'A pretty nice neighborhood'

Sometimes -- pretty often, in fact -- an event on the ground exposes all the gun nut arguments for the paranoid nonsense that they are, but you will have to go far to find a better example than this. The story does not say, but the accompanying photos strongly suggest that it was a racial murder, although that is just the cherry on top. Being shot for going into your own shed on your own lot seems, well, maybe guns don't kill people, only people kill people, but this particular person would have had a hard time offing two brothers from 50 yards away using the destructive implements that the gun nuts always trot out as exactly equivalent to a rifle with a telescopic sight, like automobiles, steak knives or baseball bats. 50 yards is, of course, easily visualizable on the Tuesday before the Super Bowl -- it's from the goal line to midfield. Even the Manning brothers would have some difficulty throwing a football so far. A neighbor told a teevee reporter that it had always seemed like 'a pretty nice neighborhood.' Well, sure, all the gun owners were responsible, as far as Mr. Bess knew. You don't find out about the irresponsible ones until they blow you away. And then it's too late. Wonkette describes it as a 'clean kill.' Antiseptic even. It won't even qualify under any of the various metrics as a mass shooting. Just background noise. The comforting murmur of freedom at work.