White outs, brown outs, and guns.

Ok, for the record, I'm not a racist. Never have been. But I made a note the other night on FB, that I thought it was ironic that five days after Arizona signed into law a racist, illegal, and unconstitutional law, that the, Phoenix Coyote's would hold a, "White Out", for game 7 of their series with the, Redwings, where everyone in the stadium would wear a white, Coyotes shirt to support their team.

And I said that I wasn't sure if they meant to, "White Out" the stadium, or the whole state! And later commented, and I was being sarcastic, that, "They should have held a, "brown out" to save electricity and get rid of, "Those pesky, Mexicans at the same time!"

I think that's funny stuff. I MEANT it to be, funny stuff. If, Carlos Mencia had said it, he'd have gotten a laugh.

But one of my oldest, and dearest friends posted to my wall, "Wow, Stick? A racist? Really?". It hurt my feelings. I was TRYING to point out the absurdity of the BS in Arizona (White hockey fans in white shirts, filling the stadium with white in a state that just passed a hateful law to oppress, Brown people). I guess I just can't do satire.

Maybe the only reason I noticed was that I pay a LOT of attention to politics, and the Redwings. Had a cousin who played for them in the 70's, so they have always been, "my team". My wife has even bought me tickets to see them on the road and in Detroit as, Christmas/Birthday gifts. Yes, WITH the airfare. She's awesome!

So, if anyone thinks I was insensitive, or racist, or, even for that matter, just really bad at being funny, I am sorry. It was not my intent.

Lisa Landry once asked me (on line, we don't hang out, just on FB. I don't have celebrities in my neighborhood...) why I didn't just go to an open mike night and try it since I like comedy so much? Well, this is why. I was not afraid to kick in a door in a meth lab, but I'm seriously afraid of not being well received trying to tell jokes.

Which brings me to my other topic. Guns. A FB friend asked me, since I've mentioned them, if I owned some, and actually used them. Good question. I do own a few. Well, an 800 pound safe full of them, so a FEW!

Well, I do use them. I took my son shooting a few weeks ago when I bought a new .357 Magnum, and traded in my fathers old guns. But here's the thing.

I loved to shoot, and even reloaded my own ammo when I was in college. Not much of a hunter, but loved guns. Like to shoot. Then, I spent 23 years having to put one on every morning, and wondering when I should carry one off duty.

It wasn't required, but after the, Trolley Square shootings, every Cop in Utah was totally happy that they hadn't decided to go to dinner there that night WITHOUT their gun, and then had to answer questions about why they couldn't step in and stop it.

Now? I carry sometimes. I have a permit good all over the country since I'm a retired, LEO. I carry when I travel, and when I'm in West Valley City and Magna because that was my, "beat" as a PO for most of the last 15 years of my career. And I'm afraid I might run into someone who recognizes and doesn't like me, but I don't remember.

Truth be known, that's happened a bunch of times, and without exception, the guy/gal has always come over to shake my hand and thank me for helping to change their life. It's always been a positive experience. But I can't always count on that, can I? I pack.

So, I'm a gun carrying, non-racist, hockey fan, who, it appears, cannot tell a joke. As, Popeye said, "I yam, what I yam". Hope I didn't hurt your feelings.