Multiple deaths in Alabama

Sigh. Here we go again.

One minute I'm watching an old HBO video of Robin Williams, live in concert. Next thing I know I'm watching Anderson Cooper on CNN delivering breaking news out of a small town in Alabama. Ten dead. Lone gunman (emphasis on man). Possibly despondent about losing his job. Random killings or premeditated?

This morning's newspaper, behind the news cycle, says nine died. The latest update on the internet says eleven.

Here's a link to the BBC's story, which at the time said ten were dead. No matter the number or the town or state, the same thing comes to mind.

How many times have we heard or seen this story? How many times will we hear or see it again? I'm convinced it's going to go on forever. Second Amendment fanatics wield so much political power in this country, it's shameful. The First Amendment right of free speech is one thing -- nobody likes to read or hear things they strongly disagree with. But that's the price -- or privilege -- of living in a democracy. It's what makes us different from a totalitarian nation, where the ruling regime controls the press and cracks down on those who deviate from the party line.

The right to bear arms? That's another matter. We're so fascinated by guns and the gun culture and all the macho acts and attitudes that go along with it, that we're steeped in violence wherever you look. Movies, TV shows -- they're all about fake, but glorified, violence. Everyday speech -- "blow you away," "shoot you down," "gunning for him" -- is permeated with gun references.

If it were me, I'd round up all the personal firearms and melt 'em down in one big pile. Of course, that would never happen. Gun shows are so voluminous and gun sales so easy that it's no wonder this tape keeps replaying. Alabama today. Oklahoma (or pick a state) tomorrow? Hell, we've seen it in Oregon and just about everywhere else.

The killer's motive may change -- revenge for a failed romance, resentment of an employer, retaliation for a perceived insult, lashing out at feelings of inadequacy -- but access to a gun is what doesn't change.

I'm fed up -- and fed up with being utterly powerless. But I'm also resigned because I know nothing's going to change in the United States of Gunmerica.

Recent U.S. shootings
Dec 2008: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus kills nine people and himself on Christmas Eve in LA

Sept 2008: Six people die in a series of shootings in the north-west of Washington state

June 2008: A worker at a plastics plant in Kentucky kills five people and wounds one other before killing himself

Feb 2008: Five people die and 18 are wounded after a man opens fire at Northern Illinois University

Dec 2007: A gunman kills eight people and wounds five at a shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska, before killing himself

Apr 2007: 32 people and the gunman die at the Virginia Tech campus