Next time you are being punched by someone, grab your phone and dial the police. The police should arrive quickly to protect your nose and knuckles.
That’s not so far off from a scenario recently suggested by National Public Radio.
Its Weekend Edition SaturdayNPR broadcast a interview with Misheika Gadis. The resultant article’s headline reads “Meet this new gun owner: a single mom in Colorado.”
To understand what’s driving gun sales, Weekend EditionThis series features conversations with gun owners. Today, NPR’s Scott Simon talks with Misheika Gaddis, a single mom in Aurora, Colo.
“Misheika…is 33,” reporter Scott begins, “and works in accounts receivable for a chain of doughnut shops. A single mother, she is the proud owner of a pistol measuring 9 millimeters in length. An industry trade group estimates nearly five-and-a-half million Americans bought guns for the first time last year.”
And black Americans, it turns out, comprise “the fastest-growing group of gun owners.” NPR seeks to “understand what might be driving gun sales.”
Given that the nation’s gun-buying surge began in 2020, presumably, a catalyst couldn’t have been this:
[Warning: Disturbing Content, Including Language and Violence]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSxt8DPWGA8
NPR aims to solve the mystery, and here’s how Misheika depicts her surroundings:
“I stay pretty close to a high school that actually had a shooting sometime this year. Then there’s someone that, like, rides through the neighborhood, and they just let off shots. You can hear gunshots every night.”
She might not want to own a gun.
Scott is concerned about Misheika’s young son, Adam. “[D]o you worry about an accident happening with that gun in your home?” he asks.
The dangers of having a gun in the home are acknowledged by Misheika. Even though she admits to being a parent to a child whose mother was killed when her pistol malfunctioned, she is taking preventative steps. Misheika is taking preventative steps:
“When it’s at home, it’s locked away. [Adam] knows and is aware of it, but he also knows the dangers and how safe we have to be.”
In reality:
“The clip and the gun are never in the same place at the same time, but they are accessible to me if I need to get to them.”
More about that potential “need”:
“It’s scary. The sounds are familiar to us. [gunshots]. At first it was like, ‘Was that fireworks, or is it gunshots?’ Rarely ever fireworks. But I also tell them to move away from the windows and, you know, like, we’ll go to sleep early some nights and close the window so we don’t hear the commotion outside. It’s just a hard time right now, especially explaining it to younger kids, the dangers that we might face…day to day.”
And:
“[T]Here [were] a couple of nights where I’d come home, and there would be people in the hallway, like, really close to my door. And the way my apartment building is set up is if you don’t know anybody up there, you shouldn’t be upstairs. I remember feeling like I either needed extra protection, or that I should have told somebody I was late. But I didn’t think about it until there were people standing way too close to my door.”
Why would you want to get a gun, though? This is what she says:
“I got it for the protection of my home. “I have [an] 8-year-old, and it’s just the two of us right now. I’m actually pregnant with my second child, and I think for me, I’d want to be able to protect them if need be. I don’t have a record. I don’t have any criminal records. So I think the best thing for me is to exercise my Second Amendment rights and be a gun owner.”
Scott would like to learn how simple it was for him to buy a gun. It took Scott four hours to complete and probably five forms. He also makes clear, “There are people who will hear our conversation who will be very moved by what you have to say but still wish you hadn’t chosen to get a gun and doubt that you’ve done the right thing. I wonder if you have an answer for that.”
“I’ve been through enough hurt and chaos to feel like this is the best decision for myself and my family,” she says. “Would you rather be the victim of something or the person that came to the defense, you know?”
Having described her neighborhood, unsettling circumstances in the building, and the relentless sounds of gunfire, Misheika is asked, “What would lead you to reach for that gun, in your mind?”
Her example is:
“If someone was actively trying to, like, to kick in the door, or — I have actually a bell that is on the back of my door, so if I heard the bell and wasn’t expecting anyone to walk in at that moment, then I would reach for it.”
Scott’s response:
“[W]hy not just call the police?”
It seems that his reply is a clear representation of America’s current state. The political sides, even though they would like to reduce law enforcement funding, believe that police officers are miraculous.
Furthermore, while they rightly decry weaponry’s effectiveness against good people, they appear to deny its usefulness against bad.
They want to further legally impede ownership because of guns’ use against law abiders by lawbreakers, even though possession laws solely restrict the actions of law abiders. Meanwhile, every terrible nationally-covered mass shooting, if it’s actually been stopped, has been stopped by a gun.
Yet, “why” would you want a gun? It’s a question they’re not likely to quit asking — no matter what sort of answers are supplied.
For those interested in answers, see “An Expert Answers Democrats’ Most Burning Question: Why Does Anyone Need an AR-15?”
Meanwhile, maybe someone can forward Wikeisha’s story to Joy Behar. Reportedly, it’ll make her exceedingly glad:
Joy Behar Knows When Republicans Ban Guns: Black People Get More
https://t.co/hBDfrTZ2eC— RedState (@RedState) June 9, 2022
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