About gun control?
No, (warning, I am lying. This is about gun control) this is not a post about gun politics. While I might someday choose to discuss my views regarding guns, that day will have to wait for a few years, until I can afford a nice AR, and a good camera so I can post lovely pictures of it. Okay, maybe I just made my views clear.
Moving on,
No, what came to mind is something I'm going to call "Badge Control".
See, the most striking object this "Courtesy officer" carries isn't his gun, but rather the badge he has stuck on his belt. I mean, lots of people carry guns. If you judged solely by the subreddit where people post pictures of what they carry around with them on a daily basis (lots of iphones, watches, and moleskine notebooks), half the software developers in the South are armed at all times. (If Moleskine made an iPhone cover that could fit on a standard accessory rail, they'd be set).
More than the gun, I think it is the badge that elevates him from a messenger (my only official interaction with him was when he brought me my copy of the lease) to an Authority. But this badge was not issued by a real authority. Even Target has badge-wearing "officers" who might very well just be untrained high school students. You don't even need the dubious authority of a retail store to get a badge. This website has them for about $10; you can even become a captain!
But why do we need these civilian-owned badges? Shouldn't badges just be for the police? Wouldn't the world be better if, whenever I saw a badge-wearing man, I knew I was dealing with a competent law enforcement officer? Shouldn't we at least check the backgrounds of people before allowing them to buy one?
I think there should be a law to mandate background checks for badge buyers. And certain badges, those of styles used by military and police, should be banned from civilian use entirely. I notice a lot of those civilian badges have shield, star, or eagle motifs; all of these are commonly used by police and military officers. These have no legitimate security use. If you can't secure a neighborhood using a "Security" t-shirt, you should go back to guard school. You can't possibly need a star-shaped badge; leave those for the US Marshals.
...I guess this turned into a gun control post after all.
