I want to shoo...shoo...oo...ooo...ooo...ooot the whole...day...down.

I've been thinking a lot about guns. The most recent shooting of nine innocent people really shook me up and made me incredibly angry. I keep feeling that we're on the verge of such despair here in this country and that's not how I want to feel about the US. We can do better than that.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims. I can't imagine the fear and terror and loss and sorrow they must feel. I am awed by their forgiveness of the shooter. I hope he understands the enormity of that gesture in the face of the hatred he has in his heart. I don't know that, if I was in their shoes, I would have been able to do the same.

I get so frustrated about the endless yammering debates about gun rights and gun laws that always, always, ALWAYS follows these incidents. I cannot understand anymore how anyone can be so shortsighted that they can still cling to their "right to bear arms" in the wake of yet another tragedy like Charleston. Men, women and children are dying and yet they hold onto their rhetoric and cite their "god given" rights to defend what's theirs without so much thinking that they have never, ever had to once even use that right to do so. They are so afraid that someone might take that hand gun away they aren't even willing to consider there might be a better way to own a handgun that might make it safer for everyone. In other countries, handguns not only have to be registered but inspected annually and law enforcement has to approve of where it is kept locked in the owners home. Before it can even be purchased in some countries there are stricter registration rules, not just a waiting period, but an actual mental health assessment to determine if the person is aware and responsible enough to own a gun. In other countries, hunters store their rifles out of their homes and register them with local authorities. There are ways to do this and, yes, I know, criminals will still have guns. But, the people doing these mass shooting are not the "criminals" that everyone is trying to protect themselves against. They are people we work with, go to school with, see on the street, and live next door to. People who, when the deed is done, we hear other say, "I never knew him to be like that" or "He was always so quiet". They don't rob banks or jack cars. They are simply among us. And armed.

The time for yakking is over and too many people have died. I'd prefer it if all non-law enforcement could not own a gun by law. But I'd settle for some sensible compromise that just might make an impact and lessen the death toll.