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Published 6 years ago by kxh with 4 Comments
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  • Maternitus (edited 6 years ago)
    +7

    I think it's about time to tell my story of Pete. I lived in Hannibal, Missouri for about a year, just about 15 years ago. It was surprising for me to see that many guns, compared to New York, Washington or Philadelphia where I stayed in 1989. Even in Far Rockaway, Queens I haven't seen one gun. Not even the South Bronx, when we went to Yankee games. The Midwest is an opposite of everything East Coast, I think.

    Anyways, Pete. He owned and ran a liquorstore, downtown Hannibal. He offered me a nice comfy chair when I came in for the first time, checking for local beers and, of course, if he had anything Belgian. ;-) We talked for many hours during my stay and became somewhat friends. Making friends is hard in Hannibal, so I see it as valuable. At one night, while smoking cigarettes and tasting some brew from Washington state, he took out a rifle, beautifully engraved, all shiny. A piece of art, if you look at merely the designs and not the destructive power. I asked him why he had also that rifle behind the counter, since there was obviously already a gun and a baseball bat. Every small store had that. But not that rifle. Pete told me his father bought it in 1948, just around the start of the CIA. The reasoning behind it was that it might be needed in the future "when those assholes will throw away every liberty we have".

    Pete's father wasn't talking gun ownership rights, he was talking freedom of speech, freedom of movement and forceful oppression by the state. It became a whirlwind of stories how the US got into a decline and that it will reset to a former shape, as in not so United anymore. A civil war was even discussed on an other night. At the time I thought it was kind of crazy talk, but during my stay I learned from Pete and other, not in the slightest related or friends with Pete, about the things people are acting surprised about the last two years. The corporate take over, the militarization of the police, excessive violence against your own citizens, money laundering, handing out tax money to institutions that have a multitude of that subsidy in their coffers, corruption, setting up diverse demographics against eachother. It is becoming a perfect storm to put that rifle into use. Not shooting civilians, but kicking back at government.

    When I was a young kid I dreamed of living in the US. At 19 I had my first chance and fell in love with all the opposites, the diversity, the friendliness and politeness. I looked at it all through pink glasses, I know, but the second time (2002/2003) was way more grim. It took away that dream of me and reality taught me to get the hell out of Dodge, so to speak.

    I will return, when all the mess is over. I have my eyes on Colorado or Washington state. I heard they have excellent coffee there. California is a bit too much for me. Too many crazies there. ;-) But I really mean it, the country, or to be technically correct, states are so different to one another, it is hard to not find anything you don't like. Every climate there is, from subtropical to polar, all kinds of environments, from mountains to deserts, everything someone can wish for to have a reason to live somewhere can be found in that one collection of states. Well, if that isn't a big compliment and that coming from a very vocal anti-US person. I am not against the people, it is so sad to see they are being sold out and betrayed by a small bunch of robberbarons. Instead of shooting at children, you could think of collectiv...

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  • NotWearingPants
    +6

    You know how ISIS makes idiot claims of responsibility for things they didn't really do?

    Yeah, this is like that.

    And Hispanics are only identified as white when they commit crimes.

  • Appaloosa
    +6

    This thing that is happening, shootings in schools, this is not about guns, it is about us. What have we become. What are our kids believing and acting upon. Not my kid, of course.

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