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Posts Tagged ‘gun control’

debating whether it still needs something

debating whether it still needs something

where last we left off, i was taking baby steps to get some things accomplished.  i’m going to say a “b” was earned in that department.  not that i got crazy amounts of things done, but that i got a fair amount of things done without making myself crazy.  that in itself is a huge step in the right direction, as the anxiety bug has been leaving big welts on my psyche lately.

i escaped jury duty, only having to be anchored to the phone and call in every night.   i imagine i wouldn’t have been chosen for any case in which weapons may have been involved after explaining my ideas about gun control.

i believe everyone has the right to own as many guns as they want.  the caveat being that they must all be stored at the local gun club/shooting range.  hunters may show their license and check out their hunting rifles for prescribed amounts of time dring the hunting season.  owners not returning their guns would face stiff penalties.

we no longer live on our own out in the woods hunting for our own food, protecting ourselves from the unfamiliar.  if no one had access to guns, we wouldnt need to protect ourselves from each other.  it certainly wouldn’t end us being violent toward one another, but it could save some of the senselessness that we see in school shootings and accidents with children.  hunters could still hunt animals, but the ak47s could only be used at the club. we don’t need to hunt one another.

i know it’s kind of a crazy, utopian idea, but we’ll never find a place closer to the center without someone having farflung ideas to rail against.

yeah, i’m pretty sure i wouldn’t have been considered impartial on that aspect.  the other thing i’ve learned about jury duty is that if one is  hostile toward one of the attorneys, they don’t let you stay.

last time i had to report for jury selection, i was working at a shelter for battered and homeles women and children.  i coordinated the activities for the children, and served on a couple committees in the community that helped  kids who needed special services keep from falling through the cracks.

as we learned more and more about the man who was on trial, i realized that he was the father of of one the children whom my committee was helping, and i should not be there.  but, i had already stated openly where i worked, and was officially bound by confidentiality by both the committee and the shelter.  if i stated i had a confidential issue, that would put out an unwarranted red flag for this guy.  as more and more jurors were dismissed for one reason or another i felt increasingly alarmed.  how could i get out of this without breaking confidentiality?

the defense attorney was really  a sleazeball who i know had defended the folks who attatched themselves to the bumpers of cars going into the local women’s clinic.  when the prosecuting attorney asked what i thought of him, i stated that i felt like he was like a lounge lizard trying to pick me up in a bar.  as shock registered on the defense attorney’s face, the prosecutor said, “i have no problem with this juror you honor.”  to which the judge replied, “well, she’s a little hostile dontcha think?”

and i was dismissed.

i think serving on a jury would be really interesting, but i know i am really opinionated, and may not ever make it.  time will tell.

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