Americans mourn, protest, and pray but mass shootings continue.
“Armed Response,” the sign by the driveway read. I snapped a picture. And one more. And one more. I was 21 years old and visiting the US for the first time. Many years later, I moved here with my husband and children.
I have no sense of direction and often get lost. Street names and house numbers will never make sense to me. I drive up and down streets until I find the right house or call for help when picking up or dropping off kids.
This week two young people were shot because they accidentally drove up to the wrong address of a private homes. A 16-year-old African American boy from Kansas City was picking up his younger twin brothers from a playdate and was shot when he rang the doorbell. A white 20-year-old woman from upstate New York was visiting a friend and entered the wrong driveway. As she was turning her car around, she was shot. Both were lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood. The boy survived, while the woman paid with her life.
In effect, “Stand Your Ground” means that you can shoot at a person on your property and claim that you were “scared” – and not face any punishment. Since the law was introduced in 2005, it has spread to nearly 30 (primarily Republican) states. Not surprisingly, there has been an increase in the same states in fatal shootings by private citizens.
For a young Danish woman like me, it was crazy to see the signs in California. I remember thinking: Will you be shot at if you walk up the driveway? I swept it away – my Danish head could not fathom that it could be like that.
But that’s how it is. Here, it can cost you your life to sell girl scout cookies, deliver pizza, be a mailman, deliver Amazon packages, proselytize – and to be a young person accidentally knocking on the wrong house or drive up the wrong driveway.
Politikere i USA: »Flere våben i civile hænder er lig med større sikkerhed«
Amerikanerne sørger, protesterer og beder til deres Gud. Men intet hjælper på skyderierne.
Danish-American Eyes on Society 