This morning I read an article in the BBC news about an event that, to me, cuts to the core issues of gun culture in the United States: the devaluation and mistrust of other human beings. The story is about a 17 year old German exchange student that was spending a year at a high school in Montana studying. The boy, named Diren Dede, was shot and killed by Markus Kaarma, a local fire fighter as he was trespassing in the Mr. Kaarma's garage. As of now Mr. Kaarma is being charged with murder but he has pleaded not guilty and cited Montana's "castle doctrine", or stand your ground law, as his defense.
Now, the event itself is tragic, but I think what makes this even worse is the circumstances leading up to the event. According to the article, Mr. Kaarma's house had been burgled twice before the shooting, so he and his wife decided to try and set up a trap for the burglars. To set the trap they opened their garage door, set up motion detectors and video cameras, and then left the wife's purse in the open garage into the night as "bait". The pair waited up late until the motion sensors tripped at which point Mr. Kaarma fired a shotgun several times into the garage without looking. A quick aside: Is this the kind of society we live in? Instead of going through the police or even just getting better home security, we resort to lethal violence to solve our petty disputes? Not to mention the fact that anything could have tripped the motion detectors, not just the burglars and the immediate reaction is to shoot a highly lethal weapon into a space without that could have anything in it? What if it had been a child from next door who had gotten out of their house late at night? What if it was a young exchange student attempting to alert the owners that their garage door was open and that it was a prime opportunity for thieves? And even if Mr. Dede's intentions were to steal the hand bag, since when do we mete out the death penalty over petty theft?
I hope the trial finds Mr. Kaarma guilty of murdering Diren Dede. Not only was this event caused by irresponsible gun use and irrational behavior, but letting Mr. Kaarma off without punishment just opens the door to this tragedy occurring again. To make matters worse the tragedy was perpetrated by a civil servant that was of sound mind (as in at the moment he had no mental illness that would have led him to act irrationally). He is a person entrusted with protecting the community and saving lives yet on his off time he baited a burglar onto his property and shot him without pause. And this isn't even the first time that an event like this has happened where a young person was shot and killed over petty offences that would normally result in very minor penalties. Crimes like burglary and trespassing that would not normally present any uncommon danger to the shooter.
The need to feel safe and secure in one's own home is a need that I respect and wish that everyone is able to fulfill. However, what I do not understand is the need to respond to any perceived possibility of threat with immediate and lethal force. Forget the many reasons to not own a gun for home defense: forget the statistics about home defense with a firearm, the multiple mass shootings this country has suffered, the people who are harmed by accident by irresponsible gun owners every year, just think about this for a second: Do I want to live in a world where I am allowed to carry a weapon and use it at my discretion against anyone on my property and know that everyone around me will do the same and live in that sea of tension and mistrust, or do I want to live in a world where I don't have to feel the need to resort to lethal force to secure my home or my person because I trust that there are community units designated to protecting me and I trust that my neighbors and community members aren't constantly trying to murder me and take my things?
This is a value change, and I highly doubt that it will come to pass at any point in the near future, but I can hope. I have experienced versions of both sides of this coin and I have to say that I prefer the incredulous, shocked reactions of my European and Kiwi friends to the extensiveness of our gun laws and the events that happen because of them over the pompous whine of Sarah Palin mocking Joe Biden at an NRA rally for his idea that maybe a warning shot is warranted before you snuff the life out of another human being for merely being in your territory. I want an end to the needless deaths of innocent people. I want an end to the fear that people have when they cannot feel safe in their own homes because they think everyone is out to get them armed to the teeth. When will we learn that there is another way, and while it is hard and will require a lot of effort on every one's part, that it is possible to feel safe and secure without a means of killing within arms reach.
I firmly believe that this country would be a better, safer place without stand your ground laws, licenses to conceal and carry, the ability to own assault weapons, and the idea that you are morally justified in defending your possessions with lethal force. The idea that a purse, or any other physical possession, is more valuable than a human life sickens me. If we do nothing else, can we as a nation simply appreciate the enormous potential and sanctity of a single human life, and the repercussions of ending one of those lives over something so petty it wouldn't even warrant jail time?
Here is the link to the original
BBC article.
