Military-Style Semiauto Rifles...There Are Tons of Them... [View all]

[MineralMan]

Literally tons. I know my neighbors on this little residential block in St. Paul, MN. 25 houses on two sides of a side street block in a quiet neighborhood. I talk to them. I know their names. I'm a friendly guy. We all talk about lots of things.

I know of 12 of those houses that have at least one AR-15 style firearm inside. Some of my neighbors are second-generation Hmong citizens with immigrant parents. Their parents fought alongside our soldiers and came here. They were hunters, fishermen, farmers, and fighters. There's a tradition of owning firearms in the culture, and many of those households have one or more of those semiauto rifles. All legal, and all owned for whatever reasons the people own them. They're all great neighbors with a strong sense of community.

The rest of the neighborhood is more typical of US demographics. Fewer of those houses have one of those military-style weapons in them, but some do. There are shotguns, hunting rifles and some handguns in those houses, as well as in others. Lots of people in Minnesota hunt. I have a couple of firearms in my house, too, but nothing that looks like a military firearm. I used to hunt, and still have the stuff.

I have this one neighbor, though, a couple of doors away. He has half a dozen AR-15 looking firearms. He's an asshole. He also has a 1-ton diesel pickup that has been modified to "roll coal," for no reason I can figure out. He has a mid-life crisis Harley, too. He hates Hmong people. He hates black people. He hates Mexicans. He hates Muslims. I reckon he hates just about everyone, really. He's' not happy in his life, as far as I can tell. He yells at his wife. He yells at his kids. He rarely works. I have never seen him smile.

When he leaves his house on the Harley, he always does it full-throttle, letting his loud pipes speak of his hatred. He does the same in his truck, blowing black smoke all the way down the block. Did I mention that he's an asshole? And, yet, he tells me all this stuff, about his guns and his hatred for people. Why? I have no idea. I guess he wants me to know that, for some reason.

So, I don't worry about the military-style firearms in my Hmong neighbors' houses, nor do I worry about the hunters in the neighborhood. I worry about that neighbor a couple of doors away, though. It bothers me that he's so heavily armed and so full of hatred. He's the only person on the block I worry about. I'm polite to him. I try not to deal with him very often. I worry about him, though. I think he probably shouldn't have those weapons. I think he could possibly be a threat to his family and his neighbors. Its a matter of concern for me.

But, it's legal for him to own them. He has several of them. He has lots of accessories for them, and plenty of ammo, I imagine. If he finally blows up and I have to call the police on him, I'm going to make sure they know about his weaponry. I want to make sure they're prepared when they arrive. I hope I never have to do that. But, I worry. Assholes do assholish things sometimes.