No, the title does not refer to guns in Israel. Though, I expect there are many there and many more desired. The Promised Land to which I refer sits in the northeast corner of the great state of Pennsylvania, not too far distant from Scranton, the home town, if I'm not mistaken of both Hillary Clinton, our Secretary of State until today, and Joseph Biden, our Vice President in his second term.
I wonder if they think of Promised Land every time they are reminded of the special relationship between the United States and the modern state of Israel. It might offer a moment of relief to think of Promised Land State Park.
Wikipedia tells us:
Promised Land State Park was once the hunting grounds of the Lenape Indian tribe. Their land was part of the Province of Pennsylvania, established by King Charles II of England and under the leadership of William Penn. William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a colony where religious freedom was foundation of its establishment. The Shakers, a religious sect, from England migrated to the Thirteen Colonies and purchased some of the land in the Promised Land State Park area. It appears that they chose not to settle and instead sold off the land to lumbering operations that clear cut the land and sent the timber to the ship building docks in Philadelphia. The process of clear cutting the forests repeated itself several times until the land was acquired by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1902.
In other words, the land was exploited and then given back to the public to rehabilitate. The public has no business interfering with enterprise, except to come to its rescue. But, that's not what's ironic about Promised Land today.
No, what's on the agenda this very weekend is:
Promised Land Gun Show
Dates Feb 2 - Feb 3, 2013
Sep 21 - Sep 22, 2013
Directions Promised Land Volunteer Fire And Ambulance
City/State Promised Land, PA
Hours
Saturday 9:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday 9:00am - 3:00pm
Description
The Promised Land Gun Show will be held on Saturday, February 2nd thru Sunday, February 3rd, 2013. The Promised Land, PA Gun Show will be held at the Promised Land Volunteer Fire And Ambulance and is hosted by the Jaeger Arms Promotions of Pennsylvania.
And it's hosted by none other than the Promised Land Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Service.
One might be tempted to accuse them of wrastlin' up future clientelle. But that would be unfair. After all, did not the Chiefs of Police Association of New Hampshire set the example of how the relationship between gun manufacture and law enforcement could be positive? As an
editorial, just last week, in the Nashua Telegraph, explained:
The New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police is partnering with gun manufacturers Sturm Ruger &. Co., Sig Sauer Inc. and Rody’s Gun Shop in Newport to sponsor the fundraiser, which is intended to raise money for a one-week police academy this summer for men and women ages 14-20 with an interest in law enforcement.
All 1,000 tickets priced at $30 have been sold for the event, which will kick off May 1 with the raffling off of the aforementioned semi-automatic rifle. Other rifles and handguns provided by Sturm Ruger and Sig Sauer – semiautomatic and otherwise – will be given away one each day until the end of that month. Winners will be subject to all federal and state gun laws.
See, the winners will all be "subject" to the law. And therein, IMHO, lies the problem. Our agents of law enforcement seem to have transitioned to one single objective -- making the populace subject to their directives. If that means giving them lethal weapons, so be it. Think of it as similar to enticing everyone into using private vehicles for all their routine transport, so citizens can be stopped and interrogated whenever the agents see fit (like when drivers haven't buckled themselves in).
And, to be fair, we have to admit that, at least until recently, our cages on wheels have been more lethal than any assortment of guns. And people committing suicide by gun have, again until recently, generally taken fewer innocent by-standers along and left fewer maimed for life behind. By 2015 that may have changed if current trends hold.
While mass murders are rare, shootings aren’t. About 85 Americans are shot dead daily -- 53 of them suicides. Every day, one of those killed by firearms is 14 or younger.
The gun show at Promised Land has 100 tables on offer. One hopes they won't be displaying the instruments leading to anyone's last supper.