June 20, 2013 07:29 AM UTC

The Nexus of Paranoia and Gun Fanaticism

• 2 Comments
• by: Konola

Last Sunday morning the headline in The Daily Sentinel was, “Fruita Cops Shoot Man Dead.” That story, written by one of my favorite Sentinel reporters, Charles Ashby, was carefully crafted, with lots of quotes from officials, because the details were still sketchy. Unfortunately the reader was led to believe that the man “ran” from the scene, which led to all kinds of rumors.

As the week unfolded, we learned that there was a traffic stop. The man left the scene in his pickup and evidently went home. He didn’t “run” away, he drove away. When it was reported that he “ran” away, people who knew him pointed out that he couldn’t “run” which, in turn, started a rumor that it was a “hit.” Yes, there are people in this valley who actually believe that the Fruita police department is capable of executing a man because a “hit” has been ordered.

This presumed “hit” was related to his membership in a fringe group that believes the U.S. Government is illegal. Evidently they have formed a shadow government in Colorado, of which the dead man was an “elected district judge.”

Even more disturbing was an interview with the man’s daughter which aired on local TV. She said that her father was simply following family policy when he answered the door with a gun in his hand. Her family has been taught to answer the door with a gun in their hand.

For some reason that triggered a memory of an event at my South Dakota home last summer. My friend and I were in the basement watching episodes of the HBO series Deadwood, when my dog started barking his head off. He is prone to doing that when a cat gets into the yard, or if a car drives by, so we didn’t pay much attention. But Jackson didn’t stop barking, so eventually I went upstairs to see what all the fuss was about. Standing at the back door were two young men, one white and one black. The young black man said, “Don’t shoot mam, we are students selling magazines.”

He was clearly frightened, but not so frightened that he was going to run away and miss out on a commission. My 20 pound dog is not much of a threat, and I don’t own a gun, so I thought that comment was really unusual. Although there is a black family that lives right down the street, there aren’t many blacks in the little town in which I grew-up. Given the hidden racism everywhere in America, I understand his nervousness. Of course, my appearance at the time may have been alarming, since at the time I was a bald woman.

That is, I thought the “Don’t shoot” comment was unusual until I learned that there actually are people who answer the door with a gun in their hand because they are so paranoid about the changing world around them.

I learned about the “hit” rumor from the facebook page of Mesa County Patriots. To be fair, they reported on the “hit” rumor, but also posted a disclaimer that they had not confirmed anything in the post. Subsequent posts, however, point out how paranoid these guys are.

This is particularly disturbing since they are the same group that plans things like open carry rallies and the upcoming “magazine” rally.  On the 4^th of July, Mesa County Patriots are planning a magazine exchange on the steps of the county courthouse. They are encouraging people to bring cartridges that are banned by Colorado’s new gun laws and “temporarily” exchange them with other protestors. Temporary is an important word in this exchange, as a loophole in the new law allows people to loan magazines that can hold as many as 100 rounds of ammunition to others on a temporary basis. Mesa County Patriots is skating just this side of the law.

I am very concerned that this unfortunate incident, where a man ignored police authority in a traffic stop, and then reacted by answering the door with a gun in his hand, will ignite a wildfire of paranoia that results in many more similar incidents. I wish these paranoid men had as much passion for the health of the planet. We could use some of their passion fighting things like the XL Pipeline. But, please, leave your guns at home.

Homework:

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