4 people shot at Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Charlotte, North Carolina
For people that live in the part of North Carolina that I live in, we enjoy a pretty peaceful way of life. We also tend to look at the western part of this state with a bit of disdain because the people over there seem to have very little in common with us over here on the East Side of the state. Those of us that are over here rarely travel over to that side of the state and a lot of the reason is because of the rather large culture shift once you get over there.
Things become more dangerous and there are a ton of rules and regulations that are in place that we don't have in the East. Over here I really feel that we are about as close to libertarian as we can possibly be in USA, and we like it like that.
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When you think about something like a tree-lighting ceremony, which is not something I would go to anyway, you probably think about families doing something for the kids and it otherwise might be a rather boring affair filled with bad traffic and parking issues. You wouldn't normally associate something like this with a shooting resulting in multiple people being shot.
The horrible situation in Charlotte is kind of being overshadowed by the fact that the same thing happened in Chicago but on a larger scale. I don't think the shooting in Charlotte is really on the radar of most people and despite living here I found out about the Chicago incident first.
Authorities are either not saying what was the cause of the shooting or they genuinely don't know. At the moment they claim they don't have any suspects but I have such a lack of trust for authorities in Charlotte and the media that props them up that it really wouldn't surprise me if they know exactly who dunnit but aren't letting the public know because it's the "wrong kind of people" that were responsible. Take that statement as you will but that is kind of the way things are in USA right now.
I find this all very depressing because it seems as though we can't do anything anymore without there being danger involved.
Once again, this is something that would never happen over where I live because if anyone pulled up shooting, they would quickly get return fire from the heavily armed and carrying population of where it is that I live. While nobody can prove this outside of potentially circumstantial information, I really believe that the open and concealed carry laws, as well as the high percentage of gun ownership where I live is the reason why there are no shootings. People that shoot up a crowd of strangers or are unconcerned about collateral damage are generally cowards who would not enter such a situation if they knew that the crowd would fire back.
It makes me really angry because Charlotte is one of the cities in North Carolina that is constantly trying to take guns away from law-abiding people every year. You can be all but guaranteed that the people who would do something like this are not concerned with what the laws are as far as gun ownership is concerned. They fail in this endeavor and not that long ago it was made state law that cities and municipalities can not enact stricter laws on the population than is determined by state legislature. Charlotte would almost certainly do so if they were allowed to.
I should probably not say too much because this is a topic matter that gets people really worked up. The only thing I can always fall back on is that there is a much higher gun ownership rate in the area that I live and neighboring areas around my city and we don't have issues like this. Is it a coincidence or are the criminally-minded kept in fear? I know which one I think is the case.
Thankfully, the 4 people that were shot survived. Now I wonder if the police are actually going to do anything about this or if the local leadership in Charlotte is just going to use this as a method of yet again trying to restrict gun ownership because they do it every time. Never let a good tragedy go to waste!
Keep in mind that this is only my redneck opinion and I'm just a dumb country boy.
I love the "dumb" country boys around here! Polite, considerate, hold open doors for women and help us with our coats. They know how to hunt or fish for all kinds of food, how to process the animals themselves. Most of them are carrying at all times. Many stores have signs that say 'we support your second amendment rights" or some such. I feel very safe here. But I know that folks from places like Charlotte find this neck of the woods (literally) terrifying. Many of my friends from NYC have told me they are afraid to come here. We have virtually no crime, one shot has been fired in the village in all the time I have lived here, one, a domestic issue. Police were there in seconds and no one was hurt. I wish everyone could feel as safe as I do.
People who have never experienced life like this will have a really difficult time understanding how and why people feel more safe around firearms than in the absence of them and I guess I can get that. Often though, I feel as though their fears are quite irrational. I'd like to see gun safety be a requirement in schools again. It never was when I was in school but in my Dad's days in school it was.
Not everyone who has a firearm is a "gun nut."
Do you think it has anything to do with this being a Christian thing? In the UK they call it Festive lights and not Christmas lights which is ludicrous because of the upsetting of the other faiths. If you cannot call it Christmas lights then you are bending too far and it will bite you.
In certain places in USA they call it something other than Christmas but no, not in North Carolina, the people would be very sensitive to that and would have a real problem with it. One of my first reactions was to think it could be a religion thing but Charlotte is gang-central and one of the only such places where there is an issue like this in the entire state. While the police aren't being very cooperative as far as ID'ing the perpetrators, I think they know damn well who did it and it was almost certainly gang-related.