Quantcast
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 97

Editorial: Cindy Chadwick

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
SCAreadersSpeakOut
Dear Reader,
Imagine this scene: after a stressful week of work during which you looked forward to a nice, quiet weekend at home, you are kicking back, doing what relaxes you and brings you enjoyment. Momentarily, your neighbors fire up their outdoor sound system, blasting at full volume music that rattles your nerves. They continue pumping their music into your home for hours without let up. You feel stressed and angry–heck, you might as well be back at work! Your “down time” that you have so looked forward to is ruined.

How would you feel about these neighbors? Would you side with them, militantly defending their rights to do whatever they want on their own property, regardless that what they are doing intrudes into others’ homes? Or would you see them as selfishly, mind-blowingly rude? Would you see them as people simply demonstrating their constitutional rights, or would you see them as folks whose mommas and daddies didn’t raise them right, having failed to teach them about basic civility toward one’s neighbors?

Okay, now swap out the music with continuous gun blasts that can be heard for miles around, terrorizing humans and pets alike, making people afraid to go out into their own back yards. Imagine loud reports that penetrate the walls and invade the space of the homes of hundreds of people in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Do you believe that the shooter has more rights to disturb the peace of their neighbors’ homes than does the person who blasts their favorite music into others’ homes? By law, they actually have fewer rights. Under TN statute, the shooter is very likely committing a Class E Felony (reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon; Title 39, Chapter 13, Part 1.) But that is not the point. The point is that the shooter is behaving like a selfish, thoughtless neighbor.

If you live in the county and also in a neighborhood and shoot your guns in your backyard, know this:
• No one wants to take your guns away from you.
• No one wants to stop you from hunting or defending your family.
• What everyone in a 3 mile radius of you does want is for you to be a good neighbor and take your shooting to a shooting range.

If you live in a neighborhood and shoot in your yard, your neighbors complain about you plenty (believe me–I hear it all the time), but they won’t complain directly to you about it. Why? They say they won’t confront you when you are shooting because you have a gun in your hand. The say they won’t confront you when you stop shooting because they fear retaliation.

Yes, that is how your neighbors see you. They see you as a person who would shoot a neighbor’s beloved pet in retaliation for a complaint that you are disturbing the peace of their own home. They see you as a redneck who, if they brought it to your attention that you were disturbing them, would start shooting even more, just to “show them”.

Are you surprised this is how most of your neighbors and those in surrounding neighborhoods see you? Well, I thought you should know, since they are too afraid of you to tell you to your face. Please keep in mind that living in the county does not equate to living in the country. If you live in a neighborhood, you are not “in the country”. So, if you want to shoot a gun, be a good neighbor and take it to the shooting range.

Cindy Chadwick
Kingston Springs


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 97

Trending Articles