A typical year end post for me would be devoted to my favorite things from the past year*, but the news item about the Idaho mother getting shot with her own gun by her two year old has been a bit diverting. I don't want to come across as more heartless than usual, but I'm irritated by hearing these events described as a tragedy.
By all accounts, this woman was an experienced - and, presumably, properly trained - gun owner. As such, she must have been aware that something like this was a possibility if she chose to carry a loaded gun in a purse that her young child was likely to rummage around in, but she did it anyway. A lot of Second Amendment enthusiasts tend to be very focused on their rights but struggle a bit with the responsibilities side of the ledger. Sometimes it bites them on the ass in a very permanent way.
Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for the child who will have to live with his unintentional actions - not to mention his mother's intentional actions - permanently. However, if we're going to live in a society where individual expressions of rights are privileged over any broader social responsibility, then events like this are our new normal - patently undeserving of the label of "tragedy".
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*In the interest of not being too curmudgeonly, I really enjoyed the latest album by The Pearlfishers (Open Up Your Colouring Book) and thought Peter Capaldi's first season on Doctor Who was, despite an incoherent finale, the most consistent - and consistently entertaining - season since David Tennant's first. In other news, the revamp/revival of the musical Side Show at the Kennedy Center was terrific (too bad it couldn't sustain a longer Broadway run), the movie Cold In July was a very compelling thriller and A Place To Call Home is a period drama that makes Downton Abbey look like a bunch of children playing dress-up.
