Grand Jury Decision in the Heat of the Night.

As I write the beginning of this Post, the decision attained by the Ferguson, Missouri grand jury on the possible indictment of Police Officer Darren Wilson that shot unarmed teen Michael Brown to death 3 months ago has not yet been announced. This gives me time to report on something else entirely : the shooting of kid of 12 in Cleveland ( of which Ferguson is a suburb ) that happened 2 days ago and stormed the media.

http://www.cafemom.com/articles/breaking/179881/police_shoot_12_year_old_bb_gun

Sadly for the well-wishing Lisa Fogarty of CafeMom, the boy died and one now wonders if the Marines should not have been called on top of the National Guard to manage the city in case this morning’s news from the courthouse …

If you are an American, much of what follows will shock or anger you but better now than never or by the bottom of this page. The kid from Cleveland park should have been a rookie cop mistake immediately sanctioned and would have pretty much anywhere else in the civilized world. A 12 year-old brings a pellet BB gun to the playground. The tip of the muzzle normally molded out of bright orange plastic for the very purpose of signaling the weapon to be a toy of sort had been removed making it look real from a medium distance. Medium, mind you! Having served and worked security, I would not have been fooled up close. Still, this modification shows the kid to have either wanted to show-off as “legit” ( sic ) or to have a suicide wish as we’ll see.

Responding to a 911 call, the officers see the boy putting the gun in his pants and order him not to move and show his hands. While not threatening in any way to the officers, the kid attempts to fish out the gun instead which prompts one to shoot him. Let us review that suite of unfortunate events.

The kid’s stupidity could have happened any where but is more likely in America. Because here, guns are cool. Heck, recently on a news channel from Europe, I heard farmers making night rounds admit they were ashamed to have to bring weapons with them, in case. There, real men ( or women ) don’t hide behind guns in normal times and find it sad to have to. Pretty much anywhere else, the cops would have talked longer and fired a non-lethal shot if forced. I am very serious in saying that I feel confident that a fatal bullet was not required. I have worked security in crowd environments for years without one. In fact, because this work was not in America, I often, as head of detail or event, had to intervene at the request of the police, weary of seeming brutal as onlookers watched them. The relationship to the citizens and vice-versa are not the same and the dynamics of this interaction are quite unique in America.

In fact, in most Western nations, the police are as afraid of displeasing the rightful citizenry as it is of the bad guys which in a sense is as it should be. They are there to serve and protect us after all. What makes things different in the good ol’ US of A is a small thing called the Second Amendment. And the fact that it keeps being misread by descendants of the Indian Wars and Far-West actors.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
– See more at: http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment2.html#sthash.WHmuG5T1.dpuf

Every time I read this part of the Constitution, not having been brought up in awe of it, I find new ways to dispel it.

http://definitivelapseofreason.com/2012/12/16/america-killing-america-at-war-with-itself-as-with-others-or-light-schizophrenia-as-a-usa-trait/

http://definitivelapseofreason.com/2013/12/17/5141/

Is it possible that what the Founding Fathers thought of as a Free State is different from what one such has become by now, rendering this definition moot if not void? Has not the security of the State been transferred since from the Continental Army to the Pentagon and police that did not exist then? How could one be part of a well-regulated Militia without a background check unless well-regulated is meant in as trivial a sense as the Wall Street / stock market one?

None of which matters to the 2 kids in this piece. Or to a skittles and hoodie wearer in Florida and a gas station user youth one later that reminds us that in 2 years and apart from school shootings, this blog covered many such cases in 2 years since it began which is a lot. The Second amendment is here and even more so was here for its ramifications after 200 years are everywhere. For instance, I could temperate my call on recognizing a fake weapon and acting in non-lethal manner from earlier precisely because it happened in America! Because it happened in a country where law enforcement is used to being confronted to gun wielding folks, the reaction was more instinctive. Because it happened in a country where kids almost routinely use guns to shoot school comrades, the situation was credible. In a German or Canadian playground, everyone would have guessed the gun to be a simple toy which by the way a BB gun is not in their opinion.

The fact that guns are so omnipresent is the biggest part of all these affairs over race although that is the other common denominator and not a fluke.

–

Instead, on account of the repeated consequences of the two factors above, mostly the first, we now have a courtroom surrounded by a swarm of police officers and few National Guards in cruisers and Humvees, local authorities that changed the time of the announcement many times since a decision was gotten to earlier today from tomorrow morning back to an hour ago and still not here as options are weighed and protesters gather and move around. In uncommon fashion, the decision has been shared with the attorneys and family already and if indicted, Officer Wilson will be arraigned before it is made public which the delay may well indicate. The family of victim ( shot unarmed, no other term applies ) by the way that will express itself tomorrow, after reflexion, pondering and consideration showing judgment and ensuing restraint that is much to their credit. Instead, we also know that we’ll meet again to write and read about another case of the sort sooner than later and that’s sad!

And now here comes the news :
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/watch-live-continuing-coverage-ferguson-grand-jury-decision-n255161

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/ferguson-cop-not-indicted-shooting-michael-brown-n255391

Officer Darren Wilson is not indicted.
Once again, guns overwhelmed justice in America …
even though Justice was served.

Peace out, Tay.