YOUR GUN HELPS ME | 2002-08-17
A relative of mine was very anti-gun. She lives in an upscale area.
Of course it is a very anti-gun community. Wealthy communities in South Carolina tend to associate weapon-owning with the peasants.
I have worked in a prison. Prisoners know areas where there might be guns the way a farmer knows what the weather forecast is. They discuss where the guns are the way a stock trader talks about market trends.
So criminals knew about the lack of guns in my relative's community.
So one night a couple of thugs came right in my relative's front door -- the way they do in gunless Britain. They beat my relative and her husband up and took what they wanted.
She has a gun now.
My relative probably got attacked at least in part because it was well known that her community was gunless. People in that community bragged that they were too classy to have a gun ("like the trailer trash" being the implication).
I want to live in an area that is known less for its trendy attitudes and more for bristling with deadly weapons.