Fuckin smith and wesson

Minutes after I read about the 16 year old boy who has shot (accidently) the old white pro-gun advocate man in Maine who was showing off his guns, I see another big pot-bellied white man sporting a ‘smith and wesson’ t-shirt with a silhouette of a hand gun on it.

I can’t help it – I’m compelled to challenge him. Why the fuck would you want to go to the airport in a smith and wesson shirt complete with hand gun on it? I angrily ask him why and before he can answer through his broad, slightly reddening cheeky smile, I tell him I hope he doesn’t ruin a young boy’s life, like the Maine asshole, showing off his guns.

He hastens to turn away from me and I hear him explaining to someone who has asked him what I wanted, that I didn’t like his shirt.

I loudly say I don’t like gun violence and your message is promoting gun violence and I don’t understand why you would want to promote gun violence at an airport.

I don’t hang around to hear what he and his party have to say.

Three gates later, a womon catches up to me, tears in her eyes, and thanks me for confronting this man. She is rushing back to catch her plane but she tells me her daughter was murdered by an ex-boyfriend with a gun. We hug silently but full of knowing.