Monthly Archives: January 2013

Can Americans Agree on Gun Control Laws?

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Human Behavior, United States, Urban Violence

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Guns for Sale at a Wal-Mart Store - United States

Guns for sale at a Wal-Mart Store in the United States

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com

 

Under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, I have the right to own as many guns as I consider necessary to protect my home and for my personal safety. The Second Amendment reads:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

With the ease of buying a firearm and ammunition, it is no surprise that the United States outranks all other nations in the number of privately-owned firearms – estimated at 270 million in 2007, the equivalent of 88.8 firearms per 100 people (www.gunpolicy.org).

President Obama’s call for more effective gun control laws – following the December 2012 massacre of twenty first-graders and six adults at an elementary school in Connecticut – has not only led to an outcry in defense of private gun ownership but also a rise in gun sales. Some fear that the talk of gun control is really a government ploy to take away their guns. Fear makes us irrational.

The Connecticut and other gun massacres during 2012 are resounding alerts of the consequences of firearm proliferation across our nation. During the period 1980 to 2008, more than two-thirds of victims murdered by a spouse or ex-spouse were killed with a gun (Bureau of Justice Statistics). In 2011 nationwide, firearms were used in 67.7 percent of murders, 41.3 percent of robberies, and 21.2 percent of aggravated assaults (Federal Bureau of Investigation).

Having a gun does not guarantee our survival against armed home invaders; estranged husbands or boyfriends; and psychopathic or mentally ill gunmen on the street, in our workplace, school, university, shopping mall or cinema. Before going on his killing spree, the mentally ill Connecticut killer first shot his mother with one of her own firearms.

I do not trust defenders of our Second Amendment rights who call for more guns in the hands of “the good guys” as a solution to gun violence. These defenders usually represent organizations that profit from the production and sales of firearms. They are well versed in stoking our fears of losing our right to defend and protect ourselves and loved ones.

I do not understand the significance of “a well regulated militia” for our nation in the Year 2013. Our Armed Forces are the greatest and best equipped on Planet Earth. If they cannot defend our nation against our enemies, owning a Bushmaster AR-15 high-powered semiautomatic rifle, like the one used by the Connecticut shooter, will not save me and my loved ones.

I support our president’s call for stricter gun control laws to curb gun violence and gun deaths across our nation. Do those who stand with the defenders of unrestrained gun and ammunition sales have the courage to let go of their irrational fears? Must our right “to keep and bear arms” supersede all other rights as citizens in a free society?

Threatened by a Neighbor with a Gun

20 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Brazil, Human Behavior, Urban Violence

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Brazil - National Disarmament Campaign

“My son found my gun. He was only 8 years.” – Protect your family. Disarm-yourself.

National Disarmament Campaign – Brazil

Source: Brazil’s Ministry of Justice Blog

 

I should have known better. On local and national TV and in the local newspapers, reports abound of people shot to death during arguments between motorists on the streets, in bars, and disputes between neighbors.

I was watching a popular eight o’clock novella (soap opera) when a neighbor arrived in the courtyard below our third-floor apartment. Music blasted from his car. Our TV appeared mute. After a stressful day at work, I could not handle such inconsiderate behavior and, in anger, stormed down the stairs to ask him to lower the volume. I should have exercised self-restraint.

There were two men standing behind the vehicle when I approached. Before I could say anything, one of the men went inside the ground-floor apartment and returned holding a revolver at his side.

A woman, presumably his wife, rushed out behind him. “Ari, don’t do anything crazy,” she said.

Ari came at me like a pit bull. “I have the right to play music,” he shouted.

I glanced at the revolver, five inches away from my hand. Survival mode kicked in. I looked up at him and said in a calm voice: “Senhor, all I’m asking is that you kindly lower the volume. Only this.”

After telling the other man to lower the music, he ranted about being harassed by his neighbors, intent in driving him from his home. I listened. I had stepped into a fight that was not mine. When I suggested that he speak with the sindico of our condominium, he lambasted management for siding with his tormentors.

“Ari, come inside. Let the woman leave,” the woman said. “You’re frightening her sons.”

In the shadows, about ten feet away, my two sons clung to each other. I had put my life at risk, and their future in jeopardy. Never again could I make such flawed judgment.

Ari turned off the music and went inside.

A week later, Ari and his wife moved out. Perhaps, he learned that fighting with neighbors was a battle lost. I learned that some of my neighbors owned guns and were prepared to use it at the slightest provocation.

Stress, anger, and guns make a deadly cocktail.

After the Brazilian government sanctioned the Statute of Disarmament in December 2003, national campaigns for disarming the population collected almost one million weapons over the next seven years (Brazilian Forum of Public Security, Ministry of Justice). While deaths by armas de fogo have fallen, the Executive-Secretary of the Ministry of Justice considers the continuing high levels of extreme concern.

In 2010, over 35,000 people – 70.5 percent of homicides in Brazil – died from gunshot wounds. This number rises to 38,000 when you add gun deaths caused by accidents, suicide, and undetermined intention (Ministry of Health – pdf file).

In Fortaleza, Ceará – where refusal to hand over your Nike running shoes to an armed robber can cost you your life – I maneuvered the streets like an unarmed soldier in a combat zone.

 

Deer Hunting with My Father in Guyana

13 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Family Life, Guyana, Human Behavior

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Red Deer - GuyanaRed Deer – Guyana

Source: Animals of Guyana (www.guyana.org)

My father was an outdoors-man: hunting was his preferred sport. We grew up eating wild duck, deer, bush cow (tapir), and wild pig or boar. His prized possession was a Winchester rifle. Playing with it meant lashes for us as kids. He hid it in his bedroom, unloaded, and kept the box of ammunition locked in a drawer.

I was in my late twenties when he agreed to take me on one of his deer hunting trips. He and his two hunting buddies decided to turn the trip into a family outing during an Easter four-day holiday weekend. Our hunting party of men, women, and children left Georgetown in three four-wheel-drive Land Rovers, heading inland towards Guyana’s clay and sand hills.

I enjoyed the drive across the undulating landscape of greenery crisscrossed with white and brown sands which rose to almost 400 feet above the flat coastal mudlands. Unpaved sandy and clay roads and tracks made it a bouncy ride. The three-story house with watch tower, our base-camp for the weekend, stood alone on top of a hill in a green clearing near a bubbling warm water spring and red water creek.

Before sunset, we set out in the vehicles for the hunting grounds along the edge of the forest. The dark moonless night was ideal for hunting. Seated on the top of the vehicle with his rifle and a spotlight, my father shone the light on the shrubs and trees. The eyes of a deer glowed in the bright light. I jumped when gunshots exploded from the hunter seated on top of the vehicle behind us. The animal fled.

“It’s a hit,” my father shouted.

The chase began. I felt sorry for the poor creature fleeing for its life. When we finally cornered it, someone took another shot. Getting out of the vehicle, I rushed towards the men as they inspected their kill. The deer lay on the ground, panting.

“Omigosh,” I said, on seeing the dying deer. I was sure that its eye looked at me for help.

My father glared at me. “Where you think the meat does come from?”

I retreated to the vehicle with the women and children. Yes, I enjoyed eating meat, but not the kill. Was hunting just a sport to my father or was it his way of providing prize meat for his family? I had never thought to ask.

When I returned to Guyana after my father’s death, his best friend offered me my father’s hunting rifle. I declined his offer. My sons and I were not hunters like my father. I accepted my father’s compass as a remembrance of the times, when lost, it had pointed him towards the right track.

Navigating Brazil’s Health Care System

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life

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Waiting for medical assistance at a public medical center in Brazil

Waiting for medical assistance at a public medical center in Brazil

“Population disapproves of Brazil’s Health System” – No Pátio – 12 January 2012 (www.nopatio.com.br)

 

Our first healthcare need when we moved to Brazil was finding out the names of popular local medicines for common health problems: colds, fever, headaches, cuts and bruises, indigestion… I found the pharmacist at a drogaria or farmácia most helpful when seeking medicines for common ailments. In Fortaleza, we frequented Farmácia Pague Menos, the most popular drugstore chain.

When my sons first came down with a severe flu, I learned about the government-run children’s clinic, not far from my workplace. My spirits sank when I saw the crowd of parents with sick children spilling out of the entrances onto the courtyard. I feared that my sons would catch a deadly disease. Almost four hours later, when our turn came to see one of the doctors on duty, we were out within five minutes with prescriptions for medicine, dispensed in another section with another line. As a low-wage worker without health insurance coverage, I considered myself fortunate to have this free medical assistance for my sons.

The day I needed an eye examination for new eyeglasses, I went to the public medical center in downtown Fortaleza during my two-hour lunch break. It was located in a section I had never before ventured owing to the high risk of being swarmed and robbed by gangs of street children. When I saw the line filling the street and learned it was just for making an appointment, I desisted and returned to work.

A neighbor told me that Casa dos Relojoeiros, specialized retailers of optical products, offered free eye examinations for its customers buying eyeglasses. After my first visit, their excellent customer service earned my loyalty.

I discovered the Centro de Prevencão do Câncer Ginecológico do Ceará by chance while walking in the neighborhood and decided to go in and learn more. At the Information/Appointment window, I obtained an appointment for a cancer-prevention check-up for a date six months ahead. With the large number of people seeking healthcare, consultations and treatment, provided free of charge, required a waiting period of four or more hours.

While working at Melon Exporters,* I heard that Amil – now Brazil’s largest private healthcare company – had established a medical center in Fortaleza. With increased earnings, I was able to pay for a consultation-only plan for my two sons. This was an important step for me: less stress and less time off from work.

I was also able to afford a low-cost private dental care plan for myself and sons. The majority of the dentists were young and inexperienced; the facility cramped; and a two-hour consultation waiting time.

The income I earned at Ceará Importers* allowed me to obtain a comprehensive healthcare plan for me and my sons offered by one of Fortaleza’s major private hospitals. Our Plano de Saúde Hapvida also covered hospitalization, vision and dental care. It was a major achievement – peace of mind in the event of a serious health problem. Good health is a gift without a lifetime warranty.

Learn about Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS), established in 1988, at Sistema Único de Saúde.

 

*Fictitious Name