I know there’s a regular column at KOS about tragic fools playing with guns — but this one left me so speechless I had to share and I had to pose a question about how stories like this affect our feelings.
In this one idiot and girlfriend were taking selfies with a pistol that was repeatedly unloaded and reloaded during the day and eventually idiot shot himself in face with “unloaded” gun and then idiot died. (And apparently they were both sober.)
I know that whenever someone dies unnecessarily and well before his or her time — it is a tragedy. This is somebody’s brother, somebody’s son and — in this case — somebody’s boyfriend. Girlfriend — who was right there — will never be the same, and probably never be whole again.
It should be sad — but when I read about a death like this that was caused by a voluntary immersion into the peculiar American culture of gun worship… an immersion so deep that its participants think that basic gun safety rules don’t apply to them (never point unless you intend to shoot; always treat every weapon as if it is loaded)...
Here’s the point of this diary — when I read about a death like this I find it difficult to feel sad, and then I ask myself “What is the matter with me… someone just died!”
It’s hard for me to ignore my instant reaction — which is something like “YOU went there, moron, that’s what happens in a gun culture, and — as someone who was taking selfies with your gun — obviously you were a big fan of gun culture. You gun worshippers are responsible for a situation that kills hundreds of Americans every week. ”
Here’s my question — does anyone else struggle with this… react to shootings like this with instincts that leave you feeling “I should be better than this...”