Cocked, loaded and insecure

I found the comments from some members of the public at the recent City Council discussion on the prohibition of firearms at City Council meetings interesting. Ms. Boebert speaks about her rights trumping council’s fears. Ms. Bishop claims to fear interaction with local wildlife (bears), and Mr. Berk trots out the standard NRA “slippery slope” trope. Ms. Bishop also added another NRA standard about “a good guy with a gun will always stop a bad guy with a gun.” Really? The front page of Wednesday’s Aspen Daily News featured a picture of Rifle citizen Tori Hooper dressed in Rifle chic.

I would question Ms. Boebert’s assertion about fears. Ms. Boebert and the others seem to be the ones who are afraid. If you are compelled to display a deadly weapon on your person every day, you are sending a very loud messages all others. To me, the loudest message is “I am afraid of everything and I am afraid to the extent that I am prepared to use deadly force to extricate myself from the things that frighten me.” Another message is “I need to display this weapon so others will respect me.” Either way, living each day prepared to use deadly force, an act that would end someone else’s life and unalterably change yours, sounds like a definition of either fear or severe insecurity to me. This isn’t the Middle East or Guatemala, Nicaragua or Honduras. Heck, its not even the Wild West anymore. Maybe they wish it was? And it certainly isn’t the late 18th century when the Second Amendment was added to the Constitution. Are any of these folks members of a “well regulated militia?”

I have to say that to the rest of us, you (those who feel compelled to openly carry everywhere) appear to be persons who may be slightly unhinged and thus, dangerous in your own right. If I am attending a council meeting and there is one person in that room who is armed (not the policeman), you can be damn sure it is that person who would be the focus of my concern. I don’t know, maybe that is the point. Why does anyone feel the need to carry a deadly weapon into a City Council meeting when there are armed police officers present? Could it be that they want others to be afraid of or intimidated by them?

Don Bird

Aspen