A How-To Guide On Dealing With A ‘Gunsplainer’

[hunter]

104. About the same homicide rate as Venezuela.

I don't think I've ever felt unsafe anywhere in the U.S.A..

My wife and I met as teachers in Los Angeles. Not the best schools, not the worst. I don't feel insecure in the rougher urban neighborhoods of Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago... Ordinary people inhabit all these places, just struggling to get by.

I don't avoid places, I avoid situations.

The police here are severely understaffed and if you call 911 they are not likely to show up unless someone is dead, bleeding, or on fire. Vandalism? Home burglary? Car accident without injuries? Forget it. They'll ask you if you want to file a report on the internet, or tell you to come down to the station to file in person. Waiting at the police station is a trip, a fascinating study in humanity. The police clerks sit behind bullet proof glass.

Our police are also a bit trigger happy, occasionally killing harmless mentally ill people, or people in domestic disputes where nobody is armed or beating the crap out of anyone else. So everyone knows to think twice before calling the police, and to describe the situation very carefully. The police are also quick to shoot anyone non-cop who is holding a gun or anything that looks like a gun.

Most of my neighbors are Mexican American. (What a coincidence, so's my wife!) Maybe 40% speak Spanish at home. Friday and Saturday nights that's the music we hear.

Our next door neighbor has a pit bull. She's a fairly sweet thing, but not a golden retriever. I won't claim our dogs are any better, all of them rescued from death row at our local animal shelter.