Travel Warning: USA
The rate of firearm possession in the US is high. It’s legal in many states for US citizens to openly carry firearms in public.
Incidences of mass shootings occur, resulting most often in casualties. Although tourists are rarely involved, there is a risk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Familiarize yourself on how to respond to an active shooter situation.
If you have read my background or listened to my TEDx talk, I have many family members who live in the USA and I have lived in different parts of America.
Anecdotally, here are 4 personal stories of how we have not felt safe in the USA:
- I was living in working in Washington DC in 2002 and 2003. During that time, the “Beltway Shooters” were randomly shooting people all over the DC area. I was taking the bus from our apartment on Wisconsin Ave to the Canadian Embassy. At some point, we heard the shooters were targeting people waiting for buses so I would hide behind the bench or bus shelter while I was waiting. It was terrifying.
- Again, in DC, my wife was doing her Master’s Degree and she was walking home after class. On her walk, a man pulled out a weapon for no reason. She was able to run away and get away from him. She has no idea what would have happened had she not gotten away.
- In Albuquerque, New Mexico, I went to play squash. As I was returning from my squash match, I entered the hotel with my squash racquet sticking out of my backpack. The Security Guard at the hotel mistook my racquet for a weapon and tackled me in the lobby of the hotel.
- In 2012, my cousin lived her husband and 2 kids near Newtown, Connecticut. She was very close to the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, where 20 people were gunned down. She was traumatized from the incident and they moved away.
In my view, the culture of gun violence and gun ownership in the USA is out of control. I have little to no hope of any meaningful change within my lifetime. My friends in the USA who support the 2nd Amendment (right to bear arms) have little to no interest in the facts or solutions.
Many of my family members have almost been “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” I would take the Government of Canada’s travel advisory seriously. Please stay safe.
