April 23, 2026
The round table is in a courtyard providing access to four spacious bungalows. In one of those lives my brother-in-law and his wife, whom we visit a few times a year. Weather permitting, we sit around the round table each day for cocktail hour and discuss affairs, current and past. The volume of the discourse escalates proportionally to the amount of alcohol we consume and the nature of the subject matter.
The subject last night was a shooting at a local high school. Two people died, and four were injured, all under 18 years of age; they were high school students. It was a prearranged brawl. I have never heard of this type of get-together, where gangs or just groups of people arrange to meet for a fight, or brawl, or whatever. One of us at the round table described his experiences with such brawls in the past, except that there were no guns in those days. It was baseball bats, with which he said, “they beat the shit out of each other.” But with guns, the situation has changed. Of the five injured students, four were girls, and one was only twelve years old.
NC has an open carry law, meaning that one can carry a gun visibly. Sitting with us around the table, Wes and Beth have guns; Wes has a couple of dozen guns, a variety, including an AR15. The most expensive firearm he ever bought was US$3000. And following the law, he locks the guns away when not in use. He said that he used to carry one all the time, but less so now. He used to go to the gun range for practice and took courses for gun owners. Beth also used to practice on the range. They have never had to use a firearm, but Wes explained that it makes him feel safer carrying one. He also has a license for a “concealed weapon,” which allows him to carry a weapon on his body in a concealed location.
Huw does not have a gun but said some people attending his church may carry them, not visibly, because one cannot open carry a gun in a church or in government buildings. Why would anyone carry a gun into a church, into God’s house? Where one should believe in love and friendship and respect their neighbor, and so on. Isn’t this a contradiction of your beliefs?
I asked Wes why he has guns when he has never experienced the need for one. He said that the situation may arise when he needs one, when approchng suspicious looking people. Huw suggested that we should do away with guns, teasing Wes. But no, Wes said that “the bad guys can always acquire guns even if the government took all firearms away from people. And then the bad guys would have guns while the good guys would have no defense.” I asked whether he had forgotten about the police’s role in safety. But, of course, the police would take some time to respond, while people present, with guns, could take charge of the situation and shoot the shooter, was the response.
This take-charge attitude seemed to be Wes’ preferred approach to life and demonstrated his manliness by arriving in his huge Ford Explorer (six cylinders with 450 hp) and stepping out of the cab with a beer in hand.
Statistics on firearms I have read clearly indicate that in countries with strict gun laws or where guns are outlawed, the homicide rate by firearms is very low, compared to the US rates, by many orders of magnitude. But of course, how would the US get rid of guns, and at what cost? Not only financial but also political costs.
Just this morning, I read that there have been over one hundred seventy school shootings this year in the US. That is a huge number, and how many students have been killed? I think that this gun culture, with overtones of machismo, is vastly overrated and costly.
Some nasty overtones and dark broodings come to my mind when guns are used in video games and in real life. I have no hope that there is the political will to change this violent and aggressive behavior in the short run, that results from our fascination with gun culture. But then again, I realize that children, especially boys, like to play soldiers, and perhaps it is built into our genes, going back in history as part of the evolution of human society.
And just what happened this morning here in Winston-Salem, another school shooting, right after the school shooting yesterday. Two boys got involved in an argument with one shooting the other. The shooter was arrested shortly after.
The round table discussion was interesting, and we did not get into any uncivilized arguments. I did not learn anything new, except for some details about how open and concealed carry laws work. And I was flabbergasted to learn that some people attending church may carry a gun as a matter of course. But I have never met people before, who believe in having guns, practice shooting, and firmly believe in the value of carrying guns on their bodies in everyday life.
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