After the shootings in Broad Ripple around 1:20 a.m. on 3/16, in which one person was killed and several wounded, I blogged about the absurdity of circumstances that give rise to death tolls from our gun culture. Police weren’t called to the scene, but were working near the bar. 1/8

The officers ” heard multiple shots go off inside” the bar, [FN1] a bar catering to a younger set. [FN2] Officers were steps taken in June 2023 to address gun violence. [FN3] “The wild west” is movie fiction. [FN4] Gun control is as American as grade school polio vaccines. [FN5] 2/8

In towns like Tombstone and Dodge City people had to check their guns on entering the towns. I teed off on advocates of gun culture. I especially pointed to Guy Relford, who has a show on terrestrial radio station WIBC. [FN6] Relford, a gutless radio voice, won’t debate me. 3/8

One person texted a question: what gun control would have prevented the 3/16 shootings. The recent reading of the 2nd Amendment by SCOTUS seems fueld by money. That aside, here’s a measure: ban handguns in bars. In not-so-wild west bars guns were banned in bars. 4/8

That’s a start. Nothing’s perfect. What’s obvious that this gun culture kills people with one group profiting: gun manufacturer. If you feel it necessary to have a gun with a four-inch barrel on your hip, it doesn’t add to what you have in your shorts. 5/8

Footnotes:
FN1. www.wishtv.com Channel 8, “Person killed, 5 others wounded in Broad Ripple nightclub
FN2. I’ve lived in Broad Ripple for almost 40 years and am familiar with the businesses here. 6/8

Footnotes:
FN3. Jesse Wells, “Safety changes being made in Broad Ripple aimed at preventing violence,” Fox 59, 6/30/23.
FN4. See Winkler, “Gunfight,” 2011 ed., pp. 166-173. E.g., Dodge City, Kansas banned concealed firearms in 1873. 7/8

FN5. Id., pp. 172-73; also, Ord 9(1): “It is hereby declared unlawful for any person to carry deadly weapons, concealed or otherwise (except the same be carried openly in sight, and in the hand)...”
FN6. His first name is “Guy.” Get it? 8/8