Saturday, August 23, 2014

Shall Not Perish

After the protests
in Ferguson

President Obama
has ordered a review

of the federal programs
and funding that allow
state and local law enforcement

to acquire military weapons.

Advocates of fewer restrictions
on firearms

have learned the catchphrase
"Guns don't kill people.
People kill people"

in defense of the gun owners
who regularly handle

their (usually much smaller)
weapons responsibly.

But putting aside
(for a moment)
direct physical harm

the fight
will never be fair

so long as one side
can explain

the use of their tools
in the heat of the moment

as self-defense

and the other

armed only with rights
granted them by their democracy
cannot.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.