guns and bombs

There were a couple gun violence prevention events in Albuquerque last Saturday.  One was sponsored by congresswoman Deb Haaland.  The other was a town hall at the downtown Methodist Church under the direction of three city councilors who were encouraging the State to pass a Red Flag law.  We opted to go to the church event to hear what our rep, Ike Benton, had to say about the Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Act which he hoped the State legislature could be persuaded to adopt.  The panel of speakers included three city councilors, six state legislators and an Albuquerque Public Schools board member.

After the panel presentations, the group of a hundred or so attendees broke out into three discussion groups.  At that point we were informed that a bomb threat had been received.  We were told to stay in place while a police team swept the area.  No one gave much credence to the threat, but it was reassuring to see the quick law enforcement response.

Our discussion group included activists from several local groups and a lot of good ideas, mixed in with a large dose of frustration over the halting pace of reform efforts.  I contributed the thought that the ban on CDC research into gun violence did not mean that such research and information dissemination could not be conducted by other local entities including UNM and city government.

A thorough sorting out of fundamentals is essential to ensure that proposed remedies are based on a solid understanding of underlying psychological and political realities.  I said it seemed important to me to recognize that gun possession is often folded into identity formation which helps to explain the often irrational response to common sense firearms regulation by gun owners.  There are a lot of gun owners who clearly are not a threat to themselves or others, but who at the same time present a challenge to sensible gun control measures because of paranoid fears stoked by National Rifle Association propaganda.

Councilor Benton said that the NRA was planning to send a contingent of supporters to dominate the public comments at the upcoming City Council meeting.  He expressed the hope that some of us would also show up to challenge the NRA effort to stop city endorsement of the ERPO Act.  I decided to take a shot at getting on the public comment list on Monday.

guns

I first met John when I visited his home in Hillsboro in the course of doing in-home computer trouble shooting for a southern New Mexico internet service provider. John was an accomplished photographer and I went out of my way to visit with him whenever I was in the vicinity. We spent some time outdoors together doing photography and we also did a little target shooting.

 One night, I don't recall if it was a problem with the electricity or the gas, John's old house burned to the ground. He lost a lifetime of photographic work and pretty much everything else, including guns and photo gear. He lived in an rv on the home site for a time after the fire, and finally moved down from mountainous Hillsboro to river-side Truth or Consequences.

 I saw less of John after the move because my service area did not extend that far from Las Cruces. Then, in 2008 we moved to Albuquerque even further away, but we still stopped in to see John on occasional trips between Albuquerque and Las Cruces. John cultivated a circle of artist friends in T or C, continued to do some photography and began seriously collecting antique guns.

* * *

On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza killed twenty 6 and 7 year old children at Sandy Hook Elementary School with an assault rifle, along with six adults at the school. He had murdered his mother at home before going to the school, and he finally shot himself after the massacre.

wikipedia

The next morning, John got on his computer and emailed everyone he knew to express his alarm over  Sandy Hook.  He was worried that the public reaction to the mass shooting would result in efforts to curb gun ownership.

I was appalled by the fact that, in the face of the deaths of all those children and the bottomless grief of parents, John's first thoughts were directed toward his gun collection.  It seemed an utterly obscene reaction, and it put an end to our friendship.

Since then, Sandy Hook-type incidents have been replicated many times, as have the reactions of NRA supporters which have seemed equally obscene as what John expressed.

(... to be continued)

Let's Make A Deal!

In exchange for immediate resignation, offer him immunity from prosecution after he leaves office.

Detective Work

We had a good, early crop of zucchini this year.  However, we ended up sharing more than intended with some local critters.  This is one of the suspects, discovered in close proximity to the squash plants on the south side of our house.

Margaret consulted A Field Guide to the Plants and Animals of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque and found the identify of the suspect to be the Cottonwood Longhorn Beetle.  No mention was made of a preference for tender zucchini, but the proximity is cause for suspicion.  I'll have to make a night-time visit to the garden with my flashlight to see if I can detect any collaborators.

Albuquerque Skies

These clouds gave us a little rain later this evening as we were coming home on I-40 from a dinner with friends.

Gallery

I came across these examples of street art during a recent walk along the Rio Grande.  They are located under Albuquerque's Central Avenue Bridge.

Some insight into street art culture and what motivates these artists can be found at FATCAP.COM.

The Morning Routine

I get up about 5:00 or 6:00 and stagger out to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.  The next hour or two is devoted to catching up on the events of the day.  The cats, and now the dog, accompany me on this part of the daily journey.  Sometimes, I snap a few pictures as the morning sun comes through the blinds.

I took my Everything Else blog off line for a while because I was feeling overloaded with the task of trying to sort out the country's political dilemma.  The problem with that is that I am left with no place to post my random thoughts about the world, and I don't want to just dump them into my other blog, Photography and Vintage Film Cameras.  So, I am reopening this blog -- no promises about frequency, content or quality.