America's Problem

Posted Up: June 2nd 2004, OthelloBloke

I was born and raised in London, England and I've loved living there. For having fun and partying, there isn't another city in the entire world that comes even close. But I've always felt that the busiest city in the world isn't good enough for me so I decided to travel the New World a while, after having more than two decades of American movies to influence me.

I got on that plane and flew to Lawton, Oklahoma. Although it wasn't the greatest place in the U.S, I was finally living that life I'd always dreamed about. Driving on the right side of the road, huge American cars, people talking funny, wearing their baseball caps backward and everything else. The first time I saw a Police Officer I was shocked... of course he had a gun. I couldn't believe it - a person could live 50 years in England and never see one. A few days later, myself and the woman I was shacking up with (and later married for a couple of years) were buying a dilapidated tiny car. The dealer showed up and was kneeling down looking under the car. On his hip he had what looked like a 9mm handgun. All sorts of things ran through my head, until I realised that in some parts, people can apply to carry a concealed weapon. It was the cop's gun, and that dealer's weapon that opened my eyes to the reality of life in America.

One thing I think is ironic is that the United States is telling China that they must allow this, they must allow that etc etc. Although the Chinese government is brutally and sometimes murderously repressive, China has five times the population of the United States, yet one tenth the crime. Would you not forfeit certain freedoms to be able to walk to the store without fear of getting shot in the head ?

In Canada one out of five homicides are committed with a firearm, whereas in the United States three out of five homicides are committed with firearms.

In London, and indeed 99% of the United Kingdom's ghettos, you can walk to the grocery store without fear of being caught in a drive by. Might it be that we're not moronic enough to allow ourselves the right to bear arms? In a city with a daytime population of eleven million, maybe once a month does a gun related crime hit the headlines.

See what most American's don't realise is that although the average person can pack a gun, criminals will always pack a bigger and better one. They don't follow by the same restrictions that most peeps do. The population bearing firearms just provokes the criminals into getting better ones. Here on the Dalles reserve in Ontario... at least once a month, you find out that some drunken fool has shot at somebody.

In the United States per year approximately 18,000 people kill themselves with firearms. To obtain an illegal firearm of which its true origins are having been smuggled into the United States or Canada is almost impossible. Weapons that are used in crimes have been stolen somewhere down the line from someone who legally owned it, or are legally owned by the perpetrator. And you guys want to abolish gun registration? Abolish the right to bear arms, so criminals won't be able to obtain or steal a firearm so easily. Don't think abolishing gun control is a good thing - at least with that if a firearm is used in a crime, investigators will have somewhere to start.

In rap & hip hop music, even on this site occasionally, glorifying the use of firearms and making connotations to shooting people is rampant. Most people who listen to hip hop don't realise that it's just not cool to make a song about shooting people. Listen to it, and you're condoning it... it is very simple!

This is my message. The next time all of you trigger happy, gun-toting Americans want to travel 13,000 miles to the Middle East to stop your people who invaded Iraq from getting killed, spend the damn money on fixing your own neighbourhoods, towns and cities. Sort out the f*cking crime on your own streets before you try and take guns off streets on another continent!!


Posted on 04 Jun 2006 by OthelloBloke