Keeping My Head Down

THE SALAD BAR at the senior center is sensational. I like to be first in line, which is easy, since most of these people move, quite frankly, like snails. The ravages of age. The lady in charge was adding plastic spoons, and we were talking, about gun control, for some reason. She carries, she said. I never woulda known. Sweet, soft spoken, silver haired Christian lady, probably somebody's grandma, going heels. Go figure. When she said: "guns don't kill people, people kill people", I knew it was time to add chopped broccoli and blue cheese, go sit down, and munch. So I sat down with my sensational senior center salad and started to eat and think, which is always risky. To conceal and carry, or to carry openly? For me, were I the gun totin' type, my personal preference on any given day would probably depend on my mood, and I suspect I'm far from alone. Arguments for and against either style are strong. Some states do it one way, some do it the other. Every state has its own style. Obviously, nobody really knows which is better, so they must be equal, so it must not even matter, so maybe folks should be free to do either, anywhere. The fact that its a matter of opinion, that nobody really know whether 'tis better to conceal or carry, I find troubling. If we don't even know where its best to carry a weapon, what else might we not know about weapons? Can we even be sure how they work, or whether they kill people? Maybe people don't kill people after all; maybe an evil spirit of some sort infect weapons at certain times, and bang, you're dead. The very minute every state in these United States has the same laws regarding firearm carrying, or even remotely similar laws, I'll rest assured we know what we're doing. Until then, I'm keeping my head down.