He would have been 60 today.
His killer used an easily obtained "tool".
A handgun.
Ten months ago a man broke into George Harrison's Los Angeles
home
in the middle of the night and shot him and his wife to death.
As George was
investigating a noise in the kitchen an intruder put two bullets
into his head.
The other four tore through Olivia after she tried to shield
him in vain.
Did you catch the lie in the last paragraph?
George Harrison does not live in Los Angeles. That is the
only lie, for if he had
lived in the United States and not England his attacker (the
man who did attack him
ten months ago) would likely have been armed with a firearm instead
of a knife.
George was stabbed once, suffering a collapsed lung. As
the two men struggled,
George's wife hit the assailant with a lamp.
In our country children can pick and choose a wide variety of
firearms from the
coinless vending machines of the closets and purses of parents
and neighbors.
When they reach "adulthood", they can take their minimum wage
paycheck and
buy their very own gun with little question or effort.
England is not gunless. Hundreds of thousands legally own
a firearm.
Mostly for hunting. And they have their share of illegal
firearms.
But, luckily, there were enough hurdles between George's attacker
becoming known as a successful gunman or failed knife wielder.
A few extra steps of paperwork (he was denied a permit) or time
and money
on the street saved George and Olivia's lives.
I won't go on to debate the insanity of our gun culture which
started after The Civil War
and not before the Revolutionary War as the NRA would wish you
to believe.
(The citizens who founded our country were very poor and there
were few guns
to go around for the first eighty-four years of the Union.)
The NRA is not endorsing a Presidential candidate this year.
They feel that this might not be in their best interest.
Originally they promised to "clean out their treasury" to oppose
one of the major candidates,
and his party with a minimum of fifteen million dollars.
They are now targeting a handful of
"battleground states" and keeping their cash for a possible last
minute attack.
They say of the other candidate:
"If we win, we'll have a President where we work out of their
office."
- Kayne Robinson, NRA First Vice President
Think about it.
The candy machines in supermarkets might be ready
to dispense hollow point bullets - Texas Style.
October 9th, 2000 - Happy Birthday John.
Earl
onehandle@yahoo.com