The times we live in: Where even the cops say arm yourself for that walk to work

Our police chief in Salt Lake City of late has been boasting about how crime is down in the city's downtown core, i.e., the environs of the homeless shelters and free clinics.

Or, perhaps it is simply that people who used to report crimes -- folks you a couple years ago moved into new condos erected as the formerly depressed area of rail yards was "gentrified," got tired of the futility of calling in drug deals, bum fights, drunks urinating and defecating on the sidewalks, etc.

I work in the middle of the worst of this area. Every morning before dark, I ride the train downtown and get off one block from the shelters and the scene of weekly stabbings and strong-arm robberies committed by that criminal element that thrives within any large homeless community.

Like wraiths, there are always a couple of shadowy forms peering out from the parking lots, alleys and not-yet-open business entry ways.

During the daylight hours, the danger is likely less, but you cannot walk half a block without being accosted by beggars with stories of woe, and the hungry, wan look of meth or crack addicts in bloodshot eyes.

Twice, by different police officers I've dealt with as a breaking news reporter, I've been strongly advised to get a concealed/carry permit and carry a locked and loaded firearm.

Having once been confronted in the predawn dark by a couple street men, one circling behind me while the other attempted to cut me off from the front, I took the advice.

On the cited occasion, I was somewhat younger and lucky enough to find a piece of scrap rebar in a vacant lot that convinced the two to walk away.

Now, a last resort would be a legally obtained and licensed handgun. I pray I never have to pull it out, let alone fire it in a desperate, last ditch defense of myself, my family or an innocent stranger.

But this is the world we live in, and as my police acquaintances told me, going unprotected into such areas as where I work, and at the time of day I work, is to go naked into a den of hyenas.

So, today was another morning in the Zoo, the Asylum, or some circle of Hades, whatever you call these occasionally very mean streets. The shadowy forms flitted into and out of the dim street lamp lights, and away.

On the train platform where I daily get off to walk the couple blocks to the office, someone had abandoned a shelter blanket in one place, and a pair of underwear a few feet away. On other days, I've walked by huddled forms, their ragged faces brielfy lit by the glow of their crack pipes.

And, in front of the Tribune's main entrance was an abandoned syringe, the needle gone. I carefully picked up the syringe tube and tossed it in the garbage.

After all, little kids walk that sidewalk later in the day on the way to a nearby children's museum and school children by the busloads visit the planetarium across the street. 

Still, it seems an almost futile effort, like trying to dig through a mountain of sludge with a teaspoon.

The economy, and lack of jobs -- at least ones that can support a family or pay a mortgage; drug addiction; mental illness ignored by underfunding of needed treatment programs; and the human predators who thrive within a desperate, often hopeless community . . . all are contributors to the sickness.

All those things, and at the heart of it all, of our existence as human beings, the hopelessness of spirits broken by life, and however to define it, yes, sin.

And so, here's the bitter irony. On one hand, I am a Christian who gives tithes and offerings toward various outreach programs to the homeless and others suffering on the fringe of society.
And on the other hand, I live in a world where just going to my job means facing the possibility of a life-threatening encounter -- and, in the most extreme of circumstances, one where it becomes -- as it has for others, too often -- a decision to take a life to keep your own.

Packing heat? Why, O why? Here's why

People who just can't understand why anyone would want a concealed-carry weapon's permit need to ride the 5 a.m. TRAX train to work with me, and get off in the dark one block north of three homeless/drug treatment facilities. 

Or, like today, just ride the train.

During their once-a-month, check-your-ticket visits to the early train to downtown, a Utah Transit cop came upon a fellow sitting across from me whose transfer pass was two days out of date. No I.D., but did give his name, and found he has twice before been cited for trespassing on the train . . . and had numerous arrest warrants. 

As she was citing him again, another guy -- tats, piercings, angry and obviously cranked up, started bellowing into his cell phone from two seats away:

"I don't wanna go back to Max and end up slitting my wrists, dude! Do something! Y'all ain't got my criminal history, I'll never get out, $#!@!" 

The UTA officer quietly called for backup, and when the second, burly transit cop arrived the bad boy was out the door and down the street and into the dark.

So, yeah. THAT's why. Armed cops were there, this time, a once-a-month fluke. One day out of 30.

So, perhaps a .38 Special with five 158-grain, "self defense" rounds in the cylinder, could be something of a comfort. 

You know, rhetorically speaking. Sort of.

Put the blame where it belongs: within the human heart

Lots of finger-pointing, and not a little hatred being directed these days at the National Rifle Association in particularly, and pretty much anyone who has decided to take defense of their homes and loved ones into their own hands -- rather than depending on overworked and stretched thin law enforcement . . . i.e., gun owners.
I am a gun owner. I have a concealed weapons permit. I took the safety training, and I am proficient, regularly going to a safe, regulated firing range. But I do not, as I've mentioned before, see why anyone needs to full-on military style assault rifle to "defend" his or her person, loved ones or home.
Honestly, assault weapons seem to be a big leap from self defense to an offensive ability more in line with militia movements, which often have political agendas of their own.
But I digress.
There is a lot of debate, and not a little angry name-calling going on, and by folks who, in my opinion, do not have bona fides to speak to any level I feel the need to respect. But I would argue this man, Darrell Scott, has earned the right to be heard.
Not perhaps to be agreed with on every point; but his loss and grief carry a lot more weight we me than some idiot thinking the solution is to strip all law-abiding gun owners of the means to defend themselves -- while, by definition, leaving criminals the undermanned police departments the only ones with weapons. Neither do I think some Bubba with a collection of AR-15s, AK-47s and a bagful of extended capacity clips has the right to speak with authority on the issue, either.
So, whatever side of this debate you find yourself, or if you are in the middle somewhere, I think Darrell Scott has earned a moment of your time.
To read a transcript of what he had to say to Congress in the aftermath of the Columbine massacre, click on this link.
His points, I believe, at least deserve recognition in the wake of recent incidents where madmen have acted to slay the innocent, and perhaps more to the point, the defenseless.

Call for common sense: Self-defense firearms, yes; assault rifles, no

OK . . . People need the right to defend themselves against the lawless, who could care less if gun laws are stricter. Police departments are being cut, not expanded, so the need is greater than ever. 

But come on -- assault rifles? Extended clips? No background checks on both criminal and mental health status? There can be a logical, safer middle ground here.

That said, gun control legislation appears powerless to stop madness. In Connecticut, with some of the nation's toughest gun control laws, the Newtown mass murderer still was able to arm himself -- despite being turned down after a background check when he tried to buy a rifle a few days before the school shootings.

He did this by killing his mother and stealing the arsenal he used.

About the same time he murdered 20 children, six adults and then killed himself, a man in China slashed 22 children with a knife.

So, mandatory background checks ruling out both criminals and the mentally ill from gun ownership. But sane, at risk citizens still need the right to be armed in self-defense against those who would rape, rob and kill.

They do not, however, need a military assault rifle to do this. 

If someone breaks into your home, you have a few seconds to react. That's one, two or maybe three shots from a revolver, normal semi-automatic pistol, or a shotgun.

Military grade assault rifles are more the firearm of terrorists or militia types with dreams of revolution or anarchy.