Last week, Larry Gale Owens was convicted of second-degree murder in Wood County.

That's the type of trial I have covered for more than 30 years.

But there was something different about this case than many others.

Not that it involved alcohol. Not that it involved an emotional confrontation.

Those are common elements to just about every murder trial.

What was different about this incident? No guns were involved. Owens was accused of beating the victim, Jeffrey Hughart, to death.

The exact murder weapon wasn't found, but, according to the testimony, it involved a large object, perhaps a wooden pole, used like a baseball bat.

While this trial was going on, President Obama was issuing an executive order intended to close a loophole regarding private gun sales. Even people who support closing that loophole, including U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (who, three years ago, made a similar proposal in the form of legislation), oppose the president's manner of implementing this change in gun laws.

But that isn't the point here. With all the focus on guns, there are other ways to cause the death of an individual.

Furthermore, a factor never brought up in the ongoing discussion of gun violence doesn't involve guns at all. It involves the lack of any kind of rational judgement in committing the act itself.

While one of the Ten Commandments is "Thou Shalt Not Kill", it doesn't specify any means of killing. It doesn't say with a gun, a knife, or an object resembling a Louisville Slugger. It says you don't take another person's life, regardless of the means involved.

You might not like or agree with another individual, but killing or causing bodily harm doesn't settle the score. (I'm extremely tempted to include a football analogy here, but I would be getting away from the subject.) It also has little to do with race, background, wealth or anything else of that kind.

None of what I've outlined is currently part of the discussion on violence in America. It needs to be.