A few years back I got embroiled in yet another email argument with a friend whom I respect, about gun ownership. Our opinions on guns, and politics in general are, and remain, as diametrically opposed as east and west. He's a firm, long-time owner, who, if I recall correctly, keeps a couple of handguns in his …
Continue reading The futile search for a solution to gun violence
From today's Washington Post:America's ritual of outrage By Anthea ButlerIt is an American ritual, engaged in on almost a monthly basis. A mass shooting. Screaming. Frantic families. Shell-shocked survivors. Carnage. Grim-faced police and emergency responders, and news reporters smelling blood in the air, angling for the right shot of grief-stricken friends and family.Then, the tweets and statements …
Continue reading On guns: Couldn't have said it better myself
Americans who buy guns to feel safemay be their own worst enemiesMy 67-year-old brother-in-law Greg is a model gun owner. He's trained in the proper use of a gun and has a concealed-carry permit as well as other licenses.He says he needs his small arsenal for personal protection, though I'm not sure from whom.During the …
When Stew and I visit the United States we can count on one tedious question to come up: "Aren't you afraid to live in Mexico?" Over lunch, when we visited Chicago in October, a friend asked us that and it struck me as odd, considering I'd just read in the local newspaper there had been …
I used to believe, naively, that a "home invasion" was a melodramatic synonym for "burglary" until two weeks ago, when at about ten-thirty at night four punks in their twenties broke into the small ranch of a retired American couple in their late sixties who live a few miles deeper into the countryside than us. …
El Rancho Santa Clara 