March 14, 2005
Carnage in Brookfield
The comments from fellow and sister parisioners seem typical of neighbors following inexplicable shooting sprees: "Struggling with unemployment; quiet; a loner but nice person...would never have suspected." In other words, a decent church-going guy by all accounts who snapped and killed eight people in less than a minute.
We can almost hear the NRA saying, "Guns don't kill people, people do." Well, guns are quick, deadly and do awful things. Can you imagine someone systematically stabbing eight people without being restrained? But in 30 seconds, people were too stunned to move. So maybe the NRA might change their message to "Guns don't kill people but they sure make it easier and faster."
Those pushing for a concealed weapons bill in the Lobbyists' Legislature might think about viewing the pictures of the crime scene and talking with the survivors before bringing the bill up for a vote. Placing a sign outside of churches or schools "No concealed weapons. Please." won't cut it.
Let's hope we can hit the pause button on the concealed weapons bill and take a hard look at the awful carnage in Brookfield caused, in part, by a 9 mm handgun. Place in our memory bank one survivor's memory: "It was pandemonium. I looked back and saw the gun. The gunshots kept exploding. A minute later, there was silence."
A minute later all the others could have been killed. A minute.
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