Don't Shoot The Messenger

I’m currently sitting in my little hotel room (“the cell”, I’ve begun calling it, although the Lovely Mrs. G. calls it “the box”) in La Vista, NE – about 5 miles SW of Westroads Mall in Omaha, where yesterday afternoon a 19 year old kid with a plethora of issues walked into the Van Maur department store and randomly started shooting people.

I’m sure you’ve heard the details on the news by now. 9 dead, several more wounded, no happy ending.

It’s an ugly situation all around here today. The local TV stations have talked about nothing else for the last 24 hours, replaying the same half dozen sound bites and survivor interviews over and over again. The phrases “deeply saddened” and “loved ones” are being tossed around so much that they’ve become clichés – you could probably start a drinking game based on every time some reporter on TV calls it a “harrowing experience”. People are really emotionally raw about the whole situation, with the most common response being “things like this aren’t supposed to happen in the Heartland.”

It’s a weird world – when you least expect it, crap like this happens. You never know when some wacko with a chip on his shoulder and his brain out of sorts is going to attempt to go out in a blaze of glory and/or instant fame.

Here’s what I think. (Brace yourselves, NRA members – I’m about to piss you off.) With the prevalence of guns (and the ease of getting them), it’s no wonder that things like this happen. The only surprise is that it doesn’t happen more often. The Unicameral of Nebraska last year passed a concealed weapons law. The police begged them not to. The sane people begged them not to. But they did anyway, thanks to successful lobbying from you-know-who. So any nutball with the proper forms and 3 days to stall can go out, buy a gun, load it up, and then hide it under their clothes. Bang, bang, gotcha by surprise. And then we all stand around and wonder WHY?

I’m not much of a fan of guns anymore. For hunting food? Sure. Used in warfare? You bet. Letting crazed, depressed, hell-bent on destruction trenchcoats have as many as they want, just because they can? Forget it.

There’s got to be a limit somewhere. I don’t know what it is – more background checks, a maximum number of guns anyone can own, more gun safety classes – something. Something that will keep Columbines and Virginia Techs and now Omahas from happening more often.

So there’s my rant for the day. I know, I know. Guns don’t kill people – idiots with guns kill people. But is it worth it? I bet I can tell you about nine families who will tell you no.