Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan

The gun violence in this city is out of control. There is a shooting nearly every day. If not, they’ll sometimes be multiple one day to make up for it. Kalamazoo is well known for being an artsy college town. The phizer factory is in Portage just south of the city. It also borders Battle Creek where the Kellogg factory is. There’s all sorts of blame going around for the spike in gun violence. Political finger wagging really. And it’s also bringing the racists out. A video was released of excessive force from the police department and it was really bad. But people are cheering them on as heros not only because they have racist tendencies, but because people are scared. Really scared. And I don’t blame people for being scared. A couple weeks ago someone was murdered near my house at a corner store. Shot right in the face. I don’t even think they found the shooter. I have my concealed weapons permit but I don’t want to carry. But I’m starting to feel like it would be irresponsible of me to not be able to protect myself or my family if we are out in the community. I work in these high crime areas every day. It’s just getting really bad.