Neighbors in our new hometown of Albuquerque tell us the city is rife with gang activity. Police estimate there are more than 10,000 active gang members in “The Duke City.” Billboards here post images of murdered individuals with this tag: “You know who killed me.” Somehow, I doubt that’s effective.
What sent me to the latest gun show, the New Mexico Gun Collector’s Association (NMGCA.net) show at the fairgrounds, wasn’t so much the nearby billboards but this note in the Albuquerque Journal newspaper: “In Albuquerque, the violent crime [rape, murder, non-negligent homicide, robbery and aggravated assault] rate was 774 per 100,000 residents, according to the FBI’s reports…” — more than twice the national average of 368 per 100,000!
The Chamber of Commerce (abqchamber.com) says, “We believe that Albuquerque is a delightful place to live, work and raise a family.” What they don’t say is New Mexico finishes last in America in the law-enforcement-employees-to-residents ratio and low in most other areas:
43rd – Number of Murders and Non-Negligent Manslaughters per 100,000
50th – Number of Assaults per 100,000
50th – Number of Forcible Rapes per 100,000
And there are quality of life issues (bizjournals.com):
46th – Number of Fatal Occupational Injuries per 100,000 Employees
35th – Number of Fatalities per 100-Million Vehicle Miles of Travel
34th – Unemployment Rate
5th – Share of the Population with No Health Insurance
The fairgrounds gun show was just right … to awful. In the “just right” column were about a dozen rows of vendors, a moderate crowd and a well-known friend to introduce me to folks. The Sunday morning breakfast burrito wasn’t bad either, with a green chile topping that wasn’t too hot and added just the right flavor.
In the “just awful” column were an almost overwhelming number of guns, knives and assorted bric-a-brac practically all sensibly priced. I say “sensibly” because I was in the market for pocket power after a fleeing Mississippi murderer — one Alex Deaton — kidnapped two hikers on the La Luz Trail in the Cibola National Forest near here. He pointed a gun and, unarmed, they climbed into the trunk (thus entirely within his power). Soon, they pulled the emergency latch and ran; Deaton shot the man and recaptured the woman.
Now, my wife and I do some hiking, both short — the La Luz is breathtaking but steep, slick as a summer Creamsicle — and long — 600 miles of Spain’s Camino de Santiago — and it just makes sense when camping, hiking and kayaking to carry something smaller than my standard .40 Walther PPS or her Smith & Wesson .38 Special. Hence the gun show.
I say I hate gun shows only because I always exit with less money. There’s $5 for parking, $10 to enter and the breakfast burrito with a cherry Coke ($10). In this case, my downfall was a tiny $1 knife, an old $2 book and a “Show Special,” an 8.3-ounce, 6+1 Kel-Tec P-3AT .380 ($268.23 with tax from Ron Peterson Firearms) with a 5-pound trigger and two boxes of 90-grain ammo ($40.24 with tax from Los Alamos Ammo): Winchester FMJ target rounds and Hornady XTP hollow-points.
And because my wife didn’t attend there was, in the top of the take-home bag, a decorative ceramic cow’s skull — you might have to be Western to appreciate it — with faux turquoise and wrapped with real leather to hang over the kiva fireplace (only $25 but don’t rat me out as I quoted her a much higher price).
