He could has seen an member of al-Qaeda and tried to protect people. We don’t know what happened. We do know he was performing his civic duty and carrying a gun and we do know there are evil people out there from whom the rest of us need protection.

Mistakes can happen in the defense of freedom. We need to give this law-abiding, vigilant citizen the benefit of the doubt and commend him for his sacrifice. This country would be a safer place if more people carried guns.

But let’s take away the hammer or nail gun or staple gun and see how well that carpenter can do it!

Its funny how I know exactly what he’s talking about.

“OAK CREEK, Wis. — The suspect in the shooting rampage that left six people dead and three wounded at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday has been identified as Wade Michael Page, law enforcement officials announced on Monday.

Officials at the Southern Poverty Law Center said they had been tracking Mr. Page for about a decade because of his ties to the white supremacist movement and described him as a “a frustrated neo-Nazi who had been the leader of a racist white-power band.”

I think they’d find that people with guns kill people.

But of course now is not the time, in the midst of grieving over several slaughters, to discuss the issue. Too emotional. Should wait at least a week after the last multiple murder by gunfire.

My first thought when I saw the headline about the shooting was that some yahoo mistook their turbans as signifying that they’re Muslims…again, and that’s the shameful thing. Stupidity and ignorance piled atop bigotry, the whole steaming pile enabled by the “Rocky Racoon gun culture”. I reserved judgment, bearing in mind that the Sikhs are known for taking honor to extreme ends, but the only reports I’ve seen so far do label it “domestic terrorism”. I fear the worst.

“Rocky Racoon gun culture” is apt. For another musical take on it, check out Robert Earl Keen’s Whenever Kindness Fails.