It’s a creepy world out there when one can’t go to a theater to see a movie without getting shot to death. And that is what happened in Lafayette last week.
Our Cajun paradise in southern Louisiana is one of the greatest cities on the planet.
Almost everyone there is friendly to one another. They act as though they know the strangers they see on the streets and automatically register pleasant smiles as they pass by.
How could anyone go to a city like that and start firing shots at people who are nice and having a good time?
The shooter, John Russell Houser, had gone to Lafayette from his home in Alabama only days before and was staying at a motel. He ended his stay by killing two women and injuring nine others, none of whom he knew, before turning the gun on himself and ending his own life.
Apparently, Houser had little motive for the shootings except to upset the happiness he found in Lafayette. And it would take an insane mind to do that.
Which brings to the forefront the subject of gun control, which should include restrictions on mentally ill people. Letting them bear weapons is a threat to the public.
We need to come up with laws and enforcements in the future that can protect innocent people from the danger of being injured or killed by those people who are mentally unstable in addition to those with evil intent. How to do this would take a deep study and effective legislation that would require some sort of effective control placed on the ownership of guns.
After all, when a person gets old enough to drive, he or she must undergo a driving test to determine if they are capable of driving safely. Likewise, when a person gets to the age where, if he or she is in his right mind, this person can handle a gun safely and can prove he has no evil intent that would lead to misusing a gun that could endanger innocent people, then he or she would be entitled to have a license to own and use a gun.
We do not want a law that would deprive anyone of the right to own and operate a gun. Such possession is necessary in many instances for the public’s safety.
But we should want laws that limit gun access to people who are sane of mind and have the proper judgment to use a gun only when it will provide some beneficial use. This will make this world a safer place in which to live.
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