Shots Fired, Patrons Panic at San Antonio Theater

[thucythucy]

11. "Violence and rage" have always been present in our society.

Read about Memphis race riot of 1866, where the black community was burned to the ground by angry whites. Read about the multiple lynchings up until the 1960s. Read about the "Zoot Suit Riots" in LA in the 1940s. And crazed individuals have also been with us always, from the Boston Strangler to Ted Bundy to Charles Manson to Son of Sam...

What has changed is the massive proliferation of guns in our society, especially since the 1970s, so that the odds of any one crazed individual being armed to the teeth is now much higher.

I agree, we need to examine all aspects of this tragedy--as long as such calls for examining "the root causes" aren't an attempt to deflect us from passing meaningful gun control legislation in the very near term.