It Matters
One of the principals I used to work for had a motto: it matters. Ultimately, what that meant is that everything matters. Unfortunately, that can’t literally be true. If everything matters then nothing really matters. This governing philosophy impacts so many things. It impacts our political priorities. It impacts our priorities in education. It impacts our priorities individually as we run through life.
Occasionally, the world of sports and the political world collide. Star basketball player Brandon Miller is a perfect example. For those that don’t want to go down the rabbit hole, he was involved in a fatal shooting in January. He did not pull the trigger, but the gun was supplied by him. From here we get into the normal rigmarole of whether he possessed the gun legally, knew how the gun would be used beforehand, or even if he knew the gun was in possession prior to the shooting. What we know is that the shooter asked him to bring the gun via text message before he arrived. He may not have read the text before leaving or didn’t realize he was actually bringing the gun.
This case is interesting for any number of reasons. For one, he is still playing basketball and has since the incident occurred. The university, his coach, and the athletic department presumably knew about the incident after it happened in January. We are in damn near March and he is still leading his team in scoring and driving them to a number two overall ranking. He hasn’t been charged with a crime, so I guess they legally can do that. However, as we have discussed before, there is a huge difference between whether we CAN do something and whether we SHOULD do something.
This is where we ask a few common sense questions. If your best friend calls you up or texts you after midnight and casually says, “oh, and can you bring the gun?” you would think just about everyone would ask some very pointed questions. After all, very little good can come of that situation. His attorneys will obviously argue that he couldn’t foresee what would happen. Maybe he didn’t know that a murder would occur, but he should have known something.
I’d be remiss not to point out the similarities between Miller and Kyle Rittenhouse. No, he didn’t bring an AR-15. He wasn’t protecting property. However, the language surrounding it is similar. Maybe he legally could possess the gun. Maybe he was returning the property to his friend. Maybe Rittenhouse could legally bring an AR-15 over straight lines. Maybe he had a legal right to defend himself. Maybe a lot of things. What we know is that neither of them should have been doing these things.
There is a difference between legal culpability and moral culpability. More importantly, notice the difference between the groups of people that make excuses for each of these young men. I guarantee that the intrinsic circle in the Venn diagram will be very small. As an educator, I can’t help but think that we’ve failed these young men. We’ve made excuses for both of them for different reasons. One can run, jump, and shoot better than most of us. Another fit a narrative of the good guy with a gun. In the not so distance past, both would feel some level of shame that would cause them to withdraw for at least a time so they could rebuild their image. March Madness is just around the corner. Sadly, the time for culpability or personal responsibility will have to wait.
The only reason to own a gun (outside law enforcement) is to hunt – you can have a rifle to hunt Bambi’s mother, a handgun to hunt a particular human or a something like an AR-15 to hunt many human beings.
1That article about the incident and Miller’s pregame antics (I guess was cute to Alabamans but really callous) shows Alabama sports are more important than a lost life. From the article, the murder victim (a father of a 5 year old), was gunned down in his car and all the aggressive behavior was done by people around Miller. It’s hard to understand why he’s getting a pass when he brought the murder weapon. Something tells me he had to know it was going to be used for no good. Alabama (the institution) also has to know that but they have their priorities I guess.
2I recently saw a stand up comedian, Marc Maron From Bleak To Dark, talking about owning a gun or keeping a baseball bat. In the end and I hate to provide spoilers here, but, in the end he won’t be able to kill himself with a baseball bat. So collect all the AR and AK’s and replace them with baseball bats. Those of us that can run or are strong enough to take the bat away get to live. Anyone else will have to get better helmets and body armor. Yes?
3According to our current definition of “responsible gun owner,” Brandon Miller is a responsible gun owner. He knows all about gun safety. Giving someone else a gun does not make him an irresponsible gun owner. That is, according to our current definition.
However, it is people like him who are responsible for 80% of the gun homicides in America– people who let their guns pass into lesser hands (did King Arthur ever lend out Excalibur? No).
Until we have a law that tells Brandon and everybody else who is the first purchaser of a gun that they are responsible for its use until it is no longer a gun, we will have people like him getting other people killed.
By the way, I take it he’s not white. I have the feeling that if he were, this quite common transaction would never have become an issue.
4As you wrote, Nick, “it matters.” When did consequences for our actions become a non-starter. HS senior year my sisters returned from their respective colleges to watch me play in the state basketball tourney. I got sucker punched after collecting a rebound and no whistle. Belted in the mouth a second time while not so patiently waiting for a whistle. My oldest sister refrained from yelling “no” because in all the noise she was afraid I would hear “go” instead of no. Since the HS junior year had an early acceptance and a full ride at ASU to play baseball. lol Yeah those were the good old days when even 17-year-old boys understood consequences and there were actual adults in sports who enforced the rules. Lordy. Had I fought back that scholarship would have gone poof. iirc I did multiple ten counts in several languages so as not to allow my ego to override what little sense I had at that age. Constraint? Consequences? Imagine if TFG had any of that in his lifetime.
5I stated that AR15s may not KILL PEOPLE but they make it easy to do so, so outlaw AR15s and if you need to than carry a knife. He answered back then they will just use knives to kill. ANSWER… when they have a mass killing by someone with a knife, we can deal with that problem! Sorry but at the least I can outrun the guy with the knife, you can’t outrun a bullet!!
62nd-if someone1 giving the gun to someone2 and #2 kills & #1 is found to be responsible too, great lets sue the crap out of all gun makers and gun sellers!!!
An AR-15 over straight lines? This sounds like a job for Sam Kinnison or Arte Johnson: “Verry Interesting… But Shtupid!”
7The answer to all your questions is money.
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