Jerry Davich

Metro columnist Jerry Davich

The police officer held an AR-style rifle as he stood against a streetlight pole on the busy sidewalk. He quietly watched people walk past him during Saturday's heavily crowded Popcorn Fest in downtown Valparaiso.

The familiar image these days caught my attention. I stood behind him for a few minutes to see if other people noticed or cared. Or if they were oblivious to such sights in our troubled country of mass shootings and killings. Not many people gave the officer a second look while I was there. I’m sure some of them surely noticed.

This the norm in America, 2025, whether we like it or not.

As I took a photo of that scenario for this column, I flashed back to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City. I drove to the Ground

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