Mac-Coleman

7 September 2011 –

Yesterday’s murders and shootings in the IHOP in Carson City, Nevada, prove again that those who are most trusted with weapons in society probably won’t be carrying one when they meet for a peaceful meal at a local eatery. Ninety-nine percent of soldiers in the United States don’t carry weapons while in uniform downtown. Ninety-nine percent of civilians, even in a state where concealed weapons laws allow responsible citizens to carry firearms, won’t be carrying weapons in the local IHOP. Islamic terrorists, despondent ex-boyfriends, violent robbers, gang members, nut jobs who just escaped from the mother ship, all have the upper hand in society. If I were a terrorist, I wouldn’t feel compelled to be a suicide bomber or shooter; it is too easy to get away to do it again another day. But, this case may be different. Mr. Eduardo Sencion was probably a nut job who hated his ex-wife, maybe couldn’t get into the National Guard, and couldn’t get any other job either. In my opinion, Mr. Sencion’s biggest fault was that he didn’t sequence his mayhem correctly. He shot himself last instead of first. My prayers are for the families of those killed and maimed. It seems as many soldiers are being shot in the United States as are being shot in Iraq right now. And, nobody is getting combat pay in Carson City, Nevada.

One more thing about carrying a weapon in society—something the Second Amendment gives Americans the expressed right to do. You can take the appropriate safety classes. You can become comfortable in the use of a firearm. You can train to become accurate in times of stress so as to put every round where you want it when the crazies come through the restaurant. You can take the responsibility to protect yourself and others from death and mayhem. But, in the end, when you pull a weapon and shoot somebody, be prepared for your life to change, and not for the better. The first thing: committing a violent act against another human being changes you inside, no matter the high and righteous motivation for the act. I don’t have the fancy psychological terms to describe it. I just know that you will never be the same person afterward. The second thing: you probably won’t be a hero to many people. In fact, you may have to suffer legal attacks from the family of the piece of garbage that you shot and from wrap-around organizations whose agenda may include everything from eviscerating the Second Amendment to promoting a particular group’s elastic rights over your individual rights. Protecting yourself or the elderly couple in the booth next to you—strangers to you even as you protect them—may cost you untold grief and money. I am not saying it isn’t worth it. I am saying that you will have to pay a price for your heroism. Those who instinctively turn to the sound of the guns will pay the price anyway. The rest of you need to be warned.

Tonight is the next performance of the Republicans’ roadshow. If the night holds to a normal course, pushing President Obama’s jobs speech before Congress to an NFL opener’s pregame show on Thursday may be the only memorable aspect of the effort. Ah, what a memory that is! The first head-to-head confrontation between Governors Romney and Perry also may prove to be interesting and revelatory. One of these men most probably will carry the Republican banner in 2012; their comments back and forth may prove durable beyond the end of the night. Or not. Whoever is moderating the evening will have a lot of control over who has the time to look good and who doesn’t. I tolerate the process. It is a bad way to pick a candidate; but every other way is probably worse. Let the pseudo gladiator games begin. Tomorrow, we shall see if their ratings beat reruns of Happy Days or Law and Order.

I think that President Obama is on a fool’s errand tomorrow night. He already erased any patina of authority or “gravitas” by his ill-advised, no-win confrontation with Speaker Boehner and then by his subsequent acceptance of being the pre-game show to the Packers-Saints season opener. If his speech itself follows form, there will be general mention of projects, payroll tax credits, and direct, emergency funding of loyal constituents such as laid-off teachers. Interspersed will be attacks on the stingy rich, the oil companies, and private jet users. But, it will not ring deeply in the ears of most Americans. Simply, it will not present any specific program for recovery. It will not convince an underemployed nation—certainly not anybody in the GOP—that the President knows how to put this economy back on track. It seems the President took my advice above and shot himself first, yet he still wants to continue.