I would never buy a gun. I would never take another person's life. It's not up to me to decide who lives and who dies. I am not God.

Maybe if I was a hostage being tortured or my baby was threatened...but those are movie scenarios that don't happen to regular people. The only crimes I've experienced are having my purse snatched and my car window smashed. Property--no matter how valuable--is not worth a human life.

Police were unable to help in the crimes above. They shrugged. The only time I've called them to my home was to help me get a mentally ill person to the hospital, and my outcomes on those calls were not always good. I will never make another one. Like I said in the original story, I no longer trust police not to shoot their guns.

I don't want "vigorous enforcement of laws." I want homeless people housed, drug addicts in treatment centers, people with mental illness connected to medical care. I want jails opened and every non-violent offender released. I want social systems like Medicare for All and free college that create a safety net no one can fall through. I want a just society in which we treat each other fairly and decently. I believe these are achievable goals. Why not? If we can put a man on the moon, we can lift a neighbor up off the street.