Not silent but deadly

With Mississippi sending out an SOS for a hospital ship and Louisiana re-directing ambulances to Texas (out of the frying pan...), it's easy to forget the other public health disaster, gun violence.  Let's check in with the Second Amendment sector.

Altamonte Springs, Florida:  a 21-year-old woman was on a Zoom work call when she was shot in the head and killed by her toddler.

Kenosha, Wisconsin:  a 19-year-old woman turned on the laser sight of her friend's gun and used it to torment the cat.  She shot her friend, a 21-year-old man, in the leg.  He was patched up and charged with violating a criminal bond by having the gun.  She was charged with negligent use of a weapon.

Chicago, Illinois:  Officer Ella French was killed and her partner wounded during a traffic stop.  The suspect, Emonte Morgan, was on parole despite a previous robbery and hit-and-run.  When Mayor Lori Lightfoot visited the hospital Chicago police ostentatiously turned their backs to her.  Nineteen people were shot on Wednesday and another eight Thursday, but these apparently were not the mayor's fault.

Washington, DC:  Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling was locked down after a report of a "black male with a medium build carrying a Gucci bag."  Gunfire has been reported.

Albuquerque, New Mexico:  as I write, parents are being asked to collect their children from Washington Middle School, where one person is in custody after a shooting.  "It appears students may be involved," said a spokesperson with impressive understatement.

Washington, DC:  a fourth police officer attacked by Trump rioters on January 6, Kyle deFreytag, died by suicide earlier this month.

Memphis, Tennessee:  Alvin Motley, Jr., was driving with his girlfriend and pulled into a Kroger to buy gas.  A security guard named Gregory Livingston objected to the volume of Motley's music.  As Motley approached him, a can of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other, Livingston, a former Mississippi cop, shot and killed him.  He is charged with second-degree murder.

All of this and more is tracked, in cold statistics, at gunviolencearchive.org.  At the rate we water the Tree of Liberty, I'm surprised it isn't a whole damn forest.