The Crossbow Incident

Newspaper headlines. Were these tweets before we tweeted? "Man shot with crossbow at Downtown Eastside street market." Or is the tweet the deck, as it is called in the trade? "The man was seriously injured and had to be rushed to the hospital." More recently, the accompanying video.

Thus primed, I clicked on the video. But rather than something out of Game of Thrones -- a large wooden crossbow discharging an arrow from one side of the street to the other -- this weirdly steampunk crossbow pistol shot on "film" so murky it's hard to tell if it is real or if it was put together by the Vancouver Police Union, shortly before Saturday's municipal election.

And yes, the camera that caught this incident. Whose camera? The building owner's? Does the City own the building? CCTV footage isn't always credited in our news stories -- the lack of which suggests something universal, belonging only to God. God's eye. The omnipotent eye.

So what are we to conclude? That 100 more cops will keep incidents like this from happening? Is the street market to blame? Law enforcement might argue that street markets create the conditions for dangerous behaviours, and should be closed. Marxists might argue the same: that competition brings about anxieties that result in armed conflicts, wars. Should all vendors be armed then? If this were the States, the NRA would say, Yes -- in fairness.