'The Metro Rifleman'

This man is on an escalator with his (real) rifle, and climbing rapidly

up steps that are stopped. There are three or four sets of

escalator steps at that location, but only two work during 'off (less

busy) hours, and this man has chosen to climb the equivalent of

maybe 10 US/European stories up this VERY LONG escalator

without mechanical help, while carrying his rifle in the Metro. For

me this invites more questions than the photo provides answers;

how about you? If you rate harshly, very critically or wish to make

an observation, please submit a helpful and constructive

comment; thank you in advance for sharing your photograhic

knowledge to help improve my photography! Enjoy! John

Imagine if this were the Metro in New York City, and the man were on an escalator (not many in NYC subways) from the trains to the surface -- how much commotion would there be when he emerged into Manhattan with his rifle.

Likewise consider that if this were the the London Tube or the Paris Metropolitain (Metro) what a stir this man would cause with today's heightened terrorist alerts.

He went virtually unnoticed by anyone (except me) as he did his athletic climb to the far away surface, mainly catching MY attention and not seeming 'remarkable' to others, though I have NEVER previously seen a gun on this city's giant and wonderful Metro system -- a replica of the world famous Moscow Metro (right down to identical trains with same logos, insignias from manufacturers and specifications right down (I think) to the centimeter or millimeter (after all both were built by the Soviets, and why change a good thing?)

[To be clear, he is climbing, very rapidly and not being transported; the very, very long escalator he is on was not running at the time].

john

John (Crosley)

Well caught, a great shot, hope that he wasn't.

The interesting thing about this is that I had to spy this man (and his rifle) from some distance away, as I was on a very long and VERY FAST descending escalator, and he is bounding up steps two at a time, rifle in tow.  Sometimes the rifle was more obscured as it was parallel to the lines of the escalator; other times more close to perpendicular, which then outlined it much better.

So I had to (1) recognize the rifle (2) be prepared to shoot; (3) take one or more shots to get the man and rifle in a proper composition, and also worry about my own well being if he seemed aggressive.

However, he was not aggressive at least toward me and did not even see me that I know.  Where he was going and what he was going to do with that rifle are beyond me, but I did not hear of any shootings.  Physical violence and gun crimes are extraordinarily rare in Kyiv, compared to parts of the United States, and all in all, Kyiv seems for a city of over two million to be much safer than much of the United States.  (Same for Moscow as I recall when I spent time there, even though it was then the time when the Russian Mafia went more unchecked. 

In Ukraine in general, though there is crime and even violent crime from time to time, the streets often are full of people, people don't 'hide' in cars and use public transport for the most part, so one seldom is isolated, and one doesn't see criminal gangs like one may have to worry about in the United States.

Perhaps reasons are manifold:  (1) much more than neighboring Russia, the Ukrainians seem to be a much more peace-loving people without a long history of aggression (except for their membership as a Republic of the pretty aggressive Communist Soviet Union; (2) the police are known as 'very aggressive' when dealing with criminals; (3) prisons in Ukraine are famous for very, very poor conditions, and they are fighting to 'upgrade' their prisons to meet EU standards as they have been severely criticized for conditions therein; and (4) the citizenry is too busy making ends meet to have time to loll around and make criminal gangs on the street.  (this does not address 'crime' in all of Ukraine, as I am not a reporter, but just report on what I see on the 'street'.

I intentionally divorce myself from Ukrainian politics and macro trends, as when I am in Ukraine, I am a guest, and have NO agenda other than to take good photos, and to write interesting comments underneath them.

The Ukrainians have their own government, it is THEIR government, it is THEIR system and I am not a reformer or an adherent of any particular 'system' or 'path' for them; they have national sovereignty and are in charge of their own futures, not me.

I am a sole photographer who documents 'street life' when I am in that country.  'Reformer' and 'photographer' are not rolls that easily mix.

As a result, I am the last person to query about 'Ukrainian politics' other than as may be reflected on the 'street'.  You can learn more than I know by reading the NY Times or other publications in the West when they write of Ukrainian politics (seldom) than I know.

I do know that no one seemed particularly alarmed that this man was carrying a rifle, which seemed in contrast to how his presence would have been greeted in NYC or London or even Paris and Tokyo.

Thank you for the nice comment.

john

John (Crosley)

Things have changed a lot in the United States. Here in Georgia, I don't think I have seen a gun rack in a pick up truck in over 20 years. People used to have fine glass fronted wood gun cabinets. Now they have big ugly steel gun safes. Older boys, if they were going hunting after school, would bring a gun to school for that purpose. The teacher would just tell them to put it in a corner until school was out.

There are plenty of escalators in NYC subways. New Yorkers, who have a reputation for rushing, seldom walk on them, either going up or down. They alternate standing on them, right side, left side, right side, etc. making it difficult for those in a hurry who do want to walk. That is unlike London where one sees "Stand on right; walk on left" signs. My usual joke when I lived in New York was, "During the last power outage, people were stranded on the escalators for hours".

You are right that things have changed in the United States in 20 years, and guns to school for hunting afterward surely is a thing of the past after what happened at that school in Columbine, Colorado.

However, the United States Supreme Court has recently for the first time interpreted the rights of the citizen to bear arms as being something that although not absolute under every circumstance is something that is allowed in public, regardless of contrary local laws, and it is now considered a 'fundamental right'.

The particulars have not yet been worked out, but the NY Times reports that people in Memphis, (I think it was Memphis/maybe Nashville) including merchants, have a continual problem with some gun freedom advocates walking around openly with holstered pistols, and not just rifles.

Rifles always were seen as a relatively 'safe' sort of gun because it is very difficult to conceal a rifle, and for the same reason shotguns, are pretty 'safe', unless they were 'sawed off' in which case they were concealable and ultra dangerous. 

A Double 0 buckshot load, in two shots from a double barreled shotgun could fell any man of any size and put two holes right through his chest; a pump action may be much more dangerous because of the ability to feed rounds continually, by pumping and keep firing.  Sawed off, such a weapon is formidable.

A rifle for hunting for those who prefer to hunt has no objection from me, but one of the first stories I ever wrote as a journalist about hunting was a death story.

Deer season had opened in the Nevada side of the Sierra above Reno, Nevada.  The son of Reno, Nevada's mayor, a boy named Bankofier, was out hunting on horse back waiting for the season to open at dawn, which was hours away.

Well before dawn in total darkness, another hunter from another party shot him dead.  'I mistook him for a deer' said the other hunter, and did not go to prison or get convicted, if I recall correctly.  It was a civil tort (negligence) and that was all.  The mayor's son was quite dead.

I've been shot, and in New Jersey. 

It hurts like hell and changed my entire life. 

A handgun had been concealed in a paper bag, so small another man lay on top of it when it was inadvertently left on a train seat and didn't even know he was laying (to sleep) atop someone else's concealed gun.

The other guy came back, got angry, got the gun (back) and shot the man trying to sleep AND ME, all with just one .38 caliber bullet. It was national news.  He later went back to shoot the man in the head, which he did, when he found out the man was not dead!

I got my ten minutes of fame the hard way.

The recent Supreme Court decision does leave way for the various states and subparts to regulate guns in some way, but it is not clear that they have too much room.  Absolute bans on guns or types of guns such as handguns now are pretty much history.  Guns for 'felons' may or may not be thrown out, maybe depending on the felony.

Felons used to be forbidden (and maybe still are) from holding cabaret licenses in NYC, and that was stupid if the felony was a simple felony, like cashing a bad check or something that didn't involve violence, and such laws now are open to challenge.

In I think it was Memphis, or elsewhere in Tennessee, gun rights advocates are wearing their holstered guns just about everywhere with the threat that if a merchant boycotts one, the groups of advocates all will boycott that business - the gun lobby is very, very strong in the Deep South, so the boycott is a powerful incentive to admit gun bearers.

The issue now is whether guns bearers can be banned from bars, according to the article. 

Since the Supreme Court decision is new, it seems that there will or are already NRA challenges to gun control laws of all sorts in almost every jurisdiction nationwide.

NYC's total ban on hand guns may be found unconstitutional and thrown out; same for I think, Chicago's.

If you haven't run across the ramifications of the Supreme Court decision, you will, I am sure, especially if you take a tour through the Deep South in a year or two, especially in small towns.

In Nevada occasionally with their big silver belt buckles a few also carried long ago, holstered fire arms . . . . and that RIGHT now is being exercised everywhere by ordinary people, and it may be a RIGHT, for ordinary citizens (not under a handicap such as a mental patient, a convicted felon, etc.).

The Supreme Court did leave the way open for regulations, but the regulations still must I think be safety related and not just total bans.

Concealed firearms may no longer be banned or severely restricted as they are under current laws, and limited or never issued permits for those things may be in the past, after new challenges.

A Metro or subway may indeed restrict or prevent firearms from their ways, under the Supreme Court's decision, but that cannot be guaranteed, as the decision has not been challenged and such things are not yet sorted out.

Guns for hunting seem fine for  me, and plinking tin cans -- possibly good sport, but for plinking my body, G*ddamn that hurt and crippled me for a long time, and set my life on a completely other course.

So, don't ask me about handgun control.

What you report from 'Georgia' may indeed be the norm presently in the Atlanta area and even under Georgia law, but I often am in the USA and I already have seen people walking around with guns openly, and they are virtually unchallengeable if they are not felons, mentally disabled or ill, etc.

And concealment now may be legal or restricting 'concealed weapons' permits to certain classes may no longer be possible.

The 'gun safe' laws may indeed be upheld, but I am not so sure . . . . . they seem vulnerable, especially if one wants to have a gun next to one's bed and lives in a very rural area where thieves are known to be about!

Gun rights advocates have a valid point, in the USA,  but in Canada where no such 'right' exists, it seems that they hardly have any firearm deaths; in the USA, they are legion.

I came very close to being a gun death statistic myself.

And before I went to Viet Nam.

In Ukraine, kids are sold gun replicas; if a kid nearing adulthood showed up with a gun replica (toy) in the USA, police in major cities would probably shoot to kill, and the  kid would end up getting drilled with lead 38 times before he had a chance to say 'I'm kid for God's sake!'

Ukraine is just different; people do have guns it appears - they sell them in stores and also replica machine guns, Sten guns, etc., but not working, so far as I can tell.

I am not sure about the status of an AK-47 for full auto, if one will go 'full automatic' and not just semi-automatic.

In any case, I am not stuck  in Ukraine; I just take photos a lot there, and keep up and SEE personally developments in the United States as I am in the US for sometimes very long periods.

I also listen frequently to USA radio and sometimes watch USA television, something I don't do when I'm in the USA -- especially the LA area, where the tv news is pure BS.

Watch Georgia law on 'gun control'! 

It's going to change! 

Guaranteed!.

Want to carry a concealed handgun?  You probably will soon be able to carry one, and so will that citizen who just cut you off on the freeway and is now stopped ready to give you a piece of his/her mind, or that person who cuts in front of you in the supermarket line or McDonald's to whom you are tempted to protest.

Guns are made to kill or threaten killing.

Proliferation of guns with citizens who are felony-free may mean that some of them can 'fight back', but imagine the fusillade of bullets from citizens after a man runs out of a store with a steak or ham.

Imagine you're in front of that store, completely innocent, but somewhere near where that man runs!

The Russians have a saying 'hasta rozhna', which literally means 'Here come the Russians' but in ordinary usage it means 'watch out' and you hear it at times.

Well, 'Hasta Rozhna' my fellow PN member, the gun advocates now have new ammunition, many are recognizing that many laws now are invalid , and you haven't seen nothin' yet.

Even now, Ukraine is vastly safer in its capitol and major cities than cities of comparable size in the USA -- people seldom take pot shots at each other and drive-bys are unheard of.

It's just different.

And safer!

As unlikely as that may sound.

(and my expertise and/or experience with the US situation is VERY recent; don't go figuring that I'm insulated from US experience, as a quick look through my photos will reveal).

Good and interesting comment; thanks for posting it.

john

John (Crosley)