A Violent Society

I am always struck by the certainty that shooters have that they are justified when they shoot someone else.  In this shooting, the person is trying to claim that his gun went off accidentally.  There appears to have been an argument, there appears no justification, no reasonable or appropriate explanation for this man to be carrying a gun or have taken the gun out of the holster other than an intentional shooting.

This is no different an apparent crime than the violence practiced by anti-abortionists who take up guns or other weapons to force their beliefs on others where society has no consensus on their point of view.  They believe, and they feel it is their right, including their 2nd amendment right, to act this way with weapons.

They are wrong.  That people can believe they are right while being so very wrong is just one reason why we should not make it easier to legally shoot another person.  The desire to do so seems consistently to come from the right, no matter how they try to spin it.  It makes violence more acceptable, and it is wrong.

People here ask us to trust that others will carry and use guns only in appropriate ways, and that therefore we should allow, and even be comfortable, with a society in which weapons are common for purposes of shooting other human beings.

I would argue that any society where weapons are common other than for a clearer necessity of shooting something other than human beings is not civilized.

This was not a hunting accident, this was not a suicide gone wrong. This was not a home invasion where a homeowner shot an armed intruder who was threatening him.  This was the shooting of an unarmed woman in the home of a family member.  I see no indication that this was an illegally obtained weapon or that this man was a criminal engaged in theft, rape, kidnapping, the drug trade or anything similar.  This was not an incident in a war zone.

We choose the kind of society we live in; we should choose not to be a violent society by not approving of weapons and violence.

From the Mpls. STrib:

Minn. man accused of killing stepdaughter in Michigan over dispute she wasn't following Islam

• Article by: Associated Press

WARREN, Mich. - A Minnesota man is accused of killing his 20-year-old stepdaughter in Michigan because she left home and wasn't following Islam, police said Tuesday.
Rahim Alfetlawi, 45, was being held without bond Tuesday in the Macomb County Jail after being charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jessica Mokdad on Saturday at her grandmother's home in the Detroit suburb of Warren.
Alfetlawi was arraigned Monday, and a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. He awaits a May 12 preliminary examination. Alfetlawi requested a court-appointed lawyer. A number listed for the Coon Rapids man in Minnesota wasn't in service.
Warren Police Detective Lt. Michael Torey said Alfetlawi went to police in neighboring Center Line to report the shooting. Torey said Alfetlawi told police the gun discharged accidentally when he pulled it out, but police believe he intentionally shot Mokdad in the head.
Torey said Mokdad had left her mother and stepfather to live with her father near Flint in Grand Blanc because she did not like their rules.
"He's a strict Muslim, she was more Americanized," Torey said.
Authorities say Alfetlawi told them he came to Michigan to find and confront Mokdad's father. Torey said Alfetlawi asked Mokdad about where her father was and an argument ensued.