Guns

by

Shooter

There’s a shooter at the fair we are hiding.

Do you want to go to the rolling rock show Aug 14? Who is hiding?

They were spotted on the other side of the barn.

Wait. What the fuck? 

What the fuck?

Alice and I

There is a shooting

AT THE FAIR

Horses are unphased (sic)

Whatarehorses okay?

Are the horses safe?

They are not going for horses

they are going for people.

Are you okay?

Can you get out?

The security just came through and said stay put.

Yes. 

Is there a curtain?

We are literally under mystic.

Only on one side.

Is your phone silent?

Make your phone silent.

Yes.

Can you hear shots?

I didn’t, but a lot of people did.

How did you know to hide?

Are you okay?

I’m scared. For you and the horses.

We heard an announcement.

Are they near the horse barns or the other side of the fair?

Do you have a curtain?

You said Jasmine’s mom was putting up more curtains.

We didn’t get the curtains.

Idk what happened.

Is the shooter far away?

Or in the barn?

Can you hear anything?

No, they are literally on the other end of the barn.

Horse barn?

Crap. Please be silent.

Oh I hope the horses are okay.

They said we can calm down, they have a police line up, but to stay in the barn cover area

Police line up?

Argument in the RV park. Shots fired. It’s contained. We’re alright.

Oh good.

Thank goodness.

Horses all ok?

Yes

This is the scariest thing ever!

Being here and hearing this happen to you!

Fuck!

Everything is ok

Fucking psycho people

Horses are totally fine. We were probably in the best possible place for this.

How to scare the pee out of your mom in five seconds flat.

Sorry

Not your fault

Shooter has been removed. All clear

God

Are you out now?

Can I call you?

Yes

This happened today. I hear a bing on my phone and this is how the conversation went. We sent the first two texts nearly simultaneously. Dissociation began nearly immediately. This is happening? This isn’t happening. This is happening? Asking myself this while texting Milla as she crouched in a stall at the fair where she was showing two of our horses.

I called my sister and couldn’t speak, then finally spoke. “There is a shooting at the Lane County Fair. Milla is there. She is hiding.” Melanie immediately began praying. It was surreal to me. Again out of body observing, separate. Fear in my chest. Tightness. “Will let you know what is happening. I’ll call you back.”

The first text was at 4:04. The last at 4:37. It felt faster and slower than this at the same time.

I pictured a man with a gun, an assault rifle. I saw his silhouette in the aisle of the barn. He was walking and looking side to side deciding who will live and who will be shot. The thought of him walking by the horses…what if he shot them too? What if he looked into the stall with Milla crouching under a horse and decided to aim the gun there? No wonder I was so fixated on curtains.

I didn’t see a face, just that silhouette.

Afterward and after we talked, I felt like my head was tethered to my body by a rope for another two hours. I had to ground and get back in my body. I had to observe from inside rather than outside. It was the strangest thing. My child was okay. My horses were okay. The other people and horses were okay.

Gradually the story came out about two angry men fighting and shooting at one another. One shot in the arm. Both in the hospital. Not someone out to shoot everyone at the fair. Milla said people came running into the barn, screaming about a shooter, trying to find places to hide. Not as bad as it could have been, just two angry men with tempers out of control fighting, scaring a lot of people because of their rage. A hot day, probably alcohol, out of control. Not a shooter out to maim. But we didn’t know this when it was happening. I didn’t know it on the other end of the phone. It was scary and surreal. Now I can’t sleep.

Milla sent me a photo of her sitting under the horse Mystic during this. Mystic was calm, unaware of the bizarre events taking place around her. She wasn’t fazed by being in a tack stall with a dog kennel and a bunch of saddles. She stood there patiently, trusting the humans. Our horses were across the aisle in their stalls.

They aren’t going for the horses, they’re going for the people.

Well, there’s that.

Hiding in a tack stall with a horse, waiting for the all clear on a shooter at the fair.

Eugene Police Department
Update at 5:46 pm 7-24-2021

One person was shot, not two. The injured person was shot in the arm and is being treated at a local hospital. All involved parties are accounted for and there is no ongoing threat to the public.

Update: 5:30 pm
The Lane County Fair is still open but there is a roped-off crime scene. Please avoid that location and cooperate with police and investigators on site.

Previous Info:
911 was called regarding shots fired at the Lane County Fairgrounds. Eugene Police responded and two people are in custody. Two others have what appear to be non-life threatening injuries. The investigation is ongoing.

by

Mass Shootings and Profit

After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, I wrote this article for Huffington Post about the reason we can’t get changes in gun legislation is profit. The profiteers exploit the fear of citizens to ensure legislation never passes and the deaths continue. Here we are again over three years later! and STILL no changes. Every time one of these shootings happen, the weapon profiteers make a killing.

I get the fear of our government. I understand the anger and frustration Americans feel as those in power take from all of us, but gun protection legislation needs to happen. Stopping it just keeps the wealthy coffers full and decent people end up dead.

To read the article, go here…

by

Safety is a Straw Man

This article has been published on Huffington Post. See it here.

I’ve read multiple articles since the shootings last week, both in my hometown and the deadly assault on school children in Connecticut. I’ve read a sadly moving article on mental health, articles on angry young men, articles on angry white men, articles on angry men of every color, articles on why the second amendment allows us to bear arms, and articles on why it doesn’t.  I’ve read articles lamenting the deaths of children overseas because of US military violence, crying out against the hypocrisy of the president’s tears for US children, while seemingly ignoring those of the countries we invade. It seems all I have done this entire weekend is read about this tragedy, its victims, its causes, and why these tragedies continue.

Nowhere in any of it have I seen anyone addressing the issue of profits. Every time a mass shooting takes place, gun manufacturers make a massive profit. Citizens, afraid for their lives, go out and buy a glock. The point of the gun lobby is not to ensure that every person in the US has a gun; it’s to ensure that every person in the US buys a gun (or two, or three…).  This is the real reason we haven’t been able to succeed at gun control in this country. The gun lobby pours massive amounts into ensuring their right to sell weapons is completely unfettered. In this, they have succeeded more than any manufacturer of any other product.

It’s about profits above lives, whether it’s healthcare or guns. Guns just result in deaths faster. The second amendment is a straw man. It’s the excuse used by the gun lobby to keep us from reining in the massive profits enjoyed by gun and weapon manufacturers and to keep our eyes off the ball, which is that the manufacture of these products has only one purpose: to make money. If it is children in the line of fire, so be it. Gun manufacturers make a killing (pun intended) every time a mass shooting takes place.

If we want real gun control, we need to face the reality that it is profits over lives we are discussing here. Safety is a straw man. The gun lobby doesn’t want teachers carrying guns to protect their classes. Just imagine the budget for arming schools. That’s the real issue. It’s time to start calling a spade a spade, and make lives our priorities, instead of the almighty dollar.

I am a writer and bankruptcy attorney living Portland, Oregon.