Ken Berwitz
I\’m less afraid of the criminals wielding guns in Baltimore,I declared as we discussed the issue, than I am by those permitted gun owners.I know how to stay out of the line of Baltimore\’s illegal gunfire; I have theluxury of being white and middle class in a largely segregated city thatreserves most of its shootings for poor, black neighborhoods overtaken by”the game.” The closest I typically get to the action is feeling thechest-thumping vibrations of the Foxtrot police helicopter flying overhead in pursuitof someone who might be a few streets over, but might as well be a world away.But I don\’t know where the legal gun owners are or how to ensure that theirchildren, no matter how well versed in respecting firearms, won\’t one dayintroduce that weapon to my daughter.
And so, as PresidentBarack Obama announced plans this week to tighten background checks for gunbuyers and increase gun tracking and research, I thought, that\’s all well andgood, but how about adding something immediately useful: a gun owner registryavailable to the public online – something like those for sex offenders. I\’mnot equating gun owners with predatory perverts, but the model is helpful here;I want a searchable database I can consult to find out whether my kid can havea play date at your house.
-Unless Baltimore has a crime profile that is different from every other major city in the country – and be assured it does not – virtually all the gun crime committed there is by people with obtained their guns illegally. Anyone who is more afraid of legal gun owners – the ones who have gone through the rigorous procedures necessary to achieve that status – than people with illegal guns – who commit the preponderance of crime in Baltimore – needs a major influx of common sense, and a major outflow of PC idiocy.-Being White and middle class is not a luxury, it is a fact of life. Bishop makes it seem like something she should be apologizing for, as if she had some control over her melanin content, and regardless of her attitudes toward people of different races. There is a word for someone who makes judgments of this kind based solely on race. It has six letters, it starts with an “r” and ends with a “t”. I\’ve often said that it is amazing how much racism emanates from people who profess to be against racism. This is an example of why.-The city does not “reserve…most of its shootings for poor Black neighborhoods”. No signs exist at the beginning of Black neighborhoods saying “Illegal Gun Crime Zone”. There are reasons the preponderance of such crimes occur in those neighborhoods – most of which Ms. Bishop and I probably agree on. But her terminology – that Black people are in designated zones “reserved for” high crime, as if their neighborhoods were specifically set up for the purpose of such activity – is beyond ludicrous.-Yes, Ms. Bishop, you don\’t know whether a legal gun owner will “introduce that weapon to my daughter”. Any more than you know if someone who owns sharp knives will introduce them to your daughter. Or someone who takes legal – or illegal – drugs will introduce them to your daughter. Or someone who has a chain saw will introduce it to your daughter. Or someone who has….well you get the idea. And even if you did know all those things, and carefully picked only the most PC-compatible homes for your daughter to play in, you also don\’t know if someone else\’s daughter might be invited to that home, and their parents……reread the beginning of this paragraph. If you want your daughter to live in an impervious PC bubble, find another world. This one doesn\’t have one.-And what a great idea to have a publicly-accessed gun registry. Yep, imagine how safe you will be, knowing that any criminal who wants to break into a home without fear of being challenged by someone with a firearm will know for sure that yours is one of them. I\’m sure your daughter – not to mention whomever else lives in your home – will sleep much better at night.
