So...some privileged white girl, named Tricia Bishop, wrote this for the Baltimore Sun, where she argues that there should be a national database where one could go and find out which of your friends or parents of your children's friends owned guns...so you could stay away from or keep your kids away from these dangerous sociopaths.
She states in her column, "I know how to stay out of the line of Baltimore's illegal gunfire; I have the luxury of being white and middle class in a largely segregated city..."
Ignoring the racism that is implicit in this statement, I will just say, No, Tricia. You don't know shit. All you know is the privileged sheltered life you have lived in since your yuppie parents spawned you. You live in a white section of Baltimore where the police actually patrol and enforce the law...and you turn a blind eye - if you are even that aware - when they profile "undesirables" and make sure they stay clear of your little enclave of civilized life. Profiling isn't wrong when it keeps your little piece of sophisticated, urbane life safe, is it?
Not everyone enjoys your luxury. I live in a city where violence, while infrequent, is random and, for the most part, class-insensitive and the ineffective police force does little more than chronicle crime as it happens. Prior to moving here, I never felt the need to own a gun for personal protection. I do now as do the majority of my neighbors...and by the way, in the 15 years I have lived here, in a development where several thousand people live, the number of accidental shootings, fatal or otherwise? Zero.
As a parent, I understand your concern for the safety of your kids. Guns really are dangerous. So is your car. Your kitchen knives, your collection of cleaning supplies, power tools, if you have any, anything you have that plugs into an electrical outlet are all potentially dangerous things that could kill you or your kids if misused....and this is just inside your house. Once your child walks out the front door, the number of potential pathways to their demise multiply.
To your point, your kids' friends also live in houses where they are surrounded by all manner of dangerous devices and materials. Are you advocating for a national database that would identify owners of tables saws, kitchen knives, spray cans of insecticide, and anything else that could potentially injure your children? No. You don't because you see the utility of having these things in your house and, as a responsible parent, take some precautions to keep them away from your kids, as well as teaching them that these things are dangerous and could hurt or even kill them. You also assume that your children's friends' parents are being similarly responsible, which is why you willingly place your kids in their charge whenever they go over to play.
The thought that a gun in the house is going to turn responsible parents that you trust with your kids' lives into crazy, knuckle-dragging rednecks is absurd. A little research will demonstrate that your child is far, far more likely to die from drowning in your neighbor's pool than being shot by a gun they left lying around.
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