Orlando's Anti-Gun Campaign

Orlando on his protest bicycle on La Ciclovia with placards blaming the U.S. for gun killings.

Orlando, who carries out a daily campain for Cuba and against the U.S. and Colombian governments, has a new cause: Gun control.

I greatly admire Orlando's willingness to take stands on issues, altho I disagree with his unquestioning admiration of Cuba, the Americas' last dictatorship. But I heartily applaud his condemnation of an armed society like that of the U.S. His sign today claims that "65% of the world's murders are committed with weapons made in the United States." Orlando's sign also refers to the recent massacre of 20 schoolchildren and seven adults in Newtown, Connecticut, carried out by a man with an semiautomatic rifle appropriate for a battlefield but absurd for hunting or home defense.

I'm not sure about Orlando's statistics. But the U.S. does produce a huge number of weapons, and it's plain that lots of weapons from the U.S. (including ones first imported to the U.S.) get smuggled across its borders into Latin America, including Mexico and Colombia, where they escalate murder and mayhem.

I don't pollute the environment, do you?

The U.S.'s deadly gun policies are the world's business because of its blocking the United Nation's arms treaty - altho that may change now. The U.S.'s National Rifle Association has ordered its puppet legislators to oppose the U.N. treaty even tho it would have absolutely no impact on domestic gun rights. But the NRA long ago abandoned its origins as a defender of hunters and now defends the interests of hugely wealthy gun manufacturers, which want carte blanche to hawk deadly, powerful and expensive firepower all over the globe.

In the wake of the massacres at Newtown and so many other U.S. locales, Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro's decision to suspend gun carry rights looks better and better. That's not necesarrily because of the lack of school massacres in Bogotá, but because the city's homicide rate has dropped. As horrible as they are, these mass killings constitute only a small percentage of gun murders. Most gun victims are killed one or two at a time, in gang disputes, suicides, by drunken, jealous husbands and in robberies gone awry.

Orlando's anti-gun cause is just, altho his defense of Cuba's dictatorship, which has banned guns, does the gun control cause no favors. But those who warn that 'guns are the key to our liberties,' should look at the world's many, many free and democratic nations, including Australia, the U.K. and Japan, which restrict gun possession. Guns do not guarantte liberty. Citizen activism, including Orlando's, is the foundation of liberty.

 By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Disarmament Looks Like It's Working

'Amar no Matar' 'Love Instead of Killing' says a banner in today's March for the Victims. 

Today is the 'Day of the Victims' in Colombia. That refers primarily to victims of political violence, but victims of everyday violence are no less important.

So, the reports that homicides are down significantly in Bogotá is encouraging.

The drop isn't huge: 17% in febrero and 6% in March compared against 2011. But those are 65 fewer lives lost, 65 fewer families wracked by tragedy, 65 fewer agonizing parents or fatherless (or motherless) children, 65 fewer lovers left alone, 65 fewer dreams disappeared.

Many reports tie the drop in homicides to recent restrictions on the carrying of firearms. Other factors, such as restrictions on liquor sales, more police on the street and a growing economy may also be factors.

But the fact that some other types of violence and street crime have increased argues strongly that the firearms restrictions have saved lives. This year, police have confisticated nearly one thousand firearms. Since most fatal shootings occur during gang disputes or common street fights, fewer guns on the street mean less likelihood that those altercations will turn fatal.

Related posts:

Lay Down Your Arms

Gunning Fast and Furiously to Colombia

Lost Bullets Found!

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours