Just Another Day In America

Here's what you really need to know about the latest mass shooting, which occurred Monday in Washington, D.C. at the Navy Yard:

Thirteen people are dead including the alleged shooter, who police have identified as Aaron Alexis.  Media and police reports tell us that Alexis was allegedly having some kind of mental problem that no one took seriously.  They also tell us that Alexis allegedly bought his weapon in Virginia, whose gun laws are much less strict than in the District of Columbia.

Shootings like this one have become all too common in the past few years.  It's not like the assassinations of the 1960s, when everyone grieved over the man and what he represented.  It's ordinary people whose names we will never know, who were just living their lives until someone with a gun ended it for them.  And that someone is usually either dead or mentally incompetent to stand trial, denying us a clearer picture of why they did what they did.

In times like these, we've learned to expect less from our elected officials because groups like the National Rifle Association own them lock, stock and gun barrel.  Two sitting legislators in Colorado were defeated in a recall election because they dared to vote for gun reforms, in a state where high school students and moviegoers were murdered.  Not even the killing of elementary students in Connecticut was enough for Congress to pass meaningful gun legislation.  The Second Amendment conquers all.

So we lock down our buildings, public and private, employing armed guards and metal detectors to search us for weapons.  Others institute the "no-gun zone" in the hope that whoever brings one of those can read signs.  Starbucks now says that guns are neither welcome in their restaurants, nor are they banned.

We used to have mental institutions to warehouse the people who had conditions deemed threatening to the general public.  They were shut down because, thanks to modern medicine and those who thought they were doing the right thing, many of these cases can now be treated and lead normal lives.  What about those who couldn't be rehabilitated?  That's where prison comes in, used only as a last resort (unless you live in a state where the death penalty exists) after a crime had been committed.  We could bring back the mental institutions (or whatever they're called these days) if we really thought that public safety was being endangered.  But that ship has already sailed.

Unless we get serious about reforming existing gun laws and the people who shouldn't have access to them, expect more mass shootings such as the one at Washington's Navy Yard.  By then, it will no longer be breaking news.  It'll be just another day in America.