My heart sunk when my daughter phoned me with the news of what had just happened. Another fanatic unloads his guns into a crowd of innocent bystanders and severely wounds his intended victim. Mine and my familys prayers to all the people and families affected. What makes this frustrating is that it was not explainable or clear what was in this insane idiots mind when he pulled the trigger but, let’s make this perfectly clear people: Jared Loughner was not representing any political party, was not a member of the Black Panthers, Al Quida, Al Roker, the Ku Klux Kan, the Democrat Party, the Republican Party or the Tea Party. He was not ordered or influenced by Sarah Palin to kill people and yes, the deranged idiot used a gun which he should have not possessed. Keep in mind that he could have used a car, bombs made of household products or fertilizer, knives or a crossbow. What he used to kill people is not the main focus here. The main issue should be about how people can display a potential of violence and anti social behavior without anybody doing anything about it until it is too late. What is frustrating about this guy is that there is nobody to blame but his parents for not coming forward about his problems and others who knew about him and did nothing. The problem with gun control is a “catch 22” because most sensible gun owners know that not all governments operate in the best interests of the citizens and gun control has been a top priority of the most notorious despots and dictators in history. Gun control in itself is unrealistic and would never work because there are so many guns in this country, it would just create a market in black market weapons and make a whole new group of criminals rich. A better option would be a well thought out and fair periodic national mental health screening test, perhaps tied to drivers’ licensing should be required for all people over 16 years of age in the territorial USA, citizen or not and a public database established to screen out those who have dangerous and violent tendencies. This way a gun dealer would know right away who he is and could refuse to sell a gun to him on that basis alone. Remember, every act to protect citizens of this country from the nutcases ends up restricting the freedom of all of the people. Look at the airport screening since the 911 attack and a host of other intrusive but necessary government actions. You cannot stop the wolves from attacking the sheep unless you single out the wolves and stop them because they are wolves and not sheep.
