Another Day In America. Another McMassacre.

Saddened? Yes. Very. Shocked? No. Not really.

I apologize in advance if this post strikes anyone as unfeeling or calloused. That isn't my intent. Please forgive me. The shooting/execution of so many little innocent girls in an Amish schoolhouse was the final straw. After that, and the lack of action that followed, I am no longer shocked by mass shootings committed by previously law abiding mentally ill individuals. If little Amish girls aren't safe from society's gun toting sickos, then of course students at Virgina Tech -and everywhere else- are subject to the same fate.

Are your kids safe at Charter Oak? Kellar? Mark Bills? Lindberg? Richwoods? I mention these schools because they strike me as socioeconomically similar to Columbine. No. Of course not. Our children are at risk at any American school, residence, or institution, public or private. Your spouse could be mowed down at his/her place of employment by numerous bitter, angry, present or former employees. I understand that Caterpillar has more than a few that qualify.

Our is a free and open society. Our society is fast paced. Our society is one with high expectations. Most Americans feel entitled to a certain standard of living (one that is much higher than 99% of the world's nations), along with good affordable health care, cheap gas, and a girlfriend. We are also wound tight but have yet to find a way to identify, educate, let alone treat those who can't keep up and deal with disappointment and envy. We have, however, found a way (and will continue to, dammit) to allow each and every last bitter-lonely-jealous-chip-on-the-shoulder-disaffected-violent-obsessed-may-or-may-not-be-hearing-voices American citizen/or anyone one with a green card to legally arm themselves to the teeth.

Considering America's absolute devotion to the right to bear arms regardless of the consequences or cost, it strikes me as weird that there isn't a single normal citizen -or five- with a legally obtained firearm at the ready to take one of these crazies out when they crack and decide to spray the world with bullets. Nope. Not in California, or Colorado, or Virgina. Remember Luby's Cafeteria shooting in 1991? In retrospect, it is astonishing that there wasn't one legally armed citizen in Killeen, Texas that could put down his/her Jello in order to return fire. Nope. Not one sane NRA card carrying gun toting member among the 24 dead.

The first mass shooting that I can personally recall was in 1984 at a McDonald's in San Diego/San Ysidro. Odd that we have had so many of these tragedies that no one even mentions any more. Since Monday's McMassacre, I've read that the Luby's tragedy was the worst shooting, but I thought the San Ysidro shooting had more fatalities. I've found conflicting reports/body totals on the web. Yup. McMassacres are so commonplace in this country that we can't keep a correct tally/record of which one deserves the title of most horrific.

These days a pissed off employee going on a shooting spree barely warrants a paragraph in the newspaper. We've had so many school shootings that no one feigns surprise when they hear of another one. In fact, we are to the point that we now congratulate ourselves that there are no whiny cries for gun control following a McMassacre.

Is there anything more pathetic than a society that routinely allows the slaughter of their young? Have no doubt. Shootings are routine. Proof positive? We all know it can happen again. Deep down, we all know it will. We simply pray it won't be at our kid's school, or at our workplace. Not at our shopping mall. Or post office. Or lawyer's office. Or restaurant. Even churches in America have been scarred by McMassacres. If this makes you want to stay home, reconsider. You are more likely to be shot by the nut you married within the pleasant Pottery Barned confines of your own home.

Please, God, don't let any of the numerous bitter and insane folk I cross paths with each and every day or those I happen to be related to have a gun. Or, at least, since it is likely that s/he will have access to a gun with rapid fire ability, please don't give them good aim. The only protection we can offer is to advise taking Jesus as your savior. Gosh, I sure hope Christianity got it right. At this rate, it is likely that many among us will need to collect on that eternal life clause long before we are old and gray.

Due to the frequency at which these shootings occur, now the only way to get our attention is with numerous fatalities. Running through an airport to by-pass security garners more attention than the average shooting. Oh, yes. There is most certainly such a thing as an "average" shooting. Unless it involves the Amish or perhaps a convent, most Americans will only recall those shootings where the dead and critically wounded number in the double digits, and only those that occur in the last decade.

Shut down an airport? There's an inconvenience for you. Want to get our attention? Do something that cancels flights and causes traffic jams. It really pisses me off when I'm late for my Pilate's class. Shootings? Well, like obesity and drunk driving, shootings are just another one of America's pesky flaws. It's a sad routine. We ain't perfect, but we are free (except when ducking gun fire).

32 dead at one of America's finer institutions of higher learning. Professors and students with a lot of hard work behind them and so many bright futures ahead of them gone in an instant. Yet, we continue to learn nothing.