Another reason for gun control

 

As I post this, it's only a couple of days since the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine.  OBVIOUSLY, mass shootings are a reason for gun control. Especially a reason for assault weapons bans. They work. Though there have been mass stabbings -- and people have died -- it's nothing like what an assault rifle can do in a very short period of time. And they make places where people feel safe and should be safe:  like a bowling alley, a place of worship, a grocery store -- suddenly unsafe, and dangerous, and deadly.

So yes, ban assault weapons.  And also, end the "commonplaceness" of guns in our society. Because they are so common, events like the following can and do happen.

Taco Bell worker is left with 'life-threatening' injuries after being shot several times by customer who thought he'd been given the wrong amount of change

" 'Witness statements indicate that after ordering food, the suspect became aggressive in the drive-thru when he believed he had been given an incorrect amount of change,' said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Police identified the suspect as 68-year-old Doll McLendon and he has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury and discharging a weapon into occupied property."

As I've noted a few times before, having a gun with you (or available nearby) significantly raises the temptation to use it when one becomes angry, even when the circumstances don't warrant it. And this incident is yet another example of such a situation happening.  I don't know what happened to the Taco Bell employee (I searched but didn't find any updates), but I do know this 68-year-old man is probably going to jail over a very minor concern.  Not a great way to spend one's retirement.