Blogocentric Formulations

Gun Carry Laws & Dexter

PROMPT: What is your opinion on gun carry laws (concealed or not)? Is it legal to carry a weapon in your home state/country? Does it make you feel more or less safe?


In California, I don't think you can get a conceal-carry permit unless you're law enforcement, but I'm honestly not sure about what is and is not allowed in terms of firearms. I'm not a fan of people being able to carry weapons around with them, and I've never had an inclination to do it myself, so I'm pretty uninformed when it comes to my Second Amendment rights.

In general, I'm against gun carry laws. Even though I personally would never want a gun in my home, I'm not against people owning firearms in the privacy of their own home, but I'm definitely against them being able to carry them around in public on their person. Since I was born and raised in California, I wasn't really raised in a culture that promotes the use of firearms, so I've never really developed a sense of security from the ownership of handing of them. And, to be honest, I'm not sure the added amount of "protection" that comes from people carrying around weapons offsets the vastly increased amount of risk that comes with carrying them. I've heard far more stories of people wounded and even killed by the accidental or improper use of firearms than I have stories where someone with a firearm was able to avert danger.

I have fired a gun before (my bachelor party was in Las Vegas, where extremely lax gun regulations allowed me to go to a range and fire a pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, and a submachine gun), and I totally get the sense of empowerment and confidence it can bring. So I don't hold it against anyone if they feel like having a gun in their house makes them safer. I disagree... but everyone's entitled to their own opinion. But for God's sake, keep it locked in a safe, and there's absolutely no reason why you would ever need a fully-automatic weapon unless you have cause to fear regular action-movie style attacks from dozens upon dozens of random thugs.

I guess what it really comes down to is that I recognize a gun as a very powerful, potentially very dangerous instrument... and I don't trust that everyone who owns one has the same philosophy on what constitutes safe use, or has been trained and observes proper gun safety at all times. And for those reasons, I don't feel safer knowing people are walking around in public armed. I feel less safe, especially in areas where conceal-carry is allowed and you have no way of knowing if the road-raging guy sitting next to you on the freeway is packing heat.

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PROMPT: Which character's departure from what television series was the most shocking to you? No last episodes allowed; we're talking important characters leaving and the show continuing on for at least a little while without them.

DEXTER
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0773262/

One of the most shocking, and most heartbreaking, character deaths I've seen was Rita during Season 4 of DEXTER. It wasn't like she was the first character the show had killed off or anything (it is a show about a serial killer, after all), but Rita was such a redemptive force in Dexter's life. Audiences thought that maybe, just maybe, Dexter had found someone who could make him want to be a better version of himself, someone who could save him from his own darkness. And just when we thought she was safe, that she had escaped from the danger of Trinity, the audience came to the awful realization that her cell phone was still in the house... and so was her body.

I think it's the only time my wife and I both screamed, "No!" out loud when Dexter went into the bathroom and found Rita's body... it wasn't just a surprising moment; it was a heartbreaking, soul-wrenching one as well. They not only killed off a major character, but one of the most beloved characters on the show as well.