Baaaahhhhh!!!

What does it say about our society when even the prospect of a person having a gun in a public place makes people scramble for cover?

 

On Tuesday, a man walked into a medical building, in Edmonds, for his appointment with his doctor. Apparently on his last visit he mentioned that he was restoring a vintage World War I rifle and his doctor had expressed an interest in seeing it. Someone, having not seen the rifle but the canvas bag he was carrying it in, called the police to report a man with a gun at the medical center. Naturally, the police went into overdrive, locking down nearby businesses and a school. Did it ever occur to the police to maybe ask a few questions of the caller to further describe the scene? Or to have the caller watch and report on the activities of the man from a safe distance? They could have determined that this man was, in fact, well within his rights and the law to have the gun in this place.

 

It sickens me to think that we, as a society, have become a nation who's afraid of its own shadow. Instead of handling potential danger ourselves, we instinctually call on our police protectors, the sheepdogs, to guard the flock from wolves--real or imagined. If the sight of a canvas gun bag terrified these people so much, imagine when the police state really gets underway. People will surely submit without even giving the least bit of resistance.

 

We, as a society, are screwed; ripe for oppression.