I bicycled to work this morning, as usual, and heard a lot of sirens on the way. As I headed along the Waterfront, I watched police cars speed by.
This is Washington. I thought it was some kind of motorcade.
Then I got to work and saw on the Web that there was an “active shooting incident” at the Navy Yard. That’s a military installation about three blocks from Nationals Park. I live four blocks from Nationals Park in the other direction.
And at the end of the day, I see that a heavily armed psychopath went on a rampage and killed 12 people before the police killed him. Seven blocks from where I live.
Crazy people with guns are getting too close to where I live. I expect to see the usual pontificating about gun legislation and the back and forth with the NRA about the right to bear arms vs. the right to live without being shot.
But why bother?
A psychopath with a small arsenal walked into an elementary school and killed 20 first graders less than 10 months ago. Congress didn’t do a thing. Why should we expect anything more when a psychopath with a small arsenal walks into a military installation and kills 12 adults?
And while all this is happening, states are passing this kind of legislation:
Iowa is granting permits to acquire or carry guns in public to people who are legally or completely blind.
No one questions the legality of the permits. State law does not allow sheriffs to deny an Iowan the right to carry a weapon based on physical ability.
The quandary centers squarely on public safety. Advocates for the disabled and Iowa law enforcement officers disagree over whether it’s a good idea for visually disabled Iowans to have weapons.
Let me make this simple.
No. It’s a stupid idea to let blind people carry guns. Just like it’s going to be stupid to let another mass murder go by without taking any kind of action.
But we seem to relish in our right to be stupid. Don’t we?
Related articles
- Aaron Alexis ID’d as Navy Yard shooter: Portrait of alleged killer in DC rampage emerges (thegrio.com)
- 13 Killed in Navy Yard Shooting Spree (actionnewsnow.com)
- Feinstein Statement on Navy Yard Shooting (feinstein.senate.gov)
- Another massacre, another cry of despair (suntimes.com)
- Wow: CNN Anchor Can’t Remember any Gun Attacks on US Military Installations (pjmedia.com)
- Photos: Fatal Shooting At D.C. Navy Yard (wbur.org)
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