Mark Hoofnagle

In my training I’ve lived in Baltimore, Philly and now St Louis - all cities strongly affected by gun violence. It’s not a coincidence. We’re going to the airport to pick up friends from Baltimore, minding our business.

Then at a red light a young girl jumps out of the passenger seat of a car, obviously upset. We did what you would do, pull up and ask, “are you alright?” Her answer was “no”. The car tore away. She had to jump out of the car because her boyfriend was hitting her.

We decide to stay with her until the cops get there. You know, basic human decency. It was her car that he had driven off in, leaving her stranded on a random city block at night. Then this guy comes tearing back into the intersection, and the girl says, “he has a gun.”

A pause to address the full stupidity of this situation. In Missouri, anyone can conceal carry over the age of 19. In all likelihood, this asshole was legally driving around with a handgun - no vetting or training required. This is idiotic. I mean, have you met people?

So we tell her to get in the car, she jumps in the back, as her boyfriend, a member of our well-regulated militia, jumps out of his car, gun in hand. Did I mention my wife was driving and is 8 months pregnant? Well now she’s the unlikely getaway driver.

We pull out and hear the pop of a gunshot. For all we know this idiot is going to get in his car and keep pursuing his girlfriend so we’re now dodging through Soulard like a bunch of maniacs until we’re pretty sure we’ve ditched him, pull into a well lighted gas station...

Call cops again. They show up, tell them the story yada yada. And oh shit! Our friends have landed at the airport! And our back tire is flat - with a bullet hole in it. Uber to the rescue, but still we’ve failed as hosts. Have to go downtown to talk to detectives.

I change out the tire for the spare in the parking lot. We follow cops to station. Our wonderful neighbors let our friends in our house as we’re telling the story for the nth time now to a very nice detective at HQ. She goes out and pulls bullet fragments from the tire with us.

I know a little bit about eyewitness ID, and how poor it is. I once worked as an investigator for the public defenders in DC, finding witnesses, taking statements. I’m no better. My recollection - white guy, tall?, tattoos, gun. If the girl didn’t know this guy, I’d be useless.

Finally we’re home and our friends are there and sit relax and over drinks we all share our “idiots with guns” stories. And they’re from Baltimore, so of course they’ve got stories. And this isn’t even the first time my wife has been shot at in her car.

Once driving in Baltimore some sociopath decided to start taking pot shots at cars traveling on rt40, including her. Once you add it all up you realize we have all lost our damn minds. We should never have gotten to where these are regular occurences.

Our friends had to move out of their last apartment due to the psychotic, gun wielding antics of their neighbor, and, get this, they lived in an apartment building. Seriously, just think about sharing a common wall with some mouth-breather with no common sense and a handgun.

I grew up with guns, own guns, etc., but have never been under the illusion they make us safer. Sane people from the start instruct you in safety, responsibility, these are dangerous tools. You don’t just carry them around. Mine are locked up in a safe unloaded at all times.

We exist in a state of cultural madness, where we have allowed the spread of a delusion that guns make us safer. They do not. And the complete disregulation of the market allowing any idiot to buy and carry one doesn’t make us safer. It allows idiots to terrorize us.

That any idiot in this state, with no training, no sense, no vetting whatsoever is just a temper tantrum away from shooting at me and my wife is just unacceptable.

Some final caveats, if you reply that criminals don’t obey laws - you are an idiot, you are wrong, and they do - hence interstate traffick of firearms. I literally study this so just don’t bother.

If you victim-blame and say it’s from living in a dangerous city - this idiot drove into our city from the suburbs. Firearm homicide is sometimes higher in urban areas - like St Louis - but overall cities are safer from violent injury including auto deaths and accidents.

This is a modifiable safety risk that some cities, like NYc have dramaticaly reduced with responsible gun laws. The are still undermined by trafficking from out of state, but the relationship is clear. More guns cause more crime.