Insanity we trust

In the aftermath of the killings in Newtown there have been many calls on the Republican side for control not of guns but of people who might be shooters: people with mental health problems, bad guys with guns; and particularly bad people with mental health problems who are guys with guns. People with mental health problems are not well-treated, we are told, and should never been allowed the freedom they had. Not “well-treated”? – welcome to the US health care morass, encouraged by Republicans.
How do we know who has mental problems? – it all depends upon where you start. In the US public theatre, the same behaviour might be considered quirky, eccentric, around the bend, crazy, deranged, insane, or socialist – or perfectly acceptable and normal.

Guns don’t kill people, shooters kill people

It was dark, there were noises and then gunfire:

Friendly fire probably killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona near the Mexican border this week, the FBI said on Friday … a "tragic accident, the result of friendly fire."
— David Schwartz, “Probe points to friendly fire in Arizona Border Patrol death”, Reuters, 6 October 2012

In the dark, it seems as if an agent heard a noise, saw a shadow, and other agents thought they were being fired on by an assailant – and agents shoot to kill when under attack. Border Patrol agents are intensively trained in the use of guns, and they are experts.