I thought I'd found a life to fit my style.

 As we all know by now, there's been another mass shooting. I reported yesterday that it took place in Boulder, Colorado, and at the time we only knew of six victims. Four more have been reported, bringing the total up to ten, including a cop. The rest were people at a grocery store, either trying to make their paycheck or shopping or just getting lunch. Just folks being folks when some dickhead decided he had the right to chose who lived and who died.

 I'll go into more detail in tomorrow's news about the particulars. In a nutshell, we know all the names of the victims as well as the shooter, who was taken into custody. He was injured in the leg and has been charged with ten counts of first-degree murder. The shooter in question has an Arab-sounding name but was born and raised in Colorado. Either way, it doesn't appear to be a matter of race or even political ideology that was at the root of this shooting. According to his siblings, he had "mental problems" and suffered from delusions of persecution, so this is the first time in a long time that particular well-worn excuse might fit.

 In any event, the facts need a little more time to marinate and I'll most likely look into it for tomorrow's News. One thing that struck me was the flag outside the White House had been lowered for last week's mass shooting up until early Monday. It was raised back up and stayed up for 10 whole hours. Ain't that a helluva note.

 Another interesting aspect of this case is the paucity of news-worthy mass shootings - and we all know there's a difference between what happened in Colorado and what happens between friends and families all the time - during the last year. That's been, rightly or wrongly, attributed to the COVID pandemic making people spend more time indoors and away from each other. Another helluva note there, if that's what "getting back to normal" means.

 Naturally, this has reignited the whole "do we have too many guns, not enough, too much access, not enough freedom, etc." argument we have every time this happens. It's almost as predictable as, well, senseless mass shootings. I know I've said it here before, but I don't see how that argument wasn't lost when that kid shot up 20 toddlers with a high-powered rifle while they were at school. We spent more time arguing whether or not it was a "false flag" designed to confiscate guns. People who are considered worth paying attention to by a sizable portion of the population actually claimed that.

 Of course, the gun nuts are wetting themselves and are sure this is the excuse Comrade Biden will use to confiscate every white person's guns and give them all to minorities, or whatever the hell they fret over. Personally, I doubt anything will happen, though, nothing significant. Maybe a tightening of background check laws, as this guy had enough black marks on his books to at least make the Powers That Be wary of letting him have a high-powered semi-automatic killing device. Still, I wouldn't hold my breath.

 This is the "new normal" and kids today will never know what it's like to have a school shooting be something that stops a country in its tracks. They'll never know what it's like to go to the grocery store or a movie or a country music festival and not wonder, even if in the back of their mind, if some jackass won't decide it's their time to die because he's not getting laid, doesn't like Mexicans, or just feels like doing it.

 Look, for what it's worth, I don't give a shit about the Second Amendment. It's defined these days - and only since the early Aughts - as an individual right to bear arms rather than a group right, and I think we've all seen just how useless that whole "well-regulated militia" is as a concept. There's an argument going on in conservative circles that it's a strong right than voting because they're pretty down with authoritarianism and think way too many of the wrong sort are allowed to vote, anyway.

 Fact is, your rights last only as long and go as far as the Powers That Be let them. If they wanted to take away our guns or our votes, the fight wouldn't last long and plenty of us would be fine with it, regardless. As a whole, I don't give a damn about gun ownership. I own guns, maybe a dozen shotguns and rifles used for hunting in a gun safe in my basement plus a loaded 12-gauge over my front door.

 I grew up around guns, for hunting and enjoyment. My cousin's oldest boy puts guns together from kits and wants to run some sort of business geared to that. I got family who often goes out with a sidearm, for whatever reason, and "family" includes the folks who make up my little rural community. I trust them, mainly because I know they know what they're doing with guns. They know how to store them and maintain them and, most importantly, how dangerous they and what they're made for. Killing stuff. Everything a gun has a use for revolves around how well it ends a life, and that is it.

 I know people in other towns I've lived, from Athens to New Orleans, who dig on guns and I know they know what they're doing just as well. So, them I trust, too. The rest of y'all? Hell, no. That ship has sailed, son, and the benefit of the doubt is non-existent. I see someone packing, I am moving the other way as quickly as possible, especially those goobers who must have a rifle slung across their backs to make a Wal-Mart run.

 And if this hurts your feelings, tough. If you're going to fight any and all gun legislation, clean up your own backyard first and quit expecting me to just assume you're a "good guy with a gun." Most of these mass shootings were committed by people who didn't break a single law until they made their first kill, and I see no point in running the risk just to keep your delusions of security.

 That's just how it is.