Guns Kill

Seattle is in the process of either exploding or imploding.  Over the span of 6 days, we have had 6 homicides and countless shootings, including someone shot in the leg while attending the Folk Life Festival (usually attending by aging hippies rather than gun toting types).  Today, three people (and maybe more) were gunned down at a coffee shop near the University of Washington and one more was gunned down at a parking lot near the hospital area of Seattle (known as Pill Hill to us locals).  The last victim, a woman, may have been trying to stop her Mercedes from being stolen, or may have resisted a car jacking, although we don't know the facts.

The first murder, on Thursday, is heartbreaking.  Justin Ferrari, a man who used to swim at the same pool I slog through my daily laps, was running an errand with his parents and two children.  He stopped at a stop light and was shot, apparently "in the way" of an argument.

So, here I go again.  The NRA likes to say that guns don't kill, people do.  In part, that is true.  Except, people use guns to kill.  And while I agree that outlawing guns is not going to solve this problem (plus, I have a soft spot for hunters), it seems we are again in need of a collective discussion about how our society uses guns.

I fly fish.  I roam the woods.  And frankly, I am less scared of the cougars, bears, and other varmints out there, than I am of all the other fly fishermen who carry hand guns.  I am amazed at how many people feel the need to pack a gun.  It's stunning to me.  So that, without even pausing to talk, some anal fly fisherman who resents my labs, could whip out his handgun, kill the dogs and more than likely kill me.

Overlay this prevalence of guns with a city that seems incapable of managing the most basic services, rather focusing on issues that keep vocal constituencies happy, and we have created a mess.

Tragic, unnecessary, horrific deaths and injuries.  Guns kill.  Guns kill.