Guns — Good For Whatever Ails Ya!
As far as I can deduce from the news I’ve been reading, it’s open season in Atlanta, Georgia for armed muggings and carjackings against students in that city’s university district.
As far as I can deduce from the news I’ve been reading, it’s open season in Atlanta, Georgia for armed muggings and carjackings against students in that city’s university district.
It would seem that Georgia’s ridiculously lax “concealed carry” law, and subsequent amendments, has not deterred the gun-wielding criminal element one iota.
If anything, it’s more likely for multiple crooks to appear out of nowhere and stick guns in a victim’s face.
For example, last weekend four students were in a car that was sitting in the wrong place at the worst possible time.
In broad daylight, a gun was thrust into the face of the driver, while two other perpetrators leveled guns at three passengers from both sides.
The first gunman reached in and took the keys out of the ignition. Then the two riders in the back seat were ordered into the trunk. (As crowded as Atlanta is, how no one noticed this kidnapping escapes me.)
All cellphones, money and wallets were collected from the victims, or so the robbers had thought.
The robbers’ plan was to visit ATMs to make withdrawals. The victims were given the choice to cooperate or get shot.
One of the students put into the trunk was savvy enough to have kept a cellphone hidden.
This person dialed 911, but heard nothing coming from the other end. So, the attempt to summon help was repeated numerous times.
As a student at Morehouse University, that school’s security police was on speed dial, and a connection was finally made.
The second person in the trunk had pulled the safety latch and raised the lid enough to see where the car was traveling; the person on the cellphone relayed this information to Morehouse security.
By the time they had gotten to a bank branch, police were close enough to immediately swarm upon the car. Even with such good timing, one of the perps got away on foot.
Afterward, the caller commented to the media that the calls were ignored by Atlanta 911, claiming to have been put on hold at one point.
Atlanta 911 responded that it had answered all of the calls, but because the caller was whispering it could not be determined precisely what was transpiring.
Of course the victim was whispering; the students in the trunk were literally inches from their kidnappers. One would think that a metropolitan 911 response facility might actually have some sort of audio enhancement function built into its system for just such a situation.
To the credit of Morehouse security, the officer(s) who handled the call proved to be about as professional as any constabulary.
The same weekend, some 800 miles north in a quiet Chicago university neighborhood, two young women were attacked from behind by a cretin who had been lying in wait with a baseball bat.
One of the women is a graduate student from Ireland whose work had just earned her entry into the next level of study, and a visa extension; the other had almost simultaneously been given a promotion at work. They were walking home after an evening out celebrating their good fortune.
Both of these women are viable, educated people who obviously add something of value to society.
They were beaten mercilessly, in the most chicken-shit manner, by a scumbag with no less than 19 arrests, and multiple convictions, for a plethora of crimes that included assault.
As the attacks occurred, his “woman” sat at the wheel of their getaway van.
Their images were captured within 15 minutes using one of the victims’ stolen credit cards at a gas station.
The Irish lass, by all accounts a most brilliant individual, remains in a coma and, if she survives, most likely has suffered permanent debilitating brain damage.
Her friend has awakened, but months of pain and rehabilitation lie ahead.
It took less than two days for the Chicago Police to catch the alleged criminals, who are now being considered as perps in several other blind assaults and robberies.
Almost predictably, a paranoid gun nut blamed these assaults on the fact that the State of Illinois does not allow civilians to carry weapons.
When someone with a more reasoned perspective pointed out that since they were attacked from behind, there would have been no way for either woman to pull a gun and defend herself, the former responded that a passerby who was carrying could have shot the attacker.
I don’t think I need to spell out the utter stupidity, not to mention insanity, of this kind of thinking. You, the reader, are certainly intelligent enough to go over the possible scenarios in your own mind… such as, there was nobody else around when the attack occurred.
Even Wyatt Earp banned the carrying of guns in town limits wherever he was tasked with keeping law and order – 130 years ago.
The boldness shown by robbers, and almost daily shootings, in Atlanta serve as proof that concealed carry does not hinder crime; when someone sticks a gun in your face or attacks from behind, there’s no opportunity for the victim to draw, aim and shoot.
Just what does the paranoid concealed carry enthusiast think is going to happen when a robber goes through a victim’s pockets and finds a hidden Glock?
Expanding the acceptability of carrying weapons on one’s person, especially concealed, is not the solution. We cannot allow our modern 21st Century cities to turn into the Streets of Laredo, circa 1875.
The only reason handguns and assault weapons exist is to kill people, and we need to enter into a concerted effort to rid our society of these scurrilous penile extensions.
Shalom.
(Jerry Tenuto is an erstwhile Philosopher and sometime Educator. A veteran with seven years of service in the U.S. Army, he holds a BS and MA in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Depending upon your taste in political stew, you can either blame or thank Jerry for his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast. Visit his blog Blue State View at illinoiscentral.blogspot.com)
Broadband As Big As Texas
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recently released its highly-anticipated National Broadband Plan which, at its core, is a program to bring broadband access to the Internet to every home and business in America.The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recently released its highly-anticipated National Broadband Plan which, at its core, is a program to bring broadband access to the Internet to every home and business in America.
This strikes a particular note here in Texas because of the sheer size of our state and the need to ensure equal access to technology whether a person lives in Harris County (population about four million) or Loving County (population 42). The vast acreage dedicated to agriculture means that population density is low, but the need for the most modern technology is high.
Having a broadband connection available to every household will make an immediate difference in how Texas educates its children. As we look down the road to high national unemployment for years to come, it is obvious that the better educated a job seeker is, the better chance he or she has of a successful search.
A report by the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress proves that while the overall unemployment rate remains in the high single digits, people with college degrees is about half the unemployment rate for the entire workforce.
For students in small towns, the ability to get the same research materials from the libraries in the University of Texas system or any library or museum in the world is a huge advantage in getting better grades in high school, qualifying for increasingly competitive seats in our colleges and Universities.
Health care is another area where broadband access has immediate impact. In urban areas, seniors who are living independently can be equipped with relatively inexpensive devices, enabling them to send their vital signs to their physician’s office, rather than having to take an expensive or physically difficult trip. Many physicians say just being able to “see” their patients through a webcam, can help them tell whether any medical intervention is needed.
In rural areas, the ability for a local doctor to call on a specialist at Baylor or M.D. Anderson without having a patient endure hours of travel can make a huge difference in medical care throughout the state. In fact, research into tele-medicine has even shown that after a major procedure, people in rural towns do better because they are more likely to keep up with their post-operative medications and therapy if they can travel to their local medical facility to be checked out by the specialist in Dallas or Houston, rather than facing the long ride to see them in person.
Finally, the ability to build a world-wide business from every den or spare bedroom in Texas has become a realistic dream. People don’t have to work in the high-tech corridor in Austin to be able to create the next “must-have” iPhone app, or produce videos for clients that can be seen by people around the world.
A small manufacturer in San Antonio can market and sell to a potential buyer in London or Rome. And a retailer in Tyler or Kilgore can find and see unique merchandise on the Internet no matter where in the world it is being made. The Internet is a powerful force in the 21st century world. Broadband access to the Internet has gone from a rarity only available to major corporations, government entities, and academic institutions to a necessity which should be available to everyone.
Robert Howden is the Executive Director of Texans for Economic Progress, an Austin-based, non-profit advocacy group that monitors the competitive process in key sectors of the Texas economy. TEP keeps its finger on the pulse of Texans and works closely with elected officials and regulators at the local, state, and federal level to further educate them on issues impacting competition in communications. TEP also works to generate public awareness of how Texans’ lives and finances are impacted by decisions made on these issues by our policy-makers.
