As my buddy, Jim Farris exclaimed via social media, just a few minutes ago, “Fuck 2020!”
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died. She was a liberal bulwark on the court, a living legend, the most tenacious being I have ever heard of and her passing is a seismic occurrence for our nation’s future. Her passing marks one of our country’s darkest hours.
I may say more in another column but, for now, we must honor her legacy by fighting tooth and nail to prevent the GOP from cramming a replacement justice down our throats a mere month and a half before the election. People, it is time to become engaged citizens. You will need to use your voices.
We may need to take to the streets.
The GOP’s argument against Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, was that it would not be right to seat a Supreme Court Justice so close to an election. The election they were talking about was more than a year out!
Silence is no option now.
The ante on this coming election has just been raised way beyond our means. No matter. We got to play the hand we were dealt.
Have you ever taken an online course?
I have taken three that come to mind, not including various attempts to learn Spanish on a phone app. (I am not going to my grave regretting not having tried to learn a second language. I doubt I will have learned a second language though and this despite required Spanish in elementary and junior high, voluntary Spanish classes throughout the rest of my life and driving through Mexico - slowly mind you - three separate times. The will is there but, for whatever reason, I never get past the “Como esta usted” phase.)
The online courses I have taken and successfully completed are: First Aid and CPR, Food Handler’s Permit and Oregon’s GORP (Guide and Outfitter Recognized Professional) course through Oregon State University.
As an outdoor guide, I need a valid First Aid and CPR card which has to be renewed every two to three years. The expiration dates depend on who conducts the course. At least, it used to be that way. Both the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association used to be the two agencies overseeing the issuance of standard first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and one of them allowed two years while the other allowed three years.
Several years back, they started offering online courses and I happily embraced it because I was tired of going through the same rigmarole over and over. As you can imagine, the online course has zero hand’s on learning. The other two courses were the same, though I want to single out the developers of the Food Handler’s course because they go out of their way to make the medium modestly engaging with bells and whistles and cute avatars and a peppy pace.
If these courses were the full extent of my knowledge about any of these subjects, I think society should be worried. As I admitted with my continual failure with Spanish, I do miserably learning online because my experiential base is narrow. I suspect I am one of those learners who need to be immersed in the culture to learn the language.
So, the other day, what popped into my inbox was an email hawking the common person’s ability to get a concealed carry permit for a weapon that (the email said) would be valid in 70% of the country.
All that was necessary was to take this online course.
They encouraged me to hurry, because, they warned in red lettering, you never know when the liberals are going to take over, and when they do they are likely to shut down freedom lovers access to useful courses like this one. This one course was supposedly all you needed to carry a concealed weapon in the majority of the country.
Judging by my experience with the efficacy of online training, I don’t think anything involved with firearms should be entirely online. Hand’s on training with firearms should absolutely be required. And, there is simply no good reason, that one online course should give people carte blanche to carry a weapon in over half of the country.
Which leads me to an experience I had with an individual who had a concealed carry permit in the state of Washington. It gave me a little bit of insight into the mind of a gun owner.
I discovered he was ‘packing’ after a story I told about my being purposefully cautious about where I roamed in Seattle after certain hours. He said he didn’t worry about it because he carried a concealed weapon. In fact, he showed me the gun as we sat drinking IPAs at the local brewery.
I live in a bubble. I never considered that people I knew packed ‘heat’.
He went on to explain that it was - technically - illegal for him to be carrying his weapon, even if concealed, while drinking at a pub. Washington state is sensible like that. You wouldn’t want people who are drinking high alcohol content beers to have a lethal weapon in their possession which, if they got tired of the argument or the antagonist, they might decide to put to use. Your survivability is much higher defending against a pool cue stick or a bar stool.
Our conversation was friendly and, after I showed no interest in fondling the handgun or rhapsodizing about various gauges of bullets because I have about as much curiosity about guns as I do cars, it ended. He was staying with me so I suggested we make our way home but he insisted on staying out, drinking longer and making his way to another bar. He kept his holstered and hidden gun with him as he wandered off to another seedier location.
Somehow he made it back to my place without getting arrested, though he did admit to getting in a heated argument at the other joint.
The next day, I wanted to know why he ‘carried’ when he was in a small town like Leavenworth, especially while drinking, which could cause him to lose his rights - at least, temporarily. His retort was that he had a gun safe in his van - which would be the wholly logical place to keep a gun when you are in a nearly crime-free tourist village - but he didn’t trust that someone wouldn’t steal it from his van.
There might have been a little paranoia going on.
In any event, this whole episode opened my eyes to a couple of realities. Plenty of people are armed and I am just not aware of it. Plenty of people break the rules regarding carrying weapons because they can get away with it. Particularly if their skin is the right color.
Which leads to my last few thoughts, because my world just got exploded by the news of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing and I am having an extraordinarily difficult time concentrating.
Gun laws need to be stricter, not more lax.
Gun control needs to be broadened, not weakened.
Gun law loopholes need to be tied up, not left gaping open from state to state.
Some guns need banning.
Gun courses online most definitely need to be banned. Certainly before TikTok or What’sApp.