Zone of Free Thought

I sometimes like to hang around Fox News websites and check out the silly things they manufacture outrage about. Ok, not really. I follow a link to a story there and can’t resist the urge to look at the comments.  Today it was a story about the T-shirts left on the chairs for the people who came to the tribute for the victims of the Arizona massacre. First of all,  many seem "disgusted" because they say the behavior was "outrageous" in the memorial. Except it wasn't a memorial, it was a tribute. Words have meanings. A tribute is different than a memorial. Then, there was a person who said they were disgusted by… they didn’t exactly say just what they were disgusted about but added something about we used to be a great country, which I guess means we aren’t anymore, which sounds less than patriotic to me. Personally, I can still make a case for American greatness, especially in the “compared to what” way of thinking.  Yes, what a great country it was; until

  An instant background check didn't stop this assassin, but I've read that a substantial number of people don't return to pick up a handgun after a five day waiting period. In Arizona there are almost no gun laws. Instant background checks, not the extensive ones, no safety training requirements, no restriction on the size of magazines, (the Glock 19 the assassin used reportedly had a 19 round clip and could have been a 33 round one) not even a prohibition of carrying a concealed weapon in a bar, government buildings or inside the state Capitol. In this case however, not having a training requirement may have worked out to the peoples advantage as he appears to have botched the loading of the second large clip of ammunition. How many more would he have killed? He had several clips. My humble opinion is buying a lethal weapon should be just a little harder than buying a six pack of beer. But, I don't expect Arizona to budge, I don't expect