There is a tragic story linked in Joe Nocera’s Gun Report today. WTOP in Maryland reports that an off-duty police officer shot and killed his son as the son was stabbing his mother, the officer's wife, with a sharp object. The mother also died. The reason and circumstances are not yet reported.
I often argue against those who say that if we oppose guns, we must oppose knives and other sharp objects. And I can be quite vehement in maintaining that there is an important difference. This incident has made clear to me that it’s the death and emotional pain and loss of loved persons that I hate. It’s not guns themselves, it’s what happens with them. Here the instrument of the root of this tragedy was not the gun but the sharp object, whatever it was. The man with the gun was trying to save the situation.
But, the gun failed and both the mother and son were lost.
My heart is with that officer.