Tragedy in Kirkwood, MO: Maritz Loses Connie Karr

I was shocked and saddened to hear of the shootings in the City Council Chambers last night in Kirkwood, Missouri.  Kirkwood is the next town down from mine, a quiet suburban community with an active and vibrant political life.

Apparently a local small businessman Charles "Cookie" Thornton, had been wrestling publicly with the City Council after receiving numerous citations for keeping work vehicles and building supplies in his residential neighborhood home.  Feeling persecuted, Mr. Thornton had been frequently disruptive at City Council meetings, and arrested twice for his bad behavior.  Less than two weeks ago, Mr. Thornton lost his bid for permission to continue his tirades, when a Federal judge struck down his claim that his First Amendment rights were being infringed upon.

Throughout the evening last night, I watched the news constantly, as the local stations broke into network programming with updates and then finally took over the airwaves.  As of the time I switched off, I only had heard that seven people had been shot, and five were dead.  The only names released were those of the slain police officers.  I stayed glued to my set when one of the reporters mentioned Connie Karr, who is a media specialist with Maritz, where I work.

This morning, during the early newscasts I learned that Connie had been slain.  A politically active and vibrant person, Connie was starting her second term on the City Council, and had been talking about running for Mayor, when Mayor Swoboda, the current Mayor finishes his second and final term.  Connie was married and has a 15 year old daughter, another reason I am saddened by this turn of events -- I have a 15 year old son and can't imagine leaving him in this manner.

Today, at the office, the halls are filled with whispers.  We are all afraid of speaking too loudly and seeming inappropriate when a co-worker has died a tragic death.  The area where Connie worked is full of grief counselors, sympathetic arms and soaked tissues as her co-workers try desperately to make sense of the senseless.

This is just the latest in a string of senseless shootings, seemingly among the innocent.  The Lane Bryant store outside of Chicago experienced five murders last week or the week before.  Before that, another seemingly random shooting in a mall.  Before that another.  And another.

I'm not someone who typically has views on guns.  As a somewhat rational person, I've always believed that gun ownership is mostly innocuous -- millions of people have them in this country and there seems to be relatively few problems. 

But that's just not true.

Just as you wouldn't leave poison in reach of a baby, razor blades with someone who is suicidal or hand your car keys to a blind man, gun ownership is a prerequisite to gun abuse. 

Yes, I've read the Second Amendment, and I doubt the Founding Fathers intended us to all walk around packing pistols.  Their concerns were on ensuring that the People would be able to rise up and throw off the yoke of a dictatorial oppressor, or to defend themselves as a Militia from threats.

I need to ponder this for a while, but with the latest string of current events, I wonder whether we delude ourselves as a people, believing that making guns easy and accessible isn't just putting the tools of our own destruction within easy reach of those who wish us harm.