The other side of the ocean

We are mourning the loss of lives in the VA shootings and trying to process the inconceivable news of one man's hate. This brought some questions in my mind about what Moroccans think of the USA and its infatuation with guns. I heard a story recently of an Atlanta cop who was visiting our friend Karen. He asked a group of Moroccan policemen how often they use their guns and what kind they like and how in Atlanta, they prefer the more powerful guns. The Moroccan policemen stared at him with incomprehension. One said he has never once used his gun. All the others said the same and that they didn't know of any policeman who had. Not to say there are no problems here, but this does not seem to be a big one.

I think it is interesting that the word "Barbarian" comes from Morocco which has the Barbary coast and Berber tribes. And yet Moroccans view Americans as being barbaric for allowing their people to carry and even conceal guns. Our friend, Fatima Ezzahara looked at me in shock when I told her of the right we have to bear arms. Gerald's students told him that only policemen and hunters are allowed guns. The penalty for having a gun? Five years in jail!!! It was unanimous in the class that this is a good law. Morocco is no soft country - one insult for the northern Berbers used to be, "Your father died in his bed" meaning it is a complete disgrace for a man to die peacefully. Evidence of a long history of battles, sieges and a country born in blood is still visible in the thick walls of old cities and in stories that send shivers down my spine. Yet, we wonder how this country once so "barbaric" come to the point of such gun control where even people's attitudes have changed over time.