Violence is violence

Once more anti-gun media works hard to make the words :gun" and "violence" synonymous.

Would this story get this attention if the tragic death of this young man had been by stabbing, choking, bludgeoning, and vehicular homicide?  The problem here is that people kill people and they do so with all manner of implements, many of which the vast majority of users handle without hurting anyone.

Such manipulation serves only to minimize the behavior that is the root of this problem.  this young man was tragically slain by violence between two gangs at a block party.  Gang warfare.

There were guns in the world when I was a teen.  I confess as to the fact that I, from time to time, carried them.  But we did not engage in shootouts, no one was killed or even shot.  So what has changed?  I could give a long list of politically unpopular ideas on what it is.  And it is the fact that they are politically unpopular that leads such media outlets to focus on the means as opposed to the meaning.

It is hard to speak truth, hard to teach people values and insist that they live by those values. In a world where all have won and must have prizes, where no one is evil they are just disadvantaged, where all approaches to life and values are relative, one is left only with trying to make misbehavior impossible, even if it means denying freedom to those responsible enough to live with it.

There was a time when killing was a moral failing, where we were all entrusted to be able to do the right thing and those who failed were dealt with accordingly. Now we blame the misbehavior on the means, excusing it as expected.  We no longer expect appropriate behavior and think we can only eliminate bad actions through limiting freedom.