Richard Menedetter wrote:
>>In some parts of america you can go on the street with a gun, and nobody
(INCLUDING POLICE !!!) says anything ....
but just try to drink a beer in public, and off you go to jail ...
(this is simply unthinkable for me ....)<<
Richard, I am 66 years old and have lived in Arizona (the wild west) all of
my adult life. I have seen more people drinking in public than I have seen
carrying a gun. In fact, I can recall seeing only bikers (members of
motorcycle clubs) openly carrying weapons, one old man with a cane who had
a pistol on his belt, openly exposed, and a businessman carrying a large cash
deposit. As long as that weapon stays in its holster, it does not bother me
and shouldn't bother me. But, if I had criminal intent, and saw that weapon,
it definitely would bother me, holstered or not! If I had criminal intent
and carried a weapon, it would not be visible!
Being charged with drinking in public is usually a secondary charge. A call
to the police complaining of disorderly conduct, fighting, public
drunkenness, etc., may have brought the police to the scene and a charge of
drinking in public may be made. In some states, (Texas, for instance) you
can drink and drive; in other states, you can't even carry an "open
container" (a bottle with the seal broken). Drinking in public is not a high
priority crime with the police.
New York State has the toughest gun laws in the nation (the Sullivan Act),
which requires licensing of *all* handguns. Shotguns must have their
magazines plugged so that only 3 shells may be in the gun at any one time.
But this "tough" law has never bothered law breakers, but only applied to
honest citizens. No criminal in New York State has ever registered a
handgun! If you are going to kill someone, which is against the law, why
should you worry about obeying a lesser law and license your handgun?
During the American Revolution, British General Howe, leading his troops down
the Hudson River valley from Canada, wrote, (paraphrased) "All of the farmers
have muskets; you don't know which support the rebel cause or which are
loyalists." Whereas, in England only the army had muskets.
>>And than they show a documentary on german television about police hunting
prostitutes. (a female police officer tries to catch man who want to pay
her .... and THIS in a country, where every few seconds somebody is
MURDERED ...)
IMHO Police should have something better to do than THAT !!!<<
Yes, there are prostitute "sting" operations by police, frequently the result
of complaints from citizens about prostitutes "walking the streets" in their
neighborhood. It is a temporary solution to an age old problem. As far as
the prostitute sting operations shown on "live cops" shows (documentaries),
it could be that when the producers of the show came to the town, that there
was no worse crime that could be committed while the film crew was in town.
(Crime is random, and if you want to get publicity for your police
department, you have to have a backup crime for filming.)
In spite of what you hear, violent crime is not rampant in America. I can't
recall in my lifetime (or even reading about it) when an American Chief of
Police was gunned down with over 100 shots being fired as he was on his way
home from church.
Roger Turk
Tucson, Arizona USA
