The only thing worse than the shooting itself.

My brother (who has a concealed weapons permit) posted to Facebook this morning about how it's sad that at least one person didn't fire back.

How, exactly, would firing back in a dark theater full of tear gas, screaming, and running people do anything other than kill more bystanders? But he can't see the logic.

What Froggy said.

I've gotten to the point where I just can't read the details of these news stories. They just make me feel that there is something deeply wrong in this country and it's getting worse.

I am off OS for the summer but I had to post today like you did.
NO one wins.. no one.
HUGGGGGGGGGG

As I have stated on Deborah's post,there is something terribly wrong in our modern world.
Cranky and Linda,I am with you.
Sweetfeet,I don't know what else to say except SAD!!!
~r~

I guess there is a little bit of Darwinian logic in that. Like the guy who left a loaded gun where his three year old could get it and who then shot him to death with it. "When will it ever end?" as the old folk song says.R

I'm still mid-process for my upcoming moving date, but felt compelled to post today.
I could not agree with you or Froggy more.
rated

It's illogical to think more guns, or more police, or more prisons are the solution. So far that's been completely ineffective. No one ever offers helping people who need mental health care as a solution. Instead we stigmatize them, or make them feel bad about it, or tell them to shut up and get over it. That's fine for everyone but the sufferer, until one who is homicidal, instead of suicidal, can no longer get over it. Then everyone has to get over what they couldn't handle anymore.

If people don't get their needs met, be it mental health care, job, housing, food, whatever, the results can be unpredictable and horrific. Indifference to all kinds of misery is bringing us to our knees. Sad times indeed.

Over each of two weekends this summer, more than 40 boys, girls, and women, mostly, have been shot in Chicago. In each case, about ten of them died.

One of these weekends was in the middle of March. Forty-six were shot then. However, the entire nation seemed enthralled by only one shooting at the time, the one associated with Trayvon Martin; and thereby was able to ignore, to a large degree, what was happening on Lake Erie.

While some were shot in Chicago with ARs, the vast majority were assaulted by hand guns. Mostly these shootings occurred on Chicago’s streets, not in Chicago homes.

They were not, for the most part, intra-family squabbles. Instead, they were inter-family squabbles in the sense that many were apparently motivated by drug selling disputes, gang rivalries, and perceived disrespect.

Yet, not much is written, or said, about this on-going fire fight in Chicago. True, many perpetrators are involved there, not just one. True, in 94% of these cases both the perpetrators and the victims are non-white. True, this has become so common in Chicago that it has nearly ceased being news, unless, of course, the weekend victim count exceeds 40.

Chicago is Obama’s hometown. When did he last announce that flags should be flown at half-staff, or his campaign would be suspended, or a moment of silence would be observed, or he would be abruptly returning to the White House for a loss of life that regularly approaches the carnage in Aurora?

Frankly, I can’t grasp the intellect of a nation that accepts as commonplace what happens often in Chicago only to chat endlessly about a ‘white’ killing a black in Florida or one nut case inside a movie theater in Colorado. In my view, this would be the nation stupid enough to vote for a president based upon his skin color.

Further, it’s the regularity of what happens in Chicago that points to the solution of the problem. Only the simple minded would believe that some sort of weapons ban would put a stop to all of this.

It will take a generation, at least, to reduce, significantly, what happens with weapons in places like Chicago. Gerald seems to understand what must be done.

Presuming success on this front, then, we will be left with the much reduced problem of only having to deal with the insane that happen to possess weapons. They will always be with us.

Uncle Chris - Believe me, I don't think that what occurs in Chicago (or any other city) should be considered commonplace. I know it's not just about the guns. Even this situation isn't just about the guns. I was offended by commenters on the internet who seem to think that someone else in that theatre with a gun might have made a difference. I would like ALL the shooting to stop.

Sweet,

My belief is that you and Gerald 'get' it. Please, go out into the masses and spread the word.

Short and sweet and complete. Excellent point. The "everyone should carry a weapon" crowd don't even think about what they are advocating, mass slaughter of an even grander scale. R