I cannot comprehend what it must be like for law enforcement to hear those words. Especially today, in the aftermath of the NIU slayings, the Lane Bryant/Tinley Park slayings, the Kirkwood City Council slayings, etc. etc.

There has been too much blood shed. And I think it has something to do with us.

Ordinarily, I am not one for trashing the 2nd Amendment. I do not think it would be prudent to do so. I am convinced that the problem is not the prevelance of guns, the easy availability of guns, or anything like that. The problem is that, for some goddamn reason, we are too willing to use guns on each other. We are entirely too ready to shoot each other. And this should worry us all.

Yes, I get what Michael Moore was saying in Bowling for Columbine. You may dislike Michael Moore, but don’t dislike him until you’ve actually watched this film. Citizens in other industrialized countries have guns. People around the world listen to music with very disturbing lyrics, enjoy very violent video games, live in poverty, and sex, yes, they have sex.

But they’re not shooting or killing each other at nearly the rate we are.

So what the hell is wrong with us?

Why can we not handle our guns? Why do we have to shoot each other? Why do we have to kill at such an alarming rate per capita compared to people in other industrialized countries?  Why is the United States of America the least safe place to be on Earth outside of a war zone?

Ordinarily, I’m not for gun control. Guns are not the problem, I’m convinced. People in the United States using guns at the rate we do is the problem. And that’s the problem we have to confront.

I don’t have the answer.

I just know that I knew one of the Tinley Park Five, and her loss hurts me deeply.

We have a problem, and we must face that problem honestly.

Why do we shoot so many people in this country?