Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2015)
Page 6 October 21, 2015 New Prices Effective May 1, 2014 O PINION Martin Cleaning Service Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Residential & Commercial Services Minimum Service CHG. $45.00 A small distance/travel charge may be applied CARPET CLEANING 2 Cleaning Areas or more $30.00 Each Area Pre-Spray Traffic Areas (Includes: 1 small Hallway) 1 Cleaning Area (only) $40.00 Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area (Hallway Extra) Stairs (12-16 stairs - With Other Services) : $25.00 Area/Oriental Rugs: $25.00 Minimum Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool) : $40.00 Minimum Heavily Soiled Area: Additional $10.00 each area (Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying) UPHOLSTERY CLEANING Sofa: $69.00 Loveseat: $49.00 Sectional: $109 - $139 Chair or Recliner: $25 - $49 Throw Pillows (With Other Services) : $5.00 ADDITIONAL SERVICES • Area & Oriental Rug Cleaning • Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning • Deodorizing & Pet Odor Treatment • Spot & Stain Removal Service • Scotchguard Protection • Minor Water Damage Services SEE CURRENT FLYER FOR ADDITIONAL PRICES & SERVICES Call for Appointment (503) 281-3949 An Attachment to the Weapons that Kill Digging out from the fear and distrust J ohn M orlino Yes, it’s happened again. A man with a le- gally acquired arsenal walked onto a college campus. Moments later, 10 people were dead, and nearly as many wounded. Sick to your stom- ach? Of course you are. Surprised? Didn’t think so. Like Aurora, Newtown, and a lengthy list of similar trage- dies, the Oct. 1 mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon aimed the spotlight on the debate over guns in America. But there shouldn’t be a debate at all. Arguing that guns are a sacred part of our culture just doesn’t cut it anymore. They’re instruments of death. Nothing else you can own can kill more easily or effi- ciently. Guns in private homes extin- guish the lives of loved ones far by more often than they prevent the advance of an intruder. Children shoot other children. Adults shoot their spouses and their children. Accidental death or suicide is just a trigger pull away. This, apparently, is the price we’ve agreed to pay to uphold a convoluted interpretation of the Sec- ond Amendment. Sure, there’ll be calls for background checks to keep these weapons away from people stricken with severe mental illness, served with a restraining order, or convicted of violent crimes. But gun owners appear to have noth- ing to worry about. After all, who’s going to sug- gest disarming ourselves com- pletely? From the Brady Campaign to Everytown for Gun Safety and Americans for Responsible Solu- tions, no prominent organization purportedly working to end gun violence — actually, they prefer the word “reduce” — have been willing to explicitly endorse giv- ing up our firearms. Instead, some of them — along with nearly any elected official you can think of — seem to go out of their way to express sup- port for the Second Amendment. “Sensible” gun control, they say, is their objective. Making it harder for the most troubled among us to acquire a gun would, of course, be a good thing. As would comprehensive mental health care for all, and a ban on assault weapons. Yet well-intentioned as this strategy may be, it’s cursed with a deadly flaw: There’s no guarantee that anyone deemed a “responsi- ble gun owner” today will still be one tomorrow. The human mind is ev- er-changing. And there’s no end to the number of things that can send people into a nosedive — disintegrating relationships, devastating unemployment, un- lucky biology, profound trauma. Passing a background check on a given day does nothing to ensure that a person buying a gun will remain emotionally stable for the rest of his or her life. So how do we dig ourselves out of this mess? The answer, I believe, lies in confronting the two-headed mon- ster that’s left us in a state of per- petual paralysis. Fear and distrust lurk beneath our collective psyche. For example, people who wholeheartedly distrust our lead- ers delude themselves into think- ing that, if properly armed, they’ll prevail in an apocalyptic shootout with the government. Some gun buyers fear the neighborhood “bad guy” and comfort themselves by fantasiz- ing about winning a duel in their living room. Others fear the after- math of a prolonged natural (or man-made) disaster where fight- ing over — rather than sharing — food, water, and shelter becomes the norm. To varying degrees, the odds would be stacked against us in any of those situations — just as they would be in a mass shooting. It’s only on the front end that we can improve our chances. The sooner we develop a genuinely compassionate and trusting soci- ety, the less likely any of us will find ourselves in such dire cir- cumstances. John Morlino is a former social worker and founder of The ETHIC (The Essence of True Humanity Is Compassion).
