I Could Have Died - Gun Violence on an Urban Street
Urban Decay
Today, on my way home from lunch with a friend, I could have died.
No, seriously.
I witnessed a shooting.
I was at the stoplight, about 4 cars from the front. Matt's big truck sits high above everything else on the road, so I had a bird's eye view of the proceedings. The light turned green and the first 3 cars drove off but the beat up white car in front of me was still. So was the black car to his right.
A moment too long passed and I considered laying on the horn to remind them that they were driving - holding up traffic. I checked my urge for a split second and noticed the driver's window was all the way down in the cold winter air. As I noticed, both vehicles moved slowly forward, windows down. I couldn't hear any conversation over the rumble of Matt's diesel, but it was obvious these two had been in conversation. Now that they were moving the urge to chide them subsided.
As they rolled slowly forward, the driver of the dark vehicle stuck his head out. In profile, he was an older man, late 50s perhaps - with skin weathered and worn. His dark curly hair was in need of a trim. Along with his profile in the window I saw the barrel of a gun, short, black, and shiny peeking out from the corner.
I let off the gas.
Both drivers continued forward, the white vehicle going straight and the dark vehicle making a wide right hand turn. I hung back in the middle of the intersection now, not wanting to put myself in the line of danger. I watched the dark car move slowly away from me, gun still hanging out of the window, then heard a loud !pop!
I hit my brakes.
The white car in front of me started to smoke and I heard another !pop! from the direction of the dark car, but he continued off down the street. There may have been a third gun shot as well, but by now I was though the intersection, trailing the white car by a few vehicle lengths and considering my options.
If the white car pulled over, would I pull over with him? I had, after all, witnessed a crime.
If the dark car started coming back, what would I do?
Should I immediately call the police?
Would the driver of the white car also start shooting indiscriminately?
By now, the smoke was lessening and my turn was approaching. I felt safe again as I checked the cross streets and saw no sign of the dark car. The white vehicle continued straight through the intersection and I turned toward home. What was going to be a standard lunch date had just been subsumed by a random act of violence.
I could have died; what could possibly happen in the space of a stop light that is worth shooting someone?
Many thanks to the #powerhousecreatives for their awesome
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What a fun font! How do you do that???
Having once been a DA in Houston, Texas, I have prosecuted many shootings. I want to commend you on staying in control. When people panic they lose control and can do things that only make the situation worse. You backed away and stayed out of the line of fire. Many would speed up and wind up in the line of fire, or startling one of the gunmen and needlessly drawing their fire. I am so glad you were not hurt. For those who say the world is going crazy I offer this. Gun violence is at an all time low. In the mid 80’s into the early 90’s gun violence peeked. It is still way too common but the 24 hour news cycle tends to sensationalize this issue. The actual level of gun violence is where we were in the 1950’s. On another note, @mattifer, your writing is fabulous. I was riveted through the entire story. Good job of conveying the emotions you went through. I felt like I was there with you. Stay safe.
I lived in Houston many years and have witnessed gun violence. A policeman even told me to buy a handgun. Keep it loaded and in the glove compartment, to let them know If I ever got pulled over. ..It was during the 1980's as you referred to as a violent time.
I too am glad she is safe. Great to read your response to her.
Enjoyed your post @mattifer. LOL didn't want to leave you out. :)
Thanks for the support! :-)
I'm torn on the issue of carrying a gun myself. I was always told not to carry one if I'm not prepared to use it. I just don't know that I would follow through on using it if I were to find myself in a situation that warranted that kind of response. Fortunately, Matthew is a big fan of guns, so as long as he is around I won't have to think too much about that potential occasion.
Same here. I don't plan on using one. LOL
My mom told me if you carry one be prepared to use it.
I wouldn't mind having a tazer.
I would be more likely to use a taser too. I just wouldn't want to actually kill someone, ya know?
Thank you for your unique perspective on the subject. Yes, I vaguely remember hearing statistics about gun violence declining in recent decades. We must be doing something right in that case. What do you think accounts for the decline?
I agree about the media determining the things we focus on. They do a great job of stoking the fires of panic about whatever topic they've decided is important that day. I wonder what the solution to that is. Perhaps decentralized media would help. It sure doesn't help that most of the major media outlets are owned by just a couple people.
And thank you for the kind compliments!
I am glad you are ok. Sadly, in some places in Cape Town, getting caught in the crossfire of gang battles is all too common. So sad how people treat each other
Yes, on the East side of Cleveland (the city I live in) that sort of thing is rather common. However, I live on the West side and those things just don't typically happen here. I simply cannot imagine what could have happened at a stop light to cause one person to want to shoot another person.
Road rage is like an epidemic here in the big cities. Perhaps that's what it was. Terrifying. Especially when folk carry guns. And that is an entirely different and equally important discussion.
Yes. I can see both sides of the gun argument. More guns means I can protect myself from other people with guns. Fewer guns means it's less likely that the mad man in the car next to me has a gun.
Personally, I think it's more about the culture than about the gun.
Yikes, that’s crazy. Sounds like road rage, but who knows. I’m glad you’re alright!
It could have been road rage. I just didn't see any precipitating events. I would have thought they were just friends chatting after casually meeting on the road.
Thanks!
Woah! Glad you are okay! What a terrifying experience!
Thank you. It oddly wasn't scary - just very different from anything I've ever experienced.
I think I would be shaking a bit afterwards!
You've done wise waiting :) Horns in situations like those don't solve problems, they create more stress where obviously there already is.
Glad you're fine, and don't regret you were not on a donkey.
I'm quite glad I was not on a donkey. Yep. That would not have made me feel safe at all. Although the donkey may have made a dash for it with the first shot. I guess it depends on the temperament of the donkey.
OMG!!! What a terrible thing to have witnessed!!!! Very glad to hear you are ok though! This world is insane I swear!
Insane is a good word for it. It seemed so very random and out of place for an otherwise ordinary day.
Glad you are perfectly fine.,...terrible things on street do disturbs, but keeping agile and alert to make everything go easily...
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Thank you!
There are areas of the city I live in where that sort of thing is common, but that particular side of town is not where those things happen.
It sounds a scary story. Here in Brazil I saw 3 gunshots, all of them was because someone try to steal another person.
We need more open gun laws here since we suffer with that massive problems with criminals, unfortunately.
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Interesting perspective. Is kidnapping common in Brazil?
Here in the US many people are trying to make more restrictions on who can have guns. They say it will make us safer. What is your perspective on that? It sounds like you believe more access to guns will make you safer.
Yeap, here we have what we call a flash kidnapping, when people kidnap you for a few hours just to go to the bank and withdraw all your money, and after that, they throw you in some part of the city.
More restrictions means more problems. Think about that, do you really think that mean people will care about the legislation saying that, oh I can buy a rifle since now is against the law? No, they will buy, even if was against the law... Besides, that creates a huge black market and more demands for people steal guns from others.
If less guns make us more safer, do you agree that the criminality in Brazil will be lesser than in USA? Well, the data say the opposite. More guns, more safer you are, and Brazil is here to prove that.
Thanks for sharing!
I love all the different perspectives I'm getting on this topic. Thank you for sharing yours!
A flash kidnapping sounds awful. Especially that it's a common thing. We have something similar to that here, but typically the muggers just accost you when you are already at the ATM machine. I think heightened security and better video technology has reduced that somewhat, but I'm sure it still happens.
I agree that with stricter gun control it makes it more likely that the criminals will have guns. Yes. 100%. The law abiding citizens will not break the law to obtain a gun.
I don't know that fewer guns will make us any safer...but someone else, a Canadian, also commented on the subject. She was saying that they have strict laws on guns there and that this type of violence doesn't happen much in Canada.
Personally, I don't think it's about the guns at all. I think it's about the culture and perhaps the economic disparity present within the culture. If your needs are all being met, you are not likely to turn to crime or violence. If they are not met, you are going to do what you feel you need to in order to get them met. I'm not excusing the behavior at all - I just thin that is likely the foundation for this type of thing, even if it is learned behavior instead of immediate need.
I believe that the main problem in the case of the United States is the problem of impunity, nor is the lack of study, since the low-income people living on farms are the ones with the most weapons.
I think what is missing for the United States to lower its crime rates are the more punitive laws, not in the sense of longer jail time or capital punishment, but rather to reimburse the families that have been harmed, ensuring that the killers can understand that they will try to shoot indiscriminately, they will be caught and will spend their lives giving the victims at least a financial consolation of the loss they had.
I like the idea of providing actual compensation to the families and/or victims. That would certainly connect the action to the consequence better than our current system does.
I'm not positive that the folks on the farms have the most weapons though, or at least, they are not the ones primarily responsible for gun violence even if the own the majority of the guns.
I can see a connection between education and gun violence though. Most shootings take place in impoverished urban areas. Education levels tend to be low with many families having heads of households who have not graduated high school. This can create or contribute to a feeling of inequality and lack of opportunity. Again - no excuses for this behavior, but I can see how it becomes embedded in certain demographics.
I read a text once, showing that people with low schooling and who live in the countryside have the most weapons, not only in Brazil and in emerging countries but also in countries like the United States (of course, taking out robbers and thugs). This concept greatly changes the issue of the need for a certain level of education in relation to the use of weapons.
But one thing that is intrinsically linked to guns is the lack of jobs. It may seem that lack of education manages the problem of weapons, but it is actually the lack of jobs. There is a Brazilian study showing that if you give jobs to people with very low incomes, even if it is below the minimum wage, but that it is worthy, they will not go to organized crime.
Therefore, I believe gun problems, with the exception of psychological issues of course, are intrinsically linked to the lack of opportunity and lack of employment of these families.
I wonder why they excluded robbers and thugs from their results. It seems as though that is an important demographic to consider when looking at anything involving weapons and violence.
And yes, jobs are vital! I'm sure there is a strong correlation between a person's perception of their self-worth and their ability to provide for themselves and their families. Also, many jobs that earn a low wage are quite labor intense - so perhaps people also lose the energy and time to cause a ruckus after working all day. :-)
What a horror. Luckily you are ok. I do not want to experience something like that.
Thank you. I certainly wouldn't seek that experience out. I feel badly for the people who have to deal with that on a regular basis.