This morning Our Fearless Leader wrote a solid and serious post about Ralph Yarl, and then looked back to a similar shooting in 1992. He offered some perspective that you can apply to my look at the current status of a growing list of tragedies.
Last week, in Kansas City, a Black teenager mistakenly knocked on the wrong door and the homeowner shot him for no logical reason.
On Saturday, in New York, a man shot and killed a woman who had mistakenly entered his driveway and had quickly turned around to leave.
On Tuesday, in Texas, a high school student mistakenly got into the wrong car at the grocery store that the team used as a carpool meeting point, and the driver came over to the car she was in and shot her and one of her teammates.
On Tuesday, in North Carolina, a man shot his 6 year old neighbor who came into his yard to retrieve the ball she had been playing with.
Are you getting the feeling these incidents actually happen all the time, but the media isn’t interested in covering them? Because I am.
Americans are angry and are looking for an excuse to kill people. Adrastos noted that people are afraid, and anger is a secondary emotion to things like fear.
And Americans own a lot of guns.
Fear, anger, and guns don’t mix. We have a serious problem that is only now coming to light.
Stay safe out there. Taylor can take it from here:
When the only tool you’re willing to use is a firearm, every problem looks like a target. (It used to be said of hammers and nails, but I’ve updated it to acknowledge the success of the firearm industry in making sure there’s a daily update to death by firearm.)