Dave's Fiction Warehouse

In which I bloviate about books, TV, movies, politics and other stuff.

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Murder at the matinee

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tampa theater shooting cnn

This just in from Florida. Of course.

A dispute over texting quickly escalates to murder. It figures that this would happen in Florida, where personal restraint has never been considered a virtue.

And it figures that the immediate result would be a virulent internet flame war about guns and cell phones. Two sacred objects. Both seem to bring out the worst in people, don’t they?

My judgment is as knee-jerk as anyone else’s: Querulous old men should not bring guns to the movies. Or anywhere else. People should shut off their cell phones right about when that reminder appears on the screen. Under no circumstances should voices be raised or popcorn thrown.

But that’s in a world where civility reigns. I guess we’re kind of past that now. Now we’re all kings, and woe be unto those who trespass upon the royal estate. The old guy brought his gun because he expected one day he’d be able to back down a punk. The victim, a married father about the same age as my son, apparently didn’t get the memo about bringing popcorn to a gunfight. You don’t expect Grandpa to pull a piece, but this is America and this is Florida and this is 2014, so maybe you should have.

I know: It’s nothing to joke about. Either man could easily have prevented this. But as in the George Zimmerman case, the fact remains that only one of them had a gun. And the one who didn’t is dead. I suppose it’s apt that the movie they both went to see was Lone Survivor.

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Comments

  1. Thanks for another thoughtful entry, Dave. I can’t help wondering how many people will side with or try to excuse the guy with the gun. I’d like to think that there is no one who believes that the penalty for being a jerk should be death, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

  2. I’ m so very sick of the growth of the gun culture, and the kind of men who create it.

    BTW, Dave, my copy of “The Orphan Master’s Son” arrived yesterday, but I must confess I have no idea when I will read it. I tend to have stack of things waiting to be read, but it looks very interesting.