The one detective smiled at the other as he laid a gun on the table "How do you think this fits into our investigation?" he asked.
"Your gun?" Detective Oliver joked. "Let's see, you pull your gun out of your holster, you lay it on the table, and you ask me how it fits into the investigation?"
"No, not my gun," Detective Holmes replied. "The gun."
"Okay,you mean, his gun," Detective Oliver asserted. "You mean Thompson's gun."
"No, I mean thee gun," Holmes said.
Detective Oliver went quiet.
"I mean, the gun," Holmes repeated. "Oh, yes, I mean the gun. I mean that long piece of metal we call the gun. Rick, we've heard all our lives that guns don't kill, that people do. In our profession, we hear that every day. After a while, we start to believe it. No -- let me correct that -- we've believed it from the first time we heard it. We've never questioned it. 'Truth' from the mouth of the masses, and we've swallowed it whole"
Rick Oliver was just staring back at him, a little disbelieving.
"Rick," Detective Max Holmes said, "We are detectives." He paused, then went on, "As our job, we look for motive and we look to see just what brought the opportunity to commit the crime. That's our job -- to find those things out."
He paused, again. His partner remained silent.
"But, do we ever consider the gun? Of course not. Guns don't kill; People do. We can't consider the gun. It's off limits. Our training -- and I mean the training we receive from the public, not from police academy -- has already told us, the gun is innocent."
"So," Oliver suggested, "You're telling me you think the gun killed this guy? I've never seen a gun take itself up off the shelve, march over to a church and down the aisle, and kill someone. A person has got to do all the doing. The gun is just a tool."
Holmes smiled. "Okay, Mister Smart Guy, let's look at what happens in a case like this. Thompson buys the gun way back in '08. Nice gun -- a little piece of heaven for anyone who owns a gun. He told us he bought it for self protection, didn't he? He told us that if anyone broke into his home, he wanted to be able to protect himself. He spoke a lot about our Second Amendment rights.
"But, the gun just sits there. It just sits in his closet -- a fancy gun getting no use."
Detective Oliver was still staring, still a little disbelieving that Holmes was attacking the gun.
"Rick," Holmes said. "When people buy guns, they buy them for a purpose. Thompson had a use in mind when he bought that gun. I'm just suggesting that if buying a gun comes with a purpose, then you might be anxious for that time to come around, so you can use it like you planned. I'm saying, you might want to use it. Yes -- sure, sure, sure -- some people are going to be quite happy if the gun just sits there and is never used -- they'll be happy they don't have to use it. But, others? Some of them are going to long to use that gun. It's kind of like buying a ticket to a carnival that promises to come to town in the next few years, and then waiting year after year for the carnival to come and it never comes."
Detective Holmes paused, looking at Detective Oliver, searching for signs of how he was taking what he is saying. "You okay with what I'm saying?" he asked.
"You go on -- I'm listening," is all Detective Oliver said.
"Well," Holmes continued, "Thompson's gun just languishes in a closet -- purpose for buying it never comes. In the meantime, he runs for public office. Loses badly. And, life deals him a few other bad turns. Well, a little bitterness, a little hostility builds up in him. He's not feeling so friendly toward everybody these days. Got a little chip on his shoulder.
"And, that's where that gun just sitting there comes in. I know you believe guns are inanimate and that's the end of it, so I don't know that I can get you to understand that it is almost like that gun is speaking. It's almost like it's saying, 'If something is wrong, I'm here for you. If someone does you wrong, I'm here to give you vengeance. Vengeance is my specialty. I'm good at that. Injustice? Correcting that is what I'm all about.'
"So, Thompson is angry, and the gun is there to help him express that anger." Max Holmes paused, again; smiled again, then went on: "Rick, if you were building a house, you'd need tools to do it -- and, the right tools. And, the more fit for the job those tools were, the better the odds you'd go about building that house. If the tools made the job easy enough, you'd go about the task of building that house. But, if the tools didn't make the job easy enough, building that house would be too much of a task and never get done. There's a difference, for example, between a hand saw and a power saw, between a tack hammer and a large hammer.
"So, we speak of crimes of convenience. What about the gun? Does it make the crime of murder more convenient? Yes! No other weapon makes administering death so convenient. You don't need to go up and wrestle with the other guy. You can stand at a distance and kill him from afar. You don't need to use your physical strength to force the knife blade into his gut. Just pull the trigger, and the task it done. You don't need to get so squeamish about what you are doing. The splashes of his blood are not going to touch you. Everything is simple with a gun. Death made slick, easy and uncomplicated: That's what the gun is all about. It's push-button murder: Pull the trigger -- push the button -- and he's gone."
By now, officer Oliver was smiling back at officer Holmes, accepting what he was saying.
"So, motive and opportunity are elements of crime." Holmes was wrapping up what he was saying. "We buy guns for a purpose and that purpose can morph into motive for killing someone. Owning a gun can bring reason for using it -- not in every case, but in a lot.
"People say it isn't the gun. They say if the killer didn't have a gun, he'd just find another weapon. But, that's not always true. Guns make things easier, and things that are easier are more likely to happen. The gun is murder made easy.
"So, guns don't kill, people do? Yeah, I guess that's a fact enough. But, you can hide a lot of truth with a broad stroke of thought like that. You can cover your ears to all the rest of the truth with a statement like that. You can place your hands over your ears and just sit there repeating, 'Guns don't kill, guns don't kill, guns don't kill,' and block out a lot of truth.
"Rick, what I've said to you amounts to a little bit of sermonizing, and now, I'm really going to get religious and sermonize. If you are going to say, 'Guns don't kill, guns don't kill, guns don't kill,' don't let it be too much of a Bible to you. Somewhere in that book, there is the part about how Peter tried to defend Christ by taking a broad stroke with a sword and lopping off the ear of someone who came to take his life. Christ touched that ear, and healed it. Maybe its the same with what we have here. Maybe we need our ears restored.
"Oh, and just a final touch to what I've been saying. When Christ said he that takes up the sword, shall perish by the sword, who knows but what he wasn't referring to perishing spiritually. Who knows but what he wasn't saying that those who take up weapons as a way of defending and preserving their lives run the risk of losing their lives eternally by using those weapons wrongfully. The killer in our case, Thompson, bought the gun to protect himself -- he was wanting to 'live by the sword' -- but it only led him to committing a crime that could cost him his life, eternally. He ends up dying by the sword."
Max Holmes glanced at his watch. "Looks like it's quitting time," he said. "I've spent a lot of time doing my talking. Guess we better break for the home parts."
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