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Guns

A group of us were walking toward the restaurant for dinner when the one woman told me that she owned a gun for protection, being a widow. She urged me to do the same. I was astounded, I didn’t ever want a gun.

Besides, if her gun was in her oversized bag, it was probably at the bottom. What good would that be?

The conversation triggered a memory of the TV series, LA Law which aired in the late 1980’s.  Actress Susan Dey, from Partridge Family fame, played Grace Van Owen, an assistant district attorney.  I’ve always admired the role of the public servant. Grace portrayed a value system that I identified with and she didn’t have the big hair that defined the decade. In a case involving gangs, Grace receives death threats.

According to the Pew Research Center, more than 40 percent of Americans personally know someone who has been shot, with gun owners making up more than half of that group. I don’t own a gun nor do I know anyone personally who has ever been shot.

I compared notes with a friend who was raised like the country mouse to my city mouse-ness. She had to pass a hunter gun safety test as a middle schooler before going to high school. Being a tiny kid, the instructor had to help her hold the heavy rifle.  However, from the age of seven she shot cans off the fence with a pistol as a daily play activity. I played kickball in the street.  She lived on a farm of over 300 acres. I lived separated from my neighbors by an alleyway or at most a driveway.  As a child she was taught by the adults how to use a gun safely and that guns were serious business to be used for protection, not from wild animals but from people. The regional attitude was fearful of a stranger encroaching on their 300 acres. Not for the protection of their lives; they perceived strangers as a threat to their way of life.

My friend gave me a fresh perspective on the LA Law episode. Two scenes later another gang member shoots Grace in the courtroom hallway after the guilty verdict of the gang leader.

The guilty verdict for the gang member was an infringement on gang life. Perhaps that’s why the suspect in those types of cases both on TV and in real life are portrayed as emotionless. When threats are made or perceived it is a time to consider action.  Boyfriend, Michael Kuzak, (Harry Hamlin) a heartthrob of the 1980’s, comes to Grace’s side in the emergency room to seriously nod in agreement when Grace says: “I need to buy a gun.”

My friend owns a gun but she never carries a gun with her. She admitted that her attitude toward guns has evolved over the years. She is no longer living on a 300-acre farm but in a more suburban setting than my neighborhood. Several years ago, she and her husband greeted the new folks across the street with neighborly kindness. The friendship never blossomed, in part because of the heavy drinking and explosive relationship of the couple, and because of their guns. Guns that they needed to parade about, including an AR 15.

Recovering from the gunshot wound had Grace shaken and uncertain about her way of life. The DA calls her out for making too many plea deals, suggesting that the gunshot wounded her soul, too. It always hurts.  A serious injury, such as Grace suffered, shakes your values to the core. And it should.

Pushed to the brink, Grace takes herself to the gun shop just before closing. The gun shop owner suggests a shotgun with the drawback being the clean up afterwards. Grace produces her carry permit and the gun shop owner shows her revolvers.  His banter includes phrases like: “a .38 will knock him off his feet “ and “ wrap your fingers around this baby and you’re a stone killer. “

My career as a high school teacher spanned Columbine to Parkland.  Was I ever threatened in the small, bland white bread community where I worked?  Yes. It’s an unfortunate reality of high school USA.  Once the threat came from a parent, I only heard about the threat afterwards which made it seem like a joke. Once the threat was in my own classroom by a student who spent the period shooting me with his cellphone.

The DA had warned Grace about the threats. The police would escort to her to the car and asked if she had a gun. Grace didn’t own a gun and made it clear that she didn’t want one. This was before she was shot.

Grace looks over the display of revolvers. Her wounded arm folded into her waist. The owner of the gun shop describes the revolver as sexy and hands it to her.  Grace holds the gun, takes aim, pulls the trigger and agrees with him. The revolver is sexy.

That kid in my classroom wanted to shoot me. I was lucky he didn’t have a gun. That kid is one of the reasons that I have recalled that scene in the gun shop many times since it aired in 1987.

It’s easy to make decisions in the ether, or out of a textbook before real life gets involved. Curled up on my sofa cringed as my 1980’s idol weigh and tried to balance her values with her reality.

I vividly remember the uncomfortable the scene as Grace seriously considers her purchase. Doing the right thing isn’t always pleasant or comfortable.

I held my breath until she put the gun back down on the counter. Looks at the owner and wordlessly leaves the store.  

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