Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Again and Again and Again...

Well, we've had another mass shooting in the Pittsburgh area, this time by a disgruntled computer programmer who hated women.

Again. Just a few months after three police officers were killed by another wack job in Pittsburgh proper.

Am I the only one who finds this a grotesque reflection on the state of our society, and above all on our government's irrational unwillingness to engage in gun control? No doubt within a few days, if not already, we will hear the gun nuts and the NRA trying to smooth this latest bloodbath over, saying it's not typical of gun owners, and the Second Amendment is more important than a few deaths. (Sure, they don't come out and say that, but that's what their general attitude is.)

What really ticks me off is that the shooter, George Sodini, was able to purchase his gun legally. If you read the online diary he kept, posted at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website, it becomes quite obvious that Sodini was mentally ill. Even if you didn't see his website, his neighbors observed that he was behaving oddly, particularly in the months leading up to the shooting. Shouldn't the gun dealer, noticing a rather odd man trying to purchase a gun, have refused to sell, or at least investigated him a bit?

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