I live in North Minneapolis. I own a home there, and I try to take good care of that home, and I know that there are lots of other homeowners – well intentioned family-oriented people – in my neighborhood and the larger community of North Minneapolis – who, like me, are trying to revitalize the Northside and make it safer for children, families, and other nice folks. I would even venture to guess that people like me, who don’t make a lot of money but still want a place to call their own, who work out in the garden until the sun sets, who shovel every time it snows, and who gladly would share whatever we have with our neighbors, largely outnumber those members of our community who are perpetuating the negative reputation that North Minneapolis has earned as being a dangerous, violence-ridden, gang-ruled no-man’s land into which the average citizen would be insane to step into.
Unfortunately, violence in North Minneapolis happens. Every time there is a burglary, my heart sinks. Every time there is a shooting, I cry for the victim’s family and for my community as a whole. Every time an act of violence is perpetrated in my neighborhood, I get a little scared. It’s natural to feel insecure in your surroundings when bad things happen there. But I still walk my dogs by myself in my own neighborhood. I still like to take a bike ride down my street. Because I know that a huge proportion of the violence in my community is gang-related. And most of it is directed towards others who are also involved in gangs. Since I’m not in a gang, I feel okay. I feel like nobody’s going to target me.
But then something like this happens, and I don’t feel safe anymore. Because stray bullets don’t care who’s in a gang and who’s just a damn three year old learning how to walk up stairs. Nor do bike thieves care who’s riding the bike they’re coveting.
I posted a link to the City Pages article on Jody Patzner’s murder on my facebook page. One friend, an aunt on my partner’s side, commented that she hates guns. My grandma responded: “Hate the shooter, not the gun.” In my head, I screamed at her.
Because you know what, Grandma? Everyone says “hate the shooter, not the gun” until the person that they love who has a gun ends up shooting someone. Or themselves. On purpose, on accident, in self defense; it doesn’t matter. Suddenly the responsible gun owner in whose defense such proclamations have been made, becomes the hated shooter. And then what do you have left? Then I bet you want to hate the gun, not the shooter. Or place the blame on somebody else.
A high school friend of mine shot himself with his rifle while “playing” with it a few years ago. Who do we hate in that situation? I feel pretty confident in saying that his family probably hated the gun. Not him. George Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon Martin allegedly in self-defense in Florida this February, is probably hating the gun he was carrying around with him when he ran into the teenager on that fateful evening. Because if he hadn’t had the gun, he wouldn’t be in prison right now. If my high school friend hadn’t had a gun, he’d probably be alive right now. And if Jody Patzner’s murderers had not had a gun, they probably would have just beaten him up. He’d be out a bike, but at least he’d be alive.
And that, my friends – and Grandma – is why Minnesota needs to be extremely careful in the drafting and enforcement of gun legislation. Of course we don’t know where the gun that killed Patzner came from. I’d guess that it’s probably not registered. But Zimmerman’s gun was registered. I bet he’s even uttered the phrase “hate the shooter, not the gun” in defense of his choice to “responsibly” carry a registered weapon.
This is why Minnesota does NOT need a “Shoot First” bill. This is why nobody in Minnesota, despite their best intentions, their responsible nature, their respect for human life, should just be ALLOWED to carry a gun around. Because the sad fact is that without guns, lots of people would still be with us.
People without guns may perpetrate violent crimes. But they are less likely to commit murder, or make a fatal mistake. Guns do kill people.
People + Guns = Dead People.
The End.
-Trisha
