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Editorial
Holidays too often result in violence
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The holidays are a great time of the year, but too many times they are marred by violence.
A scan of the news indicates this year included some especially tragic cases.
In Oklahoma, a teenage widow -- her 58-year-old husband had just died of lung cancer -- shot and killed an intruder who took half an hour to break into the home where she was caring for her 3-month-old son. The intruder, 24, broke in with a large hunting knife, perhaps looking for prescription drugs left behind by the cancer patient.
Because their actions resulted in a death, the 24-year-old intruder's 29-year-old companion was charged with murder; the young widow wasn't charged.
In Texas, a police shot and killed an eighth grader who had just punched another student for no apparent reason, and pointed a pistol at responding officers. The pistol turned out to be a pellet gun.
In San Diego, two elite Navy fighter pilots, a sister of one of the pilots and a man they had just met at a nightclub are dead in an apparent murder-suicide. One of the pilots apparently shot the others before killing himself.
Gun opponents and advocates will read what they want into the fact that a record 1.5 million background checks for gun purchases were conducted in December, 500,000 of them in the six days before Christmas, and 102,222 on Dec. 23 alone.
Some say the guns are being purchased because people fear for their personal safety, and tight budgets are forcing law enforcement agencies to cut staff.
Others say people are just hoarding guns because of fears the administration will pass new restrictive legislation.
Both sides should be able to agree, however, that guns and poor judgment, whether caused by drugs, alcohol or mental instability, are a bad combination.