically, the repugnicans love Donald Trump so very much, they just want to recycle him again again. As for a platform, well, here is what it says about a platform on the Repugnican National Committee convention website: 

RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda;

RESOLVED, That the 2020 Republican National Convention will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention;

RESOLVED, That the 2020 Republican National Convention calls on the media to engage in accurate and unbiased reporting, especially as it relates to the strong support of the RNC for President Trump and his Administration; and

RESOLVED, That any motion to amend the 2016 Platform or to adopt a new platform, including any motion to suspend the procedures that will allow doing so, will be ruled out of order.

And there you have it: anything The Donald says is what we'll do (MAGAA); in other words: nothing new until 2024; the fake news needs to stop telling lies about Trump's lies; and anyone who tries to do something different will be taken out back and shot (well, maybe it didn't exactly say that). 

I just heard an interview on NPR with a Democrat and a Republican strategist. The R person was so enthusiastic about Trump, and was all over Make America Great Again Again. Oh yes, she enthused, we're going to continue Trump's agenda, such as draining the swamp. WHAT??? Didn't Trump already drain the swamp? Yes, he did. And he created a new swamp, better described as a shithole (his language, not mine) filled with the most vile creatures ever to have walked the planet. 

Make America Great Again Again - these idiots are delusional, again again! 

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