Twitter: @BarbotRobot
Last night seemed like the token-athon at the RNC, but New Mexico governor Susana Martinez proved herself canny and fiery. Her speech wasn’t very substantive – few were – but she’s a great speaker who can do a lot with a little to gain support. I just have one question.
At 1:40 she says:
“Now, my Dad made sure I could take care of myself. I carried a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum.”
Cheers! Big applause! GUNS!
But I can’t help but wonder, Governor Martinez: in the current climate, would you feel comfortable allowing your son Carlo to walk down the street in the American Southwest carrying a Smith & Wesson on him? Would you excuse the laws that would allow the police to bring all they hell they could to him if he happened to have forgotten his ID as necessary? I don’t think Geraldo Rivera would. Rivera, though he skirts dangerously close to victim blaming in his response to the Trayvon Martin shooting, seems to acknowledge that minority children face harsher scrutiny, that they have to be twice as well behaved just to pass. I wonder, Governor Martinez, what your thoughts are on this issue. For your son “taking care of himself” already meant being more careful around police officers, but what do you have to say when your political party is systematically eroding the few protections your son could expect?
So would you feel comfortable giving your son a gun, and letting him out into the world of the American southwest?