[ad_1]
To see someone holding a weapon in a public space is to wonder what their intent might be. J’Den McAdory says he believes that his intent for displaying an AR-style semiautomatic rifle is strictly political and is not meant as a threat of violence, as reported in the May 20 Metro article “Man says he carries rifle near school bus stops to protest, not intimidate.” He says he believes that we need to trust his motives. He’s one of the good guys with a gun. Yet how do we know that? Does he trust everyone he meets carrying a gun? Does he ever question his own safety? Does he think he would be welcomed to parade with a gun near Mar-a-Lago or near the homes of Supreme Court justices?
There is daily gun carnage in the United States. How many people are killed because they misjudged the intent of someone holding a gun? How much mayhem in schools has resulted from those who have failed to accurately judge the intent of friends and relatives who own guns? As the article stated, the police claim to be helpless to stop public displays of guns. Nonetheless, the police should be accountable for protecting the public from harm. Intent is police business, and it is incumbent on law enforcement officers to verify the danger associated with each public sighting of a weapon. The alternative is to trust our safety to the whims of armed “good guys.”
Peter S. Bernard, Silver Spring
[ad_2]
Source link
