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TV reporter and videographer killed on air in Virginia
Bring on the guns. And, by all means, let's all practice our quick draws - just like in the reruns of "Gunsmoke," "Rifleman" or "High Chaparral."
It was only a matter of time until journalists got pulled into the fray of senseless and deadly shootings at the hands of a mentally ill, emotionally troubled, disgruntled, perverted jihadist (pick your adjective or adjectives) shooter.
This time, television viewers in Virginia watched the latest tragedy live. A WDBJ crew was doing a piece on tourism. The reporter and cameraman were killed by a former colleague who had been fired by the station. A woman being interviewed was injured. The shooter drove away and later apparently shot himself as he was being pursued by police.
Another tragedy played out - this time on TV (and, yes, of course, on YouTube and Twitter and Facebook). But even more disconcerting than yet another nonsensical act of violence and madness was the almost universal instant reaction across the digital world.
"Journalists waste no time blaming guns and NRA for Va. shooting of reporters," was the RebootingLiberty.com headline on the conservative libertarian website. Other sites followed suit with similar titles.
However the headline read, it was right. And with good reason.
Beneath the RebootingLiberty headline, flowed tweet after tweet:
* "I'm sure U.S. pro-gun lobbyists will declare that all journalists should now be armed with guns. Tragic."
* "Horrifying. Another proud moment for the NRA "
* "This moment in horror brought to you today by the NRA."
* "Please don't suggest that journalists should carry guns now."
* "Open carryists: 'If the journalists had guns' Shooter got off 15 shots in seconds, w/out reloading. They were working, they had no chance"
* "It'll be fun to see which candidates suggest that journalists have guns."
* " Remember guns don't kill people. Americans kill people."
' "So now it's come to journalists getting shot down on live TV? Guns will be the death of this fine country."
* "Meanwhile, don't forget that it's mental illness that killed those journalists, not (as you might reasonably think) guns."
When will Americans finally get it?
As of Wednesday there have been 8,481 people killed by gun violence in the U.S. just this year. Another 17,290 people have been injured in gun violence this year. And there were 33,145 gun violence incidents - this year. That's all according to the Gun Violence Archive, an online archive of gun violence incidents collected from more than 1,200 media, government and commercial sources daily in an effort to provide near-real time data about the results of gun violence in this country.
In Chattanooga last month, a mass shooter sprayed bullets into two military facilities, killing five U.S. servicemen, and injuring one other as well as a police officer.
Last week, a 14-year-old was shot four times inside his home here during a drive-by shooting that reportedly targeted another juvenile visiting the home. The teen survived. A few days later, a 20-year-old was charged in the fatal shooting of another 20-year-old.
A few miles south of Chattanooga in Catoosa County, Ga., a 17-year-old playing in a bedroom of his Ringgold home with a gun he believed was not loaded accidentally shot and killed his 16-year-old stepbrother. No one will be charged, according to authorities.
According to factcheck.org, the United States has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world - by far. And it has the highest rate of homicides among advanced countries.
That's not to say that everyone who owns a gun is homicidal - far from it, thank goodness. But with gun laws in most states loosening all of the time as a result of the constant lobbying of National Rifle Association and U.S. gun makers, it is far too easy now for those who are homicidal or unstable to get guns and carry them - legally. In Tennessee, towns and municipalities no longer can even create and enforce gun-free zones in parks and public spaces (except in the halls of the State Capitol, of course).
This is not about the right to own guns. This is about violence and about those who shouldn't be allowed to carry or even own a gun because of mental and emotional instability.
No, it's not easy to know and control when someone is unstable. But if it were easy, we would already have fixed it.
In the meantime, it is imperative to recognize that it is America - among civilized countries - that largely has this problem.
Americans are 20 times as likely to die from gun violence as citizens of other developed countries.
And this is America.
What's wrong with this picture?