Fort Hood

Lots of talk going around the gun blogosphere about the events at Fort Hood down in Texas yesterday. We had all the makings of a sensational story: A career military man, angry about being deployed, takes out his frustrations in an orgy of violence against his fellow soldiers. We have a surprising development that US military bases are gun-free zones, where all weapons are stored under lock and key, including personally-owned firearms. We have the Major's muslim background adding fuel to the fire. He was also a graduate of Virginia Tech, site of the 2007 massacre that was the worst mass shooting in US history. And Fort Hood is near Killeen, TX, where George Hennard smashed his way into a Luby's Restaurant and killed 23 people before taking his own life.

You literally could not design a more perfect media storm.

The reactions are typical. Some folks call for a lifting of the ban on personal firearms on base, rightfully claiming that the "gun-free zone" does nothing other than provide a target-rich environment for a madman or terrorist. Others want to go the opposite direction, and ban all guns entirely and beef up security. President 0bama gave a speech on the shooting and started off with a "shout out" to Medal of Honor recipient Joe Medicine Crow. There's a little something to fuel everyone's hate this morning, from those who would use this to ban guns to those who will use any excuse to bash the President.

I can't help but think of the 13 men and women killed and the 30 people wounded. Please pray for the dead and injured, that they may find peace in this terrible time.

That is all.