The Irony of Gun Rights

No matter where you personally stand on the gun control issue (full disclosure: I am all for gun control) a recent tragedy in Pennsylvania is a stark example of everything, in my mind, that is wrong with allowing the public to have access to weapons.

A woman and mother of three who stirred up a lot of controversy earlier this year because she insisted on wearing a holstered gun in public, was fatally shot by her husband on Wednesday night. Her loaded pistol was apparently tucked in a nearby purse. After shooting his wife, the husband shot himself. Thankfully none of the children were injured but it unfortunately appears they were in the house and witnessed their mother's shootinng. I can only imagine the therapy they will need to move past this horrible event. You can read the full story here.

I have so many questions (aside from the obvious one: what was so wrong with their relationship that a husband decides to shoot and kill his wife and the mother of his children?). Why did this women insist on wearing a loaded, holstered weapen to her five-year old's soccer matches? Why did she then blame the town sherriff for the subsequent drop-off in her home daycare business after her arrest? Didn't she consider that the parents of the young children at her daycare might not be comfortable having their kids in a home that carried at least two loaded weapons? And lastly, when all is said and done, what good did her loaded gun really do her?

I've heard the oft quoted statement: guns don't kill, people do. But people with the intention to kill might not be as successful if they didn't have easy access to a loaded gun. And how sad that this gal who felt she was standing up for her personal right to bear arms is now dead as a result of said right. I am sure there exists plenty of data to support the idea that guns somehow protect people. But seems to me, there are just as many (if not more) innocent folks injured or killed in accidental or intentional gun firings than there are those who have been saved thanks to a loaded weapon.

Meanwhile, the lives of three very young children have been horribly and irrevocably changed thanks to a moment of intense emotions, poor judgement, and a loaded gun.