Phoenix Rising

So I hear that Arizona is beautiful…

But if you are singing, dancing and colored, it might not be the place for you. Which sucks because I like to sing and dance and I’ve always wanted to go to Sedona!

I mean they still don’t celebrate, er a observe or heck even acknowledge Martin Luther King, Jr Day right?

And now this…

PHOENIX – About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday's event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn't need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.

The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms," he said.

So apparently Arizona is an open-carry state, which means that anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry it in public as long as it can be seen. Well this helps me sleep at night. But not really because I need people to use some sense! When it comes to the leader of the free world could you just fall back on your gun totin’? I don’t think you’ll need to hunt a rabbit at a downtown protest, but I really don't know how they do in the Southwest.

Clearly I am no Supreme Court judge, so I don’t have to interpret the Constitution for a living, but I’m thinking that late 1700’s America was a different type of place. I place where it was you against the wild frontier. Where you had to hunt for food, kill a Native America or shoot a slave in the buttocks just to keep some law and order. And I can see the need for the right to bear arms way back then.

But now? For what and for why?

And I am just going to go out a limb and assume that Mister Arizona protester loves America and all that it stands for. Clearly he’s cleaving to the literal interpretation of the words of the Constitution. How then can Mister Arizona not respect the office of the President and just leave his rifle at home, or heck in the car? Forgive me I was going to write "pick-up". Would he have done the same if it were Baby Bush who came to town? Well let me not assume that he wouldn’t have, even though decades as a citizen is the country compels me to say that he wouldn’t and Baby Bush was not opposed to gun totin'!

Oh life and this right to bear arms debate! Enough already! If folks can use some sense when bearing their guns then that’s cool. You bear your arms, I choose to take my chances without a gun. And can we just let Michelle O. wear sleeves when she feels like it?

See You In Seven

after a year and a day

i'm a big fan of clifford harris, jr. i was truly devastated when he fell into his latest round of legal troubles. i can remember exactly where i was when i found out he and tiny had been arrested on weapons charges. as it happens, a friend and i were in atlanta for the taping of the ghettofab bet hip hop awards. i was anxiously awaiting t.i.'s performance as this would be the first time i'd see him perform live. however when he didn't bound onto the stage after winning his first award, i knew something was up. my friend and i quickly pulled out our crackberries and furiously tried to figure out what had gone awry via goggle. and there it was in black and white. RAPPER T.I. ARRESTED ON FEDERAL GUN CHARGES. plus images of tiny with her fiery red and blond hair draped over her face as she sat on the curb in shame.

as the details unfolded, it became clear that the talented mr. harris wouldn't be getting out of this one so easy, even with the best defense money could buy. these were federal charges carrying federal time with federal evidence to back them up: confidential informants, surveillance tapes, confessions, etc. etc.

and so, t.i. embarked on the biggest public relations campaign of his life, complete with a new album, multi-city tour, and a cheesy mtv reality show following his road to reduction in sentence. yet when the time came for him to learn his fate, it was still a year and a day despite all the life lessons and scared straight tactics. still t.i. seems committed to his nicer, shinier persona, having recently launched a new ad campaign called Responsiblity Is A Lifestyle: It's Time to Bury Da Beef.

I hope that through my mistakes, young people can begin to learn, as I did, that we have to put our guns down and start to give our guns back. It pains me inside to hear about so many of our people dying because of gun violence. Just in the past weeks, a 13-year old boy was shot in the head in Harlem, a 17- and a 19-year old were murdered in a double homicide in Queens and a 15-year-old was chased, beaten, shot and burned in Chicago.

while he seems sincere in his new positive direction, i wonder what kinda records he's gonna put out after his federal stint is over. on paper trail he rapped less about hurtin folks and more about the sorrow of those dead and gone. but i wonder what will he rap about after the fed time is done. will t.i. become the new "conscious" rapper of our generation, speakin the truth to the young black you?

what say you?

girlie get your gun

Breathe deep. Bend down. Pick it up. Place it against my shoulder. Breathe deep. Wait.

Ok ya’ll. Get your sight. Ready. Aim. Fire.

Squeeze Finger. Close Eyes. Squeeze Finger Tighter.

Pow. Pow. Pow.

So went my first time...shooting a gun.

This weekend I went to the shooting range with some co-workers. Mainly because I’ll try almost anything at least once. And I wanted to see what guns were all about, having never touched a real one, at least not without a plastic evidence bag between my fingertips and the cool metal.

Until this weekend, guns scared me. I didn't grow up with a grandfather who hunted. My grandaddy liked cars and pull your own part junkyards. Not a single family member owned a gun, as far as I knew. To me guns = dangerious weapons. That hurt and kill people.

But I had to rethink my stance on guns recently due to a couple of events. When I moved to the N.O. a few months back, a friend suggested that I get "a pistol" and I seriously considered it. What if somebody tried to run up on me in the mean streets of N'awlins? "I'm a public defender" might not do the trick to ward off someone bent on taking something from me. But then I thought about Nikki Red.mond, who bought a gun for protection from a stalker and ended up on trial for the murder of her boyfriend after she shot that same gun in fear of her life. Having a gun readily available in a moment of intense passion or rage might get somebody kilt. All the admonitions that tis better not to have a gun around because you're more likely to get shot with your own gun really stuck with me and I pushed the idea of gun ownership to the back of my mind.

Then the opportunity to actually go shoot guns came up, I decided to give it a go, you know the whole try it once thing. After my round at the range, my immediate thoughts were that I'd never shoot a gun again. I didn't get the thrill out of it that some of my colleagues did but I didn't shoot my eye out either. After some reflection, I have to admit that with each shot of the gun. my fears were lessened and I might just try it again sometime. Although the 9mm has way too much kick for a sista, I'm seriously thinking about a cute little pearl-handled revolver.

Round these parts you don't need a permit to own a gun, just enough gumption and money to make your purchase. Which means than way more people that I thought are packing. Mayhap I should too.

What say you?

Round 'em up. NOW

A few weeks ago, I read in the paper that the Washington D.C.'s mayor and his city's police department proposed the launch of the Safe Homes Initiative. "Police [would] target areas hit by violence and seek adults who let them search their homes for guns, with no risk of arrest... [It] also applies to drugs that turn up during the searches, police said...Residents who agree to the searches will be asked to sign consent forms. If guns are found, they will be tested to determine whether they were used in crimes. If the results are positive, police will launch investigations, which could lead to charges." Apparently Boston and Philadelphia [fyi-- allegedly has the higest murder rate of any US city] are considering launching the same initiative, too [courtesy of Washington Post].

Uh oh--classic showdown between civil liberties vs. civil rights.

We already have the critics of the plan as expected who feel the police don't deserve to come in their homes they haven't earned that privilege. Also, these critics feel it is unfairly targeting poor neighborhoods, which also happen to be predominantly black/Latino. All these things are true, however, I am tired of hearing, reading, or seeing another knucklehead arrested for blowing another brotha's head off -- when his ass should have been in school or at the very least in the house. These kids are young as hell and whoever their guardains are maybe mama n'em, grandmama n'em, auntie n'em, godmommy n'em, neighbor n'em [you get my point]should let them search their house. It is my belief that these roughnecks are housing these firearms not too far from where they are committing their crime.

Dire circumstances coerce us to be proactive and do something. These ruffnecks are blowing each others heads off and folks have an issue with MPD doing a search? N**** please, get a grip -- there are times when the welfare for the collective trumps the individual. The firearms are definitely complicit in the problem -- let's round 'em up. NOW.

cheers,

Bellini