Here’s a story that was missed in all the gales and waves, and probably because, what the hell, it’s the price you should be expected to pay for having a Bill of Rights. You could be sitting down, watching the football game, and someone could show up, exercise their Second Amendment freedoms, and you’re dead before the final whistle blows. From CBS News:

Plano police Chief Gregory W. Rushin said Monday afternoon that one of the two people who initially survived the shooting had died. An officer responding to a report of shots fired at about 8 p.m. Sunday confronted the suspected shooter and opened fire, killing the suspect. Police then found the nine gunshot victims – seven were dead, some in the home and some in the backyard. The victims had gathered at the home for a cookout and had planned to watch football, Rushin said. Rushin said the officer who responded heard gunshots, saw victims down and "knew instantly what was going on." Rushin said the officer showed bravery when he entered the home – without waiting for backup, as officers in his department are trained -- and fatally shot the suspect.

Nine people at once, or two more than the entire Manson family managed to kill in three different locations. In one day. In a suburban home. In Texas, a place with maximum Second Amendment freedoms. The motive wasn’t immediately apparent, but it turned out to be pretty much what you expected. From K5:

Lane told WFAA that her daughter, 27-year-old Meredith Hight, owned the home and had recently filed for divorce from her husband. She says he showed up at her daughter's home and opened fire. "As time passed we assumed the worst," said Meredith's mother Debbie Lane. Debbie Lane says her daughter Meredith Hight, a Georgia native, hosted an Atlanta Falcons watch party, and the group was about to watch the Cowboys game. “She was a cook, and a quite fine one, and she loved hosting friends and families."

Some of the most eloquent voices against this country’s insane fascination with its firearms are the victims of domestic violence and the people who work with them. Of course, those people don’t understand the importance of an unregulated right to bear arms now that we’re all living in the hellscape that exists in the mind of Wayne LaPierre. Sorry about the brute sarcasm, but I’m fed up with living in a country where a massacre doesn’t even make the top of the news anymore.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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