We hear a lot of myths nowadays about crime. I have my own experiences, and I can only speak to my own experiences. I am also aware of the statistics, both that are published to the public, and that are reported to me directly from the police with whom I have had unfortunately frequent reason to interact as a victim. Cops go where the crimes occur, and so eventually they notice as well as the district attorney's officers, that certain people possess a penchant for particular perniciousness, particularly when it comes to personal violence. It struck me as a great paradox that the protesters in Dallas complained about the police and then demanded that the police protect them when bullets started to fly. Far too many people demand that you tolerate them as they are and then that you become what they tolerate. In my experience, unfortunately, I have had negative experiences predominantly with black people. Although I know a fair few who are decent members of the community, far too many seem to follow the example of our president and rabble rouse. It is no sign of maturity to resort to miscreantism. It is no sign of civil behavior to flaunt the law when it serves you and then demand it protect you if you become a victim. That's hypocrisy. You are being lied to about who the criminals are, how they perpetrate the crimes, and the rational for being criminals. Let facts be presented to a candid world...
Every time a personal, violent crime has been committed against me, at least one of the perpetrators was black. I have only been targeted for violent crimes three times, all since moving to Las Vegas and living at my current address. The first instance involved an older black woman who approached me in the parking lot of the only Walmart in town shuttered by the company this year who then demanded my wallet. The second instance I walked past a teenage black man on the way home from the grocery store who ran up to me from behind after I passed and threw me to the ground. The third instance two teenagers decided to kick down my door and steal things, and the older boy was black. Additionally, at work, I continue to face accusations of bias and discrimination by black students and coworkers. One of them filed a racial discrimination case against me with the EEOC, and although it was cleared without incident for me, she faced zero ramifications of which I am aware. Every student who thought I gave them an F because of their race was interviewed, and in every instance so far, the investigators have exonerated me. I am just a guy, and they decided to attack me. The only other crime committed against me was a Russian who stole my identity, and I doubt he was black.
Guns are not integral to the plan of attack with criminals. When the woman approached me in the parking lot at Walmart, she brandished a knife. Having my own 10" bowie knife with me, I pulled it out and told her she'd made a mistake. She fled. When the teenager attacked me from behind, he initially hit me only with himself, and then when I tried to flee the scene, he threw a floor tile at me and hit me from behind. The teenagers who tried to kick down my door didn't have any weapons at all. I have never seen a gun brandished against me by any criminal, thank God, let alone an assault rifle, and although I do own a firearm, I was not carrying it because I hope I never ever have to use it to defend myself. The police strongly encouraged me to carry it and to shoot if I feel my life is in danger. I don't see how I really win. If I kill the attacker, two people die- the man I shoot and the man I used to be. Even if I had my gun with me, it wouldn't have been an "assault rifle"; it's a revolver.
Most of the criminals who targeted me were instances of opportunity. My attacker at Walmart did so in the dark, away from lighting, and so I think she was looking for anyone parked there who wandered too close. The attacker who mugged me probably decided in the 30 seconds that passed after we walked by each other that he was going to pick me. The two teenagers who kicked down my door decided on my house because it afforded the best cover from the street even though the other nearby houses were also dark. The police think, despite the fact that I was mugged and these kids attempted to rob me within an 11 day period and no more than 200m apart from the two crime scenes, that I am just a random target and not part of a protracted campaign. Even the students who complain didn't pick me out in order to leverage their race against mine; I don't think they knew my race, and I think they probably took the class because it fit their schedule rather than as part of a plan to complain. As for my coworker, I am the only white male who worked with her at the time, so I think she figured I was the weakest link; she has since plied the same tactic on a hispanic male who replaced me in that position, also to no avail. I think she's just looking to target other people in order to distract them from looking closely at her. You really only hurt people that you do not know and do not like. Far too many of these criminals are bored, selfish, and angry, and when they encounter someone who has something, like the pirates, they only really seem to care that I have swag that they have not yet taken. Pride gets no pleasure out of having anything, only out of having more of it than the next man (CS Lewis).
You are fed a lot of lies about crime and criminals. You see a lot of statistics. The simple fact of the matter is that in my area black people are the most likely suspects. In my life, in my experience, they are always culprits even if they are not the only ones. When I was mugged, one of the felony secretaries in the district attorney's office asked if the attacker was black and then said, "figures" when the answer came in the affirmative. These people see the paperwork. Who is most likely to attack? People who do not know or like you. They are not using guns. In fact, guns are usually a deterrent, and guns are used in a statistically small fraction of violent crime. They are illegal in many states and for many people, yet criminals consistently find a way to get their hands on guns and commit crimes with them. We do not need more laws. We need more people who respect the law, and these protesters are not those people. Most people manage to commit crimes because they dehumanize others. You don't know the other drivers, so you think nothing of cutting them or flipping them off; you don't know your neighbors, so you think nothing of littering on their lawn; you don't know strangers, so it's easier to rob them, snub them, exclude them, persecute them, etc. In extreme cases, they will make out a certain group to be less than animals as an excuse to enslave, slaughter, or extort them. That's not a human thing to do, but then we don't really have communities anymore. We have people who are neighbors because their property lines collide, and when that happens, sometimes other things do too leading to violent crime. I am sad to have these experiences, and I am glad, because they taught me that what I hear in the media is not the whole truth even if it is true. Like I tell my students the first week, everyone has an agenda, and my agenda is to convince you that they have an agenda.
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