In writing this blog, I try to stay away from headline stuff. \u00a0I like my Friday postings to be the literary equivalent of roasted marshmallows as opposed to say \u2026 well \u00a0\u2026 boiled parsnips. \u00a0Just writing the words “boiled parsnips: is enough to trigger the old gag reflex. But this weekend, the nation is focused on the tragedy in Parkland\u2014a preventable tragedy if anybody in the \u201csee something say something\u201d world had been paying attention. \u00a0And I\u2019m focused on it, too, because, in this instance, it came too close to home.<\/p>\n
Last Friday at the Savannah Book Festival, I was one of 26 authors participating in their school outreach program. \u00a0As my hosts drove me to Windsor High School, my daughter, back home in Seattle, sent me a text saying, “More worried about you two being at a high school today than I would normally be.\u201d \u00a0We were just then pulling into the parking lot, and I texted back saying that a cop car belonging to the school resource officer was already in the parking lot. \u00a0In other words, \u201cnot to worry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Half an hour later, I was settled in the library talking to a collection of 30 or so interested and attentive kids. \u00a0Part way through the talk, a voice came over the loudspeaker saying something about the school being on lockdown. \u00a0One of the advantages to being mostly deaf is that you miss a few key words here and there. \u00a0I assumed that this was a lockdown drill, and in view of what had just happened in Florida two days earlier, doing a lockdown drill struck me as entirely appropriate.<\/p>\n
The ancient sacred charge of the storyteller is to beguile the time, and since it looked as though we were going to be stuck in the library for the next little while, I kept on telling stories until I ran out of steam and it was time for everyone to have a Krispy Kreme break. (Yum!) \u00a0When my escorts and I were allowed out of the library, the school was fast filling with cops\u2014big burly cops with big guns on their hips. \u00a0I tried to say thank you to a couple of them for the job they do, but they weren\u2019t the least bit interested. \u00a0They were all there in super serious mode\u2014way more serious, I thought, than just a drill. \u00a0And I was right. \u00a0Out in the car I learned that it hadn\u2019t been a lockdown drill at all. \u00a0Someone had phoned in a threat.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019ve been on the front lines this week, and here\u2019s what I have to say. \u00a0Thank God for those big burly guys with guns on their hips who came to take care of whatever needed taking care of. \u00a0They weren\u2019t interested in my saying thank you because they were there to do a job.<\/p>\n
Yes, I know, the boogie-man here is supposed to be the super-evil AR-15. \u00a0Well, no. \u00a0The boogie-man is actually the deranged nutcase shooting it. \u00a0What about that mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas? \u00a0The death toll would have been far higher if that NRA member next door hadn\u2019t grabbed his own AR-15 and used it to fight fire with fire; bullets with bullets! \u00a0What would have happened if that assistant football coach in Parkland, an NRA member, had been allowed to bring his weapon to school and had been able to use that to protect his precious students rather than losing his life by protecting them with the only weapon he had available\u2014his own flesh and blood? \u00a0By the way, in case you\u2019re wondering, both of those guys are my heroes!<\/p>\n
I do not like walking into buildings where I see virtue signaling signs pronouncing \u201cTHIS IS A GUN FREE ZONE!\u201d \u00a0That sign is tantamount to saying, OPEN SEASON ON INNOCENTS! \u00a0When people who obey rules see that sign, they\u2019ll leave their guns at home. \u00a0Bad guys who don\u2019t obey anybody\u2019s rules will bring theirs. \u00a0Guess who loses in that unfair fight?<\/p>\n
During sixty days in 1970 while under threat from a serial killer, I wore a loaded weapon on my hip and was fully prepared to use it. \u00a0In fact, one day I did use it. \u00a0I fired all six shots from a 22 revolver at a rapidly retreating rattlesnake who was still laughing as he slithered up over a rock wall and disappeared. \u00a0But I figured the killer would present a much larger target, and I was motivated. \u00a0I think that realization\u2014the one that says, \u201cIf it\u2019s him or me, it\u2019s definitely going to be him!\u201d\u2014toggles a survival switch in your soul, and I don\u2019t believe you can ever unring that bell. \u00a0Having made peace with myself on that score is one of the reasons I\u2019m able to write police procedurals. \u00a0I have a very clear understanding of that life or death, Shoot\/Don\u2019t Shoot dilemma.<\/p>\n
As I write this, I\u2019m well aware that there are lots of people in this country who disagree with me. \u00a0Some of them have probably already stopped reading this post and are about to send me e-mals (That\u2019s not a misprint by the way. \u00a0An e-mal is a mean-spirited e-mail.) explaining that they will no longer be reading my blogs or books because a: I\u2019m stupid; b: have no right to believe the way I do, and c: have no right to express this opinion. \u00a0That\u2019s fine. As the song says, “So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye.” \u00a0And have a nice day.<\/p>\n
But here\u2019s the thing.\u00a0 There are people in this world\u2014trained, dedicated people\u2014who are prepared to go to war to protect our kids rather than having them led like lambs to the slaughter.\u00a0 I say by all means let\u2019s let them do so, because that politically correct snake-oil philosophy of \u201csee something; say something\u201d just doesn\u2019t cut it.<\/p>\n
And to the people of Parkland who have been so tragically affected by this appalling incident, many of whom stand on either side of the great gun divide, all I can say is: \u00a0I\u2019m sorry–so very sorry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In writing this blog, I try to stay away from headline stuff. \u00a0I like my Friday postings to be the literary equivalent of roasted marshmallows as opposed to say \u2026 well \u00a0\u2026 boiled parsnips. \u00a0Just writing the words “boiled parsnips: is enough to trigger the old gag reflex. But this weekend, the nation is focused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3nsBA-oY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1551,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions\/1551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}