Almost every American male I met when asked "Do you own a gun?" replied, "Sure do," said with great pride and with a quizzical look. Quizzical in that it seemed a silly question. I should know better. In the USA, to own a gun is almost the same as eating three meals a day. No, wait, likely the majority of Americans do not eat that way.While in Montgomery, I talked with Quint, a 29 year old male hotel receptionist, who gladly showed me his permit to carry a firearm, as if it were a fishing license, except it meant he was allowed to carry a pistol wherever he went, maybe hidden, but on his person for certain.
When I asked Quint if he practiced shooting, he replied, "Sho' do, but not much here in Montgomery. Mo' at home further out in the country where I kin shoot in mah backyawd. Caint do that in 'Gomery." For a Canadian, this is amazing, particularly so as I have never owned a gun in my life and can't imagine having one.
Talking to one woman in a Smoky Mountain bistro, I heard her defend gun ownership saying, "It is the best guarantee of personal security. Nobody is going to bother you if they know you have a gun. A burglar isn't going to become dangerously violent if he knows you have a gun in the house." No, he may not, but for certain the probability of someone being shot sure increases when the householder owns a gun.
But, I do not want to become judgmental or critical of Americans. They seem to have so much...if you watch TV. But American TV is lying to you, in every way. Most Americans aren't as nice looking as the people on TV. Most Americans are more 'plain Jane' in looks, and definitely more overweight than anyone you see on TV. Americans don't have as much as you would be led to believe by TV. The cities I visited so far, Pittsburgh, Knoxville, Montgomery, Biloxi, New Orleans, Jackson, Memphis and Nashville, all seemed to be suffering economically; their downtowns with many boarded up windows, "For Lease/Rent" signs, and "Out of business" notices. Sure, there is a portion of downtown which is 'hopping' on Friday and Saturday nights, especially in New Orleans and Nashville. But those are tourist towns; I was on tour; it was summer time, good weather. But leave that downtown 'booming' section and you would see that businesses were suffering. I even saw an entire hotel boarded up and up for sale 'as is' in Memphis. Incredible !
I am not sure how right I may be but in Europe where I have seen poverty or high unemployment, I heard crime rate was high. In Memphis, the downtown hotel where I stayed had uniformed security stationed at the hotel entrance. In Nashville, the Catholic Cathedral, 'The Cathedral of the Incarnation,' had an armed police officer standing at the back of the church. He explained that "the homeless sometimes become very aggressive and even walk right up to the altar during mass." This is all in what one would consider a 'good' part of town adjacent to Vanderbilt University. The entrance doors to the hotel in Memphis's downtown are all 'entry by hotel key pass only.'
Traveling the southern and central USA, I am beginning to feel like the United States' "Wild west, gunslinger days" are being revived and the sheriff has deputies riding shotgun all over. This picture may not be totally accurate. In fact, I may be far of the mark, but pass keys to enter a hotel, pass keys to enter hotel elevators, security guards at hotel entrances, squad cars, not just one or two, but pairs, many pairs, parked in the intersections of the down town core where people were partying....
They even have the deputies on horseback...the wild west???
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