Do you really need your ride-sharing driver to be armed?
Is the BlackWolf app for gun-carrying drivers turning ride-sharing services into even more of a weapon-happy America?
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Years ago, I was cool with a few boxers who attended my first college. I was even interested in dating one of them, who immediately caught my attention because of the color of his eyes. Two others were easy on the eyes as well. But unlike the rough-around-the-edges guy I was interested in, the latter two walked a thin line between “handsome” and “pretty boy.” I initially wondered if the other two could fight for real. (I later saw a few live fights. The answer: Absolutely!)
Still, I asked two of the three, “Why do you want to fight professionally? You don’t worry about getting hit in the face?” Both laughed and said the idea was not to get hit in the face, so they weren’t too worried about it.
Every blue moon, I would see these guys shadow boxing clear out of nowhere. The sparring would be for a few minutes and stop as quickly as it started. For the most part though, they acted like any other college guy on campus.
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I’m sure it’s satisfying to walk around with a “weapon” on you at all times that no one really knows you have until someone FAAFO. What I respected about (most of) them was they didn’t broadcast, “Hey, I trained for the Olympics. I could knock you out right here.” If you knew, you knew. If you didn’t, no big deal.
It’s not like they walked around with boxing gloves on. Until they got in a ring, I never saw their gloves at all. It’s one thing to have the ability to defend yourself; it’s another one to be so paranoid that you have to broadcast this at all times.
Show and tell, ride and tell
Paranoia. That’s how I feel regarding concealed-weapon and open-carry states, specifically those with no permit needed. I cannot comprehend a rational reason for people to treat their entire lives like extras in “The Harder They Fall.”
And I shake my head every single time I see those “no gun” signs when I enter my local library. If your life is so messed up that you have to bring a gun to the library, read an e-book at home. Buy something from an online bookstore instead.
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People who always feel the need to let you know how tough they are — with and without weapons — boggle my mind. So you can pretty much guess how I feel about the BlackWolf ride-sharing app. I’m 99.99% in support of black-owned businesses, but this is one I just cannot get on board with.
Then again, I’ve been a Lyft and Uber driver before and rode in a considerable amount of Via, Lyft and Uber cars as a passenger. I’m just not freaking out whenever I get in one, swearing someone is going to attack me. (I may be speaking from a selfish perspective though, considering I live in a city where public transportation is very easy to choose instead.)
Recommended Read: “Being anti-gun is not a ‘slave mentality’ ~ The gun control debate I had with a rapper”
While the BlackWolf app is only available in three cities (Atlanta, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale), I just can’t wrap my mind around why somebody needs to be a four-year official in the military, law enforcement or security sector to get a passenger from Point A to Point B with a gun. Being a cop or in the military does not always make you a good person. It should, but it doesn't.
Recommended Read: “Our Silenced Soldiers”
I have written about disturbing people in the military. And I don’t want to get in a car with anyone who acts like Officers Derek Chauvin, Garrett Miller, Edward Nero, Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin III or Desmond Mills Jr. I would have to be 100% confident that I’m riding around with Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett to even humor an armed, ride-sharing service.
In an ideal world, someone who is CPR-certified and licensed to carry sounds like a relief. In the real world, passengers are taking their chances with a stranger regardless. And even as someone who has been to a gun range (in Atlanta) and learned how to operate a gun, I just don’t get the excitement of (potentially) ending someone’s life nor do I feel safer riding with strangers who can do so too.