View From The Ditch bank

IN MY LAST POST: I mentioned that I had a different idea to post about, then Tuscon happened and then Brisbane happened. I posted some pictures My wife and I had taken in Brisbane a few years ago, but I posted the last one upside down. This blog has corrected that picture. As mentioned, the dark rectangle squares mark the height of previous floods, with the top most one being over 20 feet, if I remember correctly. Also, so far, the flood, as devastating as it has been and is, did not quite reach the height that had been feared, and is now starting to recede somewhat. Good for them. Many years of recovery ahead of them.
Now to Tucson; My opinion. That was also devastating. And as usual, when these things happen, blame starts to be placed somewhere. On Sarah Palin, on guns, on the system that let the shooter do what he did. On whatever pet peeve some one comes up with and can get attention paid to. So, here's my uneducated opinion. First, it was not Sarah Palin's fault. Sure, she has here faults, but then we all do. She is just more visible than the rest of us. And the system. Hindsight is always 2020 or better. Many people observed the deterioration of the shooter in the last few months. But they were snapshots of a larger picture, and only after the fact did all those snapshots get put together to show a larger picture. Probably even now, not a complete picture. And guns? Well, if guns kill people, then computers and pencils misspell words and cars drive drunk. Some one said that if all the guns in the world was put in a pile, they wouldn't shoot any one, until a person picked one up and pulled the trigger. And Sarah Palin? If it is her fault, where was she when John F. Kennedy was assassinated? Where was she when the two boys went on a shooting spree at Columbine? Where was she when President Reagan was shot? Where was she when all of the many shooting events of the last few years took place. And where were the guns when all those in ancient history were poisoned to death? or were killed with swords or spears or arrows. History, ancient and modern, religious and secular, is replete with mans inhumanity to man. And the many ways man has come up with to kill his fellow man. The saying that, If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns, is a very apt statement. Guns, or cars, or knives, don't kill people. People kill people. Constantly. And have been doing so since Adam and Eve left the garden, and will continue to do so, until Christ returns in Glory.
So where does the blame lie? With the shooter. Are there extenuating circumstances? Probably so. Are his parents to blame? Don't know. Is society to blame? Maybe so, in some degree. Again, Don't Know. Will it help for politicians to carry guns themselves? Probably not. Might even make them so nervous that they become paranoid and shoot an innocent someone just wanting to shake hands of something. Could the Arizona congresswoman have prevented the shooting if she had a gun in her purse, or in a holster. I think she would have been shot before she even recognized the threat. And I am sorry she was shot, along with the 19 other people. I am sorry that 6 people were killed. It brings a tear to the eye and a lump to the throat for the 9 year old girl. It is all so senseless.
This has been a long post that isn't any better than the talking heads on the TV, but it is my opinion. I don't think we should go off passing laws, regulating guns, and doing all the things that come out of situations like this. Lets put the blame on the shooter, and future shooters. Or stranglers. Or any other person that uses whatever method to cause pain and hurt to their fellow man. Let them be responsible and held accountable for their actions. And That Is The View from The Ditch bank