I took a Facebook quiz today that theoretically answered the question "Where should you be living?" My answer was Paris because I "want to have [my] art appreciated and [I am] drawn to the beautiful city." Ok, I'll buy that.
However, I've been to Paris twice, and after the second time, my mom told me I shouldn't go back because both times I told her how dirty the city was and how much I really hated it. (Get out of the city, and it's *gorgeous*. And don't get me started on the chocolate croissants and the fact that there's a GOOD bakery on every corner.)
So long story longer....
The second time I went (January 1997), Paris was having a LOT of trouble with people putting bombs in the public mail drop boxes and trash cans (which is actually why the city was so dirty -- they were locking the public trash cans so people couldn't put things in them). So, as a response to this "terrorism," their version of the National Guard was keeping watch in the subways (maybe other places, too, but that's the only place I remember noticing them). On one of our many trips through the trains, a news crew was there and stopped us to get our reaction as American students and seeing these guards armed with EBRs so close to us.
Not that it makes much difference, but the group I was with was a group of 8 college students and our professor -- 7 young women, 1 young man, and Rahim (our professor). As a group, we unanimously decided that we actually felt safer with them there because they were there to protect us. Why should we fear seeing the military in the subways? I think the answer surprised the news crew, like they weren't sure we understood the question.
It was a brief moment on an otherwise amazing trip, so my memory might be a little fuzzy on the details, but you get the gist of it.
12 years later and slightly more educated about guns and the military and the police and all their various roles in American society... I think I'd still feel the same way, given the situation, although I'd be much more conscious of where those guns were casually pointed and what the guards were doing. I'll have to look up the details of what was actually happening then.
Anyway, I was just curious what the reaction would have been here. In Indy we don't have trains like they do in Paris, but we do have a pretty extensive bus system. What if we were having people put bombs in the mail drops, enough that as a response a larger .. law enforcement .. presence was required. Would that be a job for local LEOs? A reason to call in the National Guard? How would you feel as an average citizen to have to ride a bus with a "guard" openly carrying his or her duty rifle?
However, I've been to Paris twice, and after the second time, my mom told me I shouldn't go back because both times I told her how dirty the city was and how much I really hated it. (Get out of the city, and it's *gorgeous*. And don't get me started on the chocolate croissants and the fact that there's a GOOD bakery on every corner.)
So long story longer....
The second time I went (January 1997), Paris was having a LOT of trouble with people putting bombs in the public mail drop boxes and trash cans (which is actually why the city was so dirty -- they were locking the public trash cans so people couldn't put things in them). So, as a response to this "terrorism," their version of the National Guard was keeping watch in the subways (maybe other places, too, but that's the only place I remember noticing them). On one of our many trips through the trains, a news crew was there and stopped us to get our reaction as American students and seeing these guards armed with EBRs so close to us.
Not that it makes much difference, but the group I was with was a group of 8 college students and our professor -- 7 young women, 1 young man, and Rahim (our professor). As a group, we unanimously decided that we actually felt safer with them there because they were there to protect us. Why should we fear seeing the military in the subways? I think the answer surprised the news crew, like they weren't sure we understood the question.
It was a brief moment on an otherwise amazing trip, so my memory might be a little fuzzy on the details, but you get the gist of it.
12 years later and slightly more educated about guns and the military and the police and all their various roles in American society... I think I'd still feel the same way, given the situation, although I'd be much more conscious of where those guns were casually pointed and what the guards were doing. I'll have to look up the details of what was actually happening then.
Anyway, I was just curious what the reaction would have been here. In Indy we don't have trains like they do in Paris, but we do have a pretty extensive bus system. What if we were having people put bombs in the mail drops, enough that as a response a larger .. law enforcement .. presence was required. Would that be a job for local LEOs? A reason to call in the National Guard? How would you feel as an average citizen to have to ride a bus with a "guard" openly carrying his or her duty rifle?
