Little things
Media
Part of The Marksman Magazine
- Title
- Little things
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1939
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- 4 THE MARKSMAN August, 193~ LITTLE THINGS By ALFREDO E~ LITIATCO (Editoi"s Note: We came· across this i~em in the July 27, 1939 issue of the GRAPHIC by the well-known columnist of that publication. We believ~ that the re· actions of a layman like Mr. Litiatco on the subject of the proposed prohibition to carry guns are so interesting that we are he.reby reprinting them without further comment.) SOME time ago, a planter shot a tenant. To ask a rhetorical question: Was there much of a fuss made about it? Apparently, no one even thought of disarming the gun-toting planter. Subsequently, that same planter got involved in the shooting of two millionaires. This time, the authorities-that is, the official represcnta ... tives oi the law under which all men are theoretica!ly ellual-becamf: so anxious to Do · Something that, among other things, they decided to re ... lleve all civilian (though licensed) gun-toters of their weapons. It seems you may not now cariy a gun to places where, or on occasions· when, you might possibly be tempted to use it. Now, if they must resort to that, why didn't they ihink of doing. so earlier? When, for example, that tenant got shot. Must a millionaire be~ome a target before officials in a democracy awake to the value of human life and the menace of gun-toters? Let us grant that those millionaires were, as some say, good men. Wl right: it's really too bad they were killed; the world has need of aH its good men. But that's just the point, see? It 3Jiould always be too bad that a good man should be killed-whether he has fifty millions or makes only fifty centavos a day. A tenant, as much as· a miUionaire, has a stomach to fill, a family support, a heart that can yearn, hands that can work. So you may weH ask: What has a millionaire got that a tenant hasn't? - Well, now. I'll tell you. A tenant, unlike a millionaire, hasn't the means to travel around the world in comfort and at will, to mainfai.n a fleet of expensive cars, to make instant business successes of his sons and and social successes of his daughters, to buy anything from mistres.ses to high. government positions, to consult a specialist in Vienna and patronize a dance master in New York, to be always sure of three square meals a day and six rounds of drinks each night-in short, to have the feeling, when he comes to die, that life hasn't been so bad. . . . And anyway, why have a gun unless there is a possibility of using it? Are the authorities under the impression that one pays good Continued on page 25 August, 1939 THE MARKSMAN 25 Had the presidente used the ejector instead of merely knocking the cylinder, he would be alive today. And had the Spaniard inspected the gun before snapping the trigger, the tragedy would not have happened. As ·it was, a loaded shell got stuck in the cylinder and the presidente is now pushing lilies up underneath six feet of ground. --x-Americans are practical jokers, but sometimes foolish! A shiftless middle age fellow, who was on government relief in the city, got tried of his environment and decided to visit his brother. His younger brother was a police officer in a small town. The shiftless one hitch-liked. On the way he thought. of pulling a neat joke on his kin. Arriving at hi,s destination late at night, he covered his face vdth a handkerchief and sneaked into the home of his brother. Unknown to him the small town copper was alert in his bed. He had heard a noise. The shiftless fellow entered his brother's room and ordered him to get up. A hand trust in his overcoat pocket gave the impression that a gun covered the man in the bed. There was a quick movement in the bed. Then a shot. When the police came the shiftless one was able to gasp, "It ·;.ras· all a joke" and then expired. The officer was exonerated. A nifty joke, eh? LITTLE THING Continued from page 4 * * * * money for a revolver merely to be another Carlos Quirino or Eva Estrada, or to satisfy an exhjbitionistic urge? I, for one, would not procure a gun except to shoot all the pests I have long wanted to rid this world of. There are many such pests, you know. There's the guy who sits in front of you in the theatre, callously smoking a gigantic cigar in spite of all the girls choking jn, his· vicinity. And the fellow standing over you in the tram who proceeds to spray your new white woolen suit with vile.smelting ash. Not to mention the bully who flings loud, sarcastic, uncalled-for remarks at waiters, conductors, and other wretches who are restrained by the idiotic doctrine that the customer is always brigt. But I'd better· cut short the enumeration. There isn't enough space -and I might end up by proposing my own suicide!