On Monday, September 8, Harrisburg Hope held a forum at the Midtown Scholar bookstore to discuss the shooting death of an African-American teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.
Democratic Representative Patty Kim, co-sponsored the discussion, which also featured Harrisburg Police Chief Tom Carter, Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico, Harrisburg Council Member Jeffery Baltimore and five representatives of the community.
The militarization of police forces, and the over-policing of neighborhoods were brought up several times. And D.A Marsico mentioned that the militarization is the result of suspects being more heavily armed in many cases.
The lack of African-Americans on the force was also brought up. The event was criticized for not having enough African-American youth present, and it was suggest that an event be held in a neighborhood.
The pattern should be a familar one by now. "Open Carry" advocates, as a show of force or ego, enter a store or other business. Customers get scared, and take to Twitter or other social media. Pressure from groups like Moms Demand Action leads to a boycott and the company has to create a "No Guns" policy.
The bakery/cafe chain Panera Bread took a more proactive approach. After months of negotiations and meetings with Moms Demand Action, the store announced that they are urging customers to leave their guns at home.
Now I realize that these are polices, not laws. But they do send the message that the majority of us do not America to look like Afghanistan, etc. It also may be another signal that gun ownership is, much like smoking, becoming a socially unacceptable behavior.
No comments:
Post a Comment