On December 8 1980 a 40 year old John Lennon was walking back to the Dakoda, the New York building in which he lived, when he was shot five times from behind. The killer, Mark David Chapman, then waited for the police to arrive. When the doorman asked him if he knew what he had done he calmly replied that he had "just shot John Lennon."
On my second weekend in New York I went to Strawberry Fields, in Central Park, to visit the John Lennon memorial. As I stood in Strawberry Fields, looking up at his apartment I was struck with sadness and a realisation - any crazy person can carry a gun. Should the time come when that crazy person wants to shoot it - whatever the consequences - then there is nothing to stop that person.
As I keep reminding Pants this is not Kansas... I mean Australia. The reality is that people carry weapons - and relative to what we are used to, the regularization of this is insignificant. Before the NBC tour we were required to go through a security check and to place our weapons in a plastic container for collection after the tour "Matches, lighters, knives and guns - this is New York after all". What could anybody possibly be doing with a weapon on an NBC tour?
So, in a city I absolutely adore there is something that plagues me. Guns. For a place so peaceful and beautiful it is strange to think that these horrible things could be lurking beneath.
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