I missed the last ten minutes of a TV show because a local news station cut in to report on a mall shooting in New Jersey.

It seems everyday some jackass picks up a gun and shoots up a place. I don’t have a lot of insight into why this might be happening or how we can put a stop to it. I’m not against the 2nd amendment, but I also don’t believe the right to bear arms necessarily gives blanket permission to own any gun you want. I like the idea that background checks might weed out some would-be gun owners that shouldn’t be gun owners, but I have no confidence that background checks would weed out all the right people. And I know gun enthusiasts/advocates shake in their boots when there are calls for weapons bans, but really…how in the world would all of the guns in this country be gathered up, even if they were made illegal? It’s just not practical when there are more guns than people and I can’t imagine that would ever happen.

I think we (I) are just going to have to accept this as a part of American life. Our nation was born of violence and we’ll die by it, I suspect. Live by the sword, die by the sword, right?