Open Carry... right here in my home community!!!

Am I on the set of “Gunsmoke”—I just came to buy groceries!!!

I put the 24 oz. box of Frosted Mini-Wheats in my grocery cart and headed for the checkout. I looked up and had a sudden adrenalin rush. Am I imagining things? Am I on the set of an old episode of Gunsmoke? Is that Marshal Dillon twenty feet ahead of me on the right? Where’s Festus; where’s Doc? Are we headed for the Long Branch Saloon to see Miss Kitty? As Frank on Everybody Loves Raymond would say, “holy crap.” I think I actually spoke those words. Right there in front of me was a guy (definitely not law enforcement) with a pistol holstered on his right hip. I came out of my shocked state and realized—this isn’t Gunsmoke (an old TV western for readers too young to have seen it); I’m in my local Kroger store—right here in Moneta, Virginia. This was a surreal moment; I felt totally unsafe. A day or two later I wrote the letter copied here to the store manager.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

October 22, 2015

Frank Bryant, Store Manager

Kroger

80 Westlake Rd.

Hardy, Virginia 24101

Dear Mr. Bryant:

On Friday, October 9^th, I was shopping in your Westlake Kroger store. After finding the cereal I needed, I looked ahead in the aisle and was totally shocked. About 20 feet in front of me was a man with a pistol holstered on his right hip. He was clearly not a part of law enforcement but rather a citizen who has chosen to open-carry a handgun. To say the least, I had a surge of fear. I had three choices. I could leave my cart and leave the store; turn around and go down a different aisle, or go past him allowing a wide space between us. I chose the latter. There was young man at the checkout wearing a nametag that said Store Management. So, I said to him, “I just saw a man on the cereal aisle that was openly carrying a handgun.” “What is the Kroger policy about carrying a gun in the store?” He said, “our policy is that if it is legal in the county, you can carry a handgun in the store.” I paid my bill and left.

To say the least, I am disturbed by this policy. I have shopped in your store since this event. Every time, I constantly scan the customers to see if anyone is armed. Anyone who is armed is dangerous and it’s unconscionable that I have to be anxious every time I come to your store. As a consumer, I do have choices, even if they are not all convenient. Until Kroger develops a policy that allows all customers to feel safe in Kroger stores, I plan to do the following:

·       I will shop at your store as little as possible.

·       I will share this story with my friends and family.

·       As appropriate, I will send letters to newspapers about gun safety, gun violence and my experiences in area stores and other public institutions.

·       As much as possible, I will not patronize stores or attend programs in institutions that allow concealed or open-carry of handguns.

As a customer, how do I know this man had a permit to carry a handgun? As a customer, how do I know this man had a background check? As a customer, how do I know this man is emotionally stable? How do I know he doesn’t have problems with anger management? Perhaps Kroger will need to find ways to assure customers these questions have been answered if non-law enforcement people are allowed to carry handguns in your stores. Maybe Kroger will develop a policy that does not allow citizens to carry handguns in your stores; that policy would make all of us much safer.

Respectfully,

Cc: Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce

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Think about unintended consequences…              

Open and concealed carry of handguns in public spaces jeopardizes my safety. It is a public health/public safety issue. I follow news stories about gun safety and gun violence on The Trace. Try it yourself—you will be enlightened. Hopefully you will join the chorus of voices speaking out about the need for common-sense gun control laws that will protect us from ourselves.

           

           

   

Do I Live in a Spirit of Tragic Resignation or...?

Do I continue to live a life of “tragic resignation” or do I exercise my 1st Amendment rights and become an outspoken advocate for change?

            The morning of August 26, 2015, journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward were shot and killed during a live interview at Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. Their killer, Vester Flanagan, ended his own life later that day. Alison and Adam were young, educated, productive professional journalists whose lives were cut short by gun violence. Our community is stunned and heartbroken. In just a few seconds, 15 shots were fired from a handgun. Alison and Adam were taken from us forever, and one of our community leaders was seriously injured.

            Those with eyes to see and ears to hear—pay attention. Gun violence in our country is epidemic. We hear about it and see it in the news almost everyday. All of us remember the high-profile incidents: Fort Hood mass murders in 2009, mass murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the recent murders at the AME Church in Charleston, S.C., the Virginia Tech mass murders, the mass murders in Columbine, Colorado, the mass murders at a theater in Aurora, Colorado, the murders at a recruiting office in Chattanooga, TN, the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords in Arizona, the recent execution-style murder of a police officer in Houston, the recent murder of a police officer in Illinois, the murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida, the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, a college professor in Mississippi murdered by a colleague who also killed his wife and took his own life. And these are just some of the shootings that make the national media. Closer to my home there are killings by guns that don’t make the national media. The murder of the ex-wife of a sheriff’s deputy by the deputy, the accidental shooting of a nine year-old boy by his brother with a neighbor’s pistol and, on September 5, 2015, a shooting near Charlotte, N.C. that left a 9 year-old boy dead and three others wounded. Does this make death and injury by guns an epidemic? Actually, it is endemic in our culture. If this many deaths occurred in so short a time through infection with the poliovirus, we would all call it an epidemic! We would be demanding that our elected officials do something; we would be demanding that the CDC and NIH take action; we would be demanding federal investigations and the firing of officials because of their incompetence.

            Sadly, we don’t treat the ubiquitous killing of our citizens by guns as a serious epidemic. The predictable response to gun violence is: “guns don’t kill, people kill.” This is a worn-out, hollow cliché. It needs to be restated as a more truthful statement: “People with guns kill people.” Our elected officials, many fearful they will lose votes in the next election, hide behind two responses: “I support 2nd Amendment rights” and, “I support improving and increasing our mental health system.” I agree with both of these responses. But, come on—surely there have to be common-sense guidelines connected to the 2nd Amendment; guidelines that protect me, my friends and family from the kind of gun violence that took the lives of Alison and Adam.

And blaming the widespread killing of our citizens on inadequate mental health programs is a major cop-out. First of all, this assumes that people who have diagnosable mental-health disorders commit most of the gun violence. This is factually untrue and those who take this position are disingenuous or uninformed. And second, it does a real disservice to people who have diagnosable mental illness. The overwhelming majority are not potential killers. When our leaders make these assertions, it places a cruel stigma on thousands of people who need mental health services—it is shameful. I would be delighted if our leaders committed many more resources to our mental health programs simply because it is the right, responsible thing to do. But connecting mental illness with gun violence is wrong and shameful. And, we all know the reality that follows the public statements made by most of our elected officials; committing financial resources to our mental health system gets little real support. It is as difficult as getting common sense legislation that addresses gun violence.

And here is the irony that really amazes me. Following a mass murder like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary, gun sales increase. I suppose many of us buy the naive logic that the solution to bad guys with guns is to have more good guys with guns. Or, beware—the government is going to come get your guns; you better buy more while you can. That’s a little like saying we’re going to combat obesity buy eating more food! No matter the rationale that increases our level of fearfulness, the net result is an even greater number of guns in circulation in our communities.

There is only ONE common denominator that runs through all of these tragedies—GUNS. Guns are the weapons used regardless of whether the tragedy is the result of anger, rage, mental illness, terrorism, panic, fear, revenge or an accident.

Here are some of my assumptions about gun violence in our communities. These assumptions are not about gun ownership but rather about public safety and the proliferation of gun sales as more and more non-law enforcement citizens choose to arm themselves.

·      Anyone who is armed is dangerous.

·      Anyone who is armed is fearful.

·      Fear sets off internal physiological responses that override rational thinking.

·      An armed, fearful person is on higher alert; they may react from fear, rather than real danger.

·      I am less safe in public spaces when armed citizens are present.

·      I am more likely to be killed or injured by an armed citizen than by a “bad guy” or police officer.

      As a private citizen, I have a responsibility to do the things I can for positive change. I hope my example will speak to others. Here is where I begin.

·      I will actively support Everytown for Gun Safety and similar organizations

·      I will routinely advocate for public policies, at all levels, that reduce gun violence

·      I will NOT patronize businesses that permit customers or employees to carry handguns—openly or concealed—in or on their premises

·      I will NOT attend meetings or programs at institutions or organizations that allow individuals to carry handguns—concealed or openly. This includes places such as churches, schools, colleges and universities

·      I will actively lobby my elected officials to establish policies that reduce gun violence and protect the general public.

·      During election cycles, I will expect candidates seeking my support to provide thoughtful, deeply informed positions on issues about reducing gun violence. I will not accept bumper sticker slogans like I support 2nd Amendment rights, or we need to improve mental health programs.

·      I will hold my elected officials accountable for following through on the positions they pledged to take.

·      I will advocate for programs—beginning in elementary school—that promote nonviolent conflict resolution. In the long view, a cultural change from violence to nonviolence is required. This will take decades, but can begin now.

I do not suggest that we can totally end gun violence. But I do believe that we

can greatly reduce the current epidemic of gun violence in our country. I am enough of a realist to know that it will take decades to change our gun culture. But now is the time to face this challenge.

 

              

I'm Mad as Hell...

“I’m Mad as Hell and I’m Not Gonna Take It Anymore.” Many of us are old enough to remember the iconic movie, “Network” from 1976. Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch), the news anchor for a fictional news network, finally has enough and ventilates in a now famous on-air tirade that ends with these words. I don’t know about you, but I’m almost there!

Sometimes things come at me in clusters. In the last six months I have read “The Divide”, a book that describes the increasing wealth gap and how our justice system prosecutes—beyond belief—the small-time offender and rarely indicts individuals in large financial firms responsible for massive fraud costing individuals and nations billions of dollars; “The New Jim Crow”, a book that chronicles the mass incarceration of thousands of people, disproportionately people of color, that began with the war on drugs, and the life-long tragedy this brings individuals through our dysfunctional criminal justice system; “Just Mercy”, a book about the plight of death row inmates who have received incompetent legal representation and been the victims of vindictive and dishonest officials; saw the movie “Selma” about the civil rights movement in the 1960’s and the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and the brutal, vicious treatment of the unarmed marchers by local law officers and citizens.

And then I watched (and listened) to President Obama’s State of the Union address to congress and the nation. By this time I was already ruminating about the injustice in parts of my culture: the oppression and suffering of thousands of my brothers and sisters because of their color, sexual orientation, religious tradition or economic status. As I reflected on the president’s speech and the images of the body language of many of my elected officials (this is a problem with live television), I couldn’t decide whether to be angry or laugh hysterically. I chose the latter! Think about it, the majority of officials in attendance were older, white men dressed in dark suits, starched white shirts and boring neck ties; it looked a little like penguins in their nesting grounds—talk about lack of imagination, creativity and independent thinking. Just so you know, I too am an older, white man; hopefully with a bit more imagination than what I saw that night. To make it worse, when the president made statements that should get everyone on their feet like, “women should receive equal pay for equal work” or “Every American should have access to post-secondary education and therefore we should make attendance at a community college available at no cost” or unemployment is down or thousands of people without access to good healthcare now have insurance—the penguins sat stone-faced. No applause—expressions of contempt on many faces. What’s the message? Women are not entitled to equal pay! Everyone who can pay is entitled to higher education! Or maybe, NOTHING this president can say will get my support or respect.

So, my laughter has ended and now my challenge is to be more than a silent cynic. Maybe I’m already “Mad as Hell and I’m not Gonna Take it Anymore.”—Stay tuned.      

            This is the first post on this new blog. I hope these posts will speak to the experiences of all who share in the reading. This essay was written in 2011 when I participated in a writing class, "Spinning Words into Gold", at the John Campbell Folk School. Maureen Ryan Griffin was my teacher and remains a major influence.

Feeling Where Music Comes From

            Several years ago I attended a concert at Middle Tennessee State University. Their jazz band was giving a Spring concert and there was a guest soloist - a well known trombonist whose name I can’t remember, but that’s not important. I love everything about the trombone; the sensuous, resonating sounds that travel across a room and seep in to every pore of my body en route to some place deep within my core; the way the player can sneak up on a note with just a subtle movement of the slide; the way it can take the lead or just play beneath the rest of the band adding color, texture and harmony while they take the lead. Can you see why I would like to be reincarnated as a trombone? (Assuming people can come back as musical instruments)  Maybe I already have a trombone soul…

            Well, back to the concert. I don’t remember any of the details of that night except for one incredible piece. The soloist, backed by the stage band, played “Green”, the song made famous by Kermit the Frog. Even now, I close my eyes and hear the lush, deep voice of the bass trombone saying “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” It feels like I’m wrapped in purple velvet. The major 7^th and major 9^th chords under the melody bring chills and tears. How can music create such powerful emotions--not words, just the sounds?

            I have loved the trombone sound for years. The Dixieland of Jack Teagarten, the amazing jazz duets of Kai Winding and J.J.  Johnson, but—that night  the song, “Green” was different; It seemed like all my senses were  involved. This was nearly 30 years ago but the feelings and the memories are as vivid now as then.

            Not then, but a few years later, part of the magic of that night became clearer. In a chance meeting with the philosopher, theologian and poet, Kermit the Frog, I described my experience at Middle Tennessee State University in 1982. I said to Kermit, “I don’t understand what happened to me. Do you have any explanations?”

            "Well, Russell”, Kermit said, “think about this: the melody and rich chords spoke to that part of your senses that gets pleasure from the sounds of music. But, I think that the poem in this song, even though it was not spoken that night, was in your mind--not in a conscious way. The poem was speaking to you. I am going to read the words to you. Close your eyes—feel where the words come from; you’ll figure it out.”

            It’s not easy being green

            spending each day the color of the leaves

            When I think it could be nicer

            being red or yellow or gold or something

            more colorful like that.

            It’s not easy being green

it seems like you blend in with so many ordinary things

and people pass you over cause you’re not standing out like

flashy sparkles on the water or stars in the sky.

But greens the color of spring

and green can be cool and friendly like

It can be big like the ocean; important like a mountain;

or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be

it can make you wonder why

but why wonder, why wonder why?

I am green, it’ll do fine, it’s beautiful and…

it’s what I want to be.