Friday 3 April 2020

Apparently going to the gun shop

is as essential as going to church in the United States...at least according to their President.
I think there is a gun shop somewhere here in the city. I am honestly not sure about that. Thankfully we don't have the sort of gun culture here. It is illegal to carry guns here the way they do there. You can't carry them on public transport at all. If you must move them from one place to another in a car then they have to be locked into a box. You certainly can't walk around with a concealed weapon.
I am of course talking about private ownership. Our police now carry guns. They didn't when I was a mere kitten. I was thirteen before I saw a policeman with a gun. That was in another state and we children were shocked to think that it was considered necessary. I still don't think it should be necessary but the world is a very different place.
But thankfully most of the citizens of this state do not own guns and would have no idea how to fire one. I have never even held a real one. We didn't play with the toy sort in any serious way either. Our parents did not encourage it. I don't think we ever "shot people dead". 
A great many shops here have closed for the moment - and some may never reopen. Nobody here would consider a gun shop to be essential.
Churches, temples, mosques and synagogues have also had to close here. For many people this makes no apparent difference. They don't attend those places on a regular basis. Such people are what the Senior Cat calls "the hatched, matched and dispatched congregation".  Interestingly though the priests, pastors, ministers, monks, imams, rabbis and the like are regarded as "essential". They are of the tiny group exempt from some, but not all, of the rules surrounding the rest of us right now. 
I know a number of the local priests and the like - mostly the Church of England and Roman Catholic crew who would meet on a fairly regular basis for coffee in a nearby shopping centre.  They are endeavouring to minister to their flocks, mostly from a distance. There has been "church by Zoom" for some too. 
And yesterday I saw one of them walking  up the hill...with a dog. I know he doesn't own a dog. I know the dog in question.
He gave me a smile and told me he had added occasional dog walking to his duties.
A little bit of practical Christianity. The owner happens to be a devout atheist.
 

3 comments:

jeanfromcornwall said...

I am sure he will have regarded it as missionary work. The dog's owner may not be open to conversion , but I bet the dog is now a devout . . . .whatever.

catdownunder said...

I sometimes wonder about the "devout atheist". He gets on very well with the priest - and the dog adores the priest in the way only a dog can!

Momkatz said...

Oh, Cat and Jean, thank you both for a lovely laugh. I really needed it. Here in USA each state governor sets the rules and some states are allowing church services to continue.
Insanity!!!
Many state governors have determined that gun shops, ammo shops and shooting ranges are essential businesses and can remain open.
More insanity!!

Melodye whose country is falling apart