[Since I began this draft, two more African-American men have been brutally murdered by police who assumed they had or were reaching for guns. The man who is repeatedly, and illegally, target-shooting an AR-15 in my white, very conservative area was confronted by a sheriff a few weeks ago while shooting the AR-15. He was told to stop, and the sheriff drove away without incident. And the guy keeps target-shooting his AR-15 near other people’s homes. To say this is a double standard doesn’t even begin to capture the extreme and sinful difference between how black and white people are treated by police in America.]
I assume it’s an AR-15 — it’s some type of semi-automatic rifle. He’s been shooting on and off for about two hours now. It sounds like he’s about a quarter to a half mile from my house.
The first time he did this was the evening after the Orlando massacre — a quiet Sunday night in my rural/suburban community, where everyone lives on at least a few acres of land. Same thing — he shot on and on and on for almost two hours. The woman across the street went driving around trying to find out where the shooting was coming from so she could report it. Her husband — a Republican gun owner — said it was an AR-15. They didn’t like it either. I called the sheriff. It IS against the law to target shoot on one’s land, so close to other houses. I told the dispatcher the general direction from which the shooting was coming. I saw the patrol car drive past my house. I heard the officer say something on the patrol’s car PA system. The shooting stopped, and the sheriff drove away.
Coming within hours of the Orlando massacre, I found the whole thing really unsettling and upsetting. Why was this guy target practicing with a gun that is designed to kill people? A gun that had just been used to kill nearly 50 people? And even my conservative neighbors were upset about not only the noise, but that someone was shooting incessantly for two hours.
During the past few days, he has shot for a few minutes, then quits, then starts up again. I suppose this makes it much harder for the sheriff to catch him. He’s doing the same thing right now.
I’m used to people shooting around here. In fall, right before hunting season, it’s common to hear gunshots around the town, with people sighting their hunting guns. That actually doesn’t bother me that much; I understand the need to sight a hunting gun. At other times, I occasionally hear someone else target shooting with a non-automatic weapon. Almost every day of the year, I can hear gunshots from the public shooting range that’s within two miles of my house.
And then there’s the guy next door who shoots at ground squirrels from his deck, which is only a few hundred feet from my sheep pen. He also target shoots with his grandson, who appears to be about 10 years old. He doesn’t use a semi-automatic, but uses a variety of pistols and rifles. It makes me nervous when a 10-year-old is shooting a gun within range of my sheep. He is a very creepy man with no friends, and no, I don’t want to confront him about it.
This comes on the heels of my encounter with a conceal carry nut when I was working at the Wisconsin polls in early April (I wrote a diary about it). A guy came in and wanted to use his conceal carry permit as his photo ID for voting purposes. I told him that the conceal carry permit was not one of the acceptable forms of photo ID — and he had a loud temper tantrum in front of the poll workers and voters. Some people have said, “Oh, he had that planned. He was just putting on a performance.” I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that normal adults “act” like they’re having a temper tantrum in public just to get a reaction.
The AR-15 really troubles me, though. As I said above, this just started the evening after Orlando. Before then, I had never heard a semi-automatic being rapidly fired around here. The shooting range allows semi-automatics, but you can only shoot one shot per second. It sounds like this guy is practicing shooting as fast as he can squeeze the trigger. Why? And why now all of a sudden?
I worry that all of the anti-government, bigoted crackpots with guns around here are being emboldened by the ascendency of Trump as leader of the Republican party. When America is “great again,” everyone will walk around with a gun, even if it’s against the law. Here, people shoot guns near other people’s homes, even though it violates the town’s firearms ordinance. They know it’s against the law; they do it anyway.
News items about the Trump campaign don’t help. His followers are saying that they’re going to Cleveland with their guns. He repeatedly retweets items from white supremacist hate groups. He has promoted violence against protesters. Because he is the leader of the Republican party, and few Republican leaders have the guts or the ethics to confront him, he is validating their hatred and their violent tendencies.
Paul Ryan calls the Democratic sit-in for gun safety, led by John Lewis — John Lewis! — a “publicity stunt,” while all he can manage to say every time Trump stokes hatred is, “Well, I don’t agree with him. Well, I don’t understand that kind of thinking.” Paul, Paul, Paul — you’re supporting a candidate whose entire campaign — entire life — consists of publicity stunts. Perhaps you should take some time to learn about John Lewis’s life; you are obviously unaware of his history with sit-ins, sit-ins that took extreme courage and conviction, that helped create significant change in this country for millions of people. He and other Democrats are trying to reduce gun violence to save American lives. You are doing spit to reduce gun violence.
The leader of the Republican party spews hate-filled rhetoric. Most Republican leaders, including Ryan, McCain and others, are tying themselves up in knots to not offend him OR what they damn-well know is their base: fearful, hateful bigots, many of whom carry guns.
I fear that what I’m experiencing in my very conservative area doesn’t bode well for Cleveland, and certainly not for the country, whether Trump wins or loses. This has been building since President Obama was first elected in 2008. Gun sales went through the roof, as they do now every time there’s a mass shooting. Republican leaders helped to create this anti-Obama, anti-”other” hatred by showing him complete and utter disrespect. And of course, they are all feeding from the NRA fund-raising trough.
Are we heading towards some tipping point, or have we already gone past it? Cliven Bundy and the gang that took over the Oregon nature preserve got away with actually pointing guns at law enforcement officials. White people around here get away with illegally shooting guns — including AR-15’s — near other people’s homes, knowingly breaking the law.
I feel so at wit’s end about this that I’m not sure how to even conclude this. So I’ll make a plea: don’t go to Cleveland. There will be white guys with guns there who think they have a right to operate outside the law because white guys with guns DO get away with that in America today. Going to Cleveland will involve great personal risk. Stay home and help people register to vote instead. It’s much safer and will make a difference in November.