Gun culture produces defensiveness

I picked up The Post at 6 a.m. and skimmed the front-page story of another nonviolent black man killed by an officer because he felt threatened (“Musician’s death by officer stuns kin,” Oct. 20). “Police say (Corey) Jones was armed and there was a ‘confrontation’ that caused” Officer Nouman Raja to shoot him.

My intent to go back to bed and sleep some more was trumped by grief about how guns rule in Florida.

1. State senators recently approved gun bills (for consideration during the 2016 legislative session) for open-carry and campus-carry. I think these laws will increase deaths, because confrontations between two armed people will mean that whoever feels threatened first will shoot.

2. “Stand your ground” laws protect armed shooters (police or citizens) who have felt threatened by unarmed citizens who happen to trigger fear in them. Their fear might be associated with a person’s dress, loud music, presence in a place, attitude, or refusal to submit to a perceived violation of civil rights. It is the survival-of-the-fittest animal instinct that determines the action of shooting — not rational, objective facts of criminal behavior that shooters think they must stop.

3. Clearly, mental illness is not the only factor that might distort thinking and, therefore, present risk of gun ownership. Feeling threatened comes from a person’s history or training — including military or police.

Should we administer a test for all potential gunslingers to see whether they have a tendency to act out against past powerlessness they faced as an abused or neglected child; past bullying by bigger, stronger tormentors in school or online; surviving/triumphing over victimhood in a culture of hard knocks; or a religion that defines people as sinful, bad or evil if they don’t believe the “right” thing?

4. A culture of violence produces fear and defensiveness in its government, laws, citizens and police. Do we want Florida — our nature paradise, which attracts tourists and businesses that spur the economy — to fail its people? What people will stay or want to come to this state if they and their children can’t feel, or be, safe and secure?

Who wants to be killed because of how they trigger a violent response from anyone who carries a gun?