Waco

Less than one week ago, Waco, halfway between Dallas and Austin in Texas, was the scene of savagery by motorcycle gangs that tried to solve their rivalries the way it was done in old Westerns, with bullets. It is serious news that is worthy of reflection.

The confrontation left nine dead and 18 wounded in the strangely named city whose name means hollow, and which is also remembered because in the surrounding area, a confused person who believed himself to be God climbed a fort, bought piles of military equipment, challenged the power of the state, and killed 69 adults and 17 children in April 1993.

In both cases, the weapons had been bought legally because of lax laws drafted with the idea that individual rights should be respected to the greatest extent possible; that is to say, with the philosophy of the National Rifle Association and its magnificent capacity to lobby. It is a freedom that has led to innumerable atrocities in a nation full of good and bad things.

The hundreds of gangsters who love loud Harley Davidsons, leather vests with threatening emblems and phrases, long hair and beards, and heads covered with handkerchiefs, began their spectacle at the precise moment that Texas legislators were discussing a law that would give citizens the freedom to bear firearms at all times. Soon, university students could be able to take firearms to class.

Those legislators, nevertheless, have not asked themselves if they will be disregarding the objections of a professor who might criticize the performance of a student who, then, assisted by the law, could show up with a revolver to demand his “rights.” The law is also expected to establish a Texas society where those who are not armed must move with caution, as if they were delinquent, because a crazy person could run into them in any corner.

After proclaiming monogamy as the only way of life, and then declaring his right to 160 spouses in 1993, David Koresh engaged in a confrontation with the FBI for 50 days, while the biker gangs of today did so among themselves. But at the end of the day, they also demonstrated their destructive potential, in a bad way!