It was easy to forget, walking the streets of Manhattan with a little money in her pocket. It was easy to forget that she needed to buy a gun.
Things will be normal, until suddenly they will not be normal. Not that even the normal state of this nation was once able to satisfy her desire for justice. But no, she had to be better than reactive. The new administration had done nothing, said noting to assuage her fears. Rights and freedoms are fragile things, and they can be taken away if those who control the military and the police decide it is n their best interest to do so.
The other terrifying scenario was that of escalating hate crimes paired with apathetic enforcement and outright support from the police and justice system. Of course, such collusion was already happening, but it was nothing like the 30s when white cops would don their white hoods right in the police station before heading out for a good lynching. That could start happening again and she needed to save that little bit of money and buy a gun.
She hoped if she were armed and if she made enough noise she might make herself a less desirable target. "I will fight back. I may loose, but I will make them hurt for coming for me." The anger felt a bit better than the copper taste of fear lingering in her mouth.
Am I over reacting? She tried to think of a reason why such a thing would not happen but none came to mind. Had not humans always done this? In this same country? to people just like her. "oh how I need a gun" she thought.
She pictured her last moments over and over, infinite permutations all ending with death. A would she be shot after being reported for her political activity? Shot while answering her door. Beaten and then shot for secrets she didn't posses? Shot once while running but then later in the chest to make it look like a good shoot? Being armed would not be enough. She would need to stop being alone. She thought about how she'd seen people fill the streets with their bodies and with noise and she wondered if they could all work together, if they could be an army. "oh how I need an army " she thought.