There has been a lot of coverage of the mass shooting in Ohio, where a young man went on a rampage and killed 5 others and himself. But I found another story— one that will probably not receive a lot of coverage outside of Minnesota—to be completely heartbreaking.
A four-year old boy, at a family gathering where people were target shooting, somehow got behind one of the targets. He was shot and killed. "Can you print that he was perfect?" asked his grieving father when reporters interviewed him.
It was an accident. Like thousands of other shooting accidents each year, it will never show up in crime statistics. But it is a sad illustration of the high risk, and high cost, of gun owning.
Both stories are tragedies. Both show once again how unsafe this society is, because of its obsession with guns. Perhaps for some, it is easier to write off the random mass shooting because it seems someone has just gone over the edge. But this simple accident in Minnesota brings to mind a question that I have never heard a good answer to. How can it be worth it, considering the risk, to own a gun?
Certainly it’s true that our children face more risk from other things, for example automobiles. But if we weigh risk and benefit, where is the benefit of owning a gun?
I have been reading in political web sites recently that Democratic politicians have begun to drop gun regulation as an issue. Strategists have come to the conclusion that an anti-gun stance simply is political poison in this country. It is another reminder that I live in a society that at times I can only describe as insane.
Ohio:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5041894,00.html
Minnesota:
http://wcco.com/localnews/local_story_151103328.html
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