Actually, there were 37 shootings in Chicago this weekend. Seven dead. Terrible.

There were 31 shootings in Chicago this weekend alone.

A partial recap of my morning ride:

“…I’m gonna bring my gun over to your house and put a silencer on it and kill you and your motherf*cking family dude, so shut the f*ck up…”

“…my brother got a gun yesterday, and his friend got a gun too, and he only 12! He got a dimebag at the same time too!”

“…nah, I like bud better…I think clearer when I’m doing that sh*t, like what b*tches I’m gonna shoot this weekend…”

These are three of the dozens of gun references they made while on the bus for all of 20 minutes.

Then, they got off the bus, took off their hats, and walked into the hospital behind me.

Really? Do you really think more people need guns than already have them? Do you really think we need less gun control?

Guns are cool to these people. Killing people is cool to them. There needs to be a serious paradigm shift here, and giving more people more guns is probably the worst idea I can come up with.

More. What was it you were saying about guns being beneficial for society?

Chicagoist agrees with me. They’re smart, rational people and take such things to be increasingly, alarmingly, frighteningly self-evident.

People kill people. People, who are armed with guns, kill people, using guns.

Nice try, NRA; I see what you did there.

Another one bites the dust shot and killed at school.

Let’s recap, shall we?

3/6/2008— UNC Student Body President Shot and Killed
3/6/2008— High School Student Shoots and Kills Himself During an Assembly
3/5/2008— Auburn Freshman Shot and Killed
2/14/2008—Seven NIU Students Shot and Killed
2/8/2008— Three Louisiana Tech Students Shot and Killed
11/19/2007— U of C Graduate Student Shot and Killed
4/16/2007— 33 Virginia Tech Students and Faculty Shot and Killed
1/3/2007— High School Student Shoots and Kills Fellow Student
10/2/2006— Five Amish Elementary School Students Shot and Killed in PA
9/29/2006— High School Student Shoots and Kills Principal
9/27/2006— High School Student Shoots and Kills Fellow Student
9/13/2006— Dawson College Student Shot and Killed
11/8/2005— High School Student Shoots and Kills Assistant Principal
3/21/2005— High School Student Shoots and Kills Seven Fellow Students, Grandfather, Grandfather’s Girlfriend
9/24/2003— High School Student Shoots and Kills Two Fellow Students
5/9/2003— Case Graduate Student Shot and Killed
1/16/2002— Appalachian Law Student Shoots and Kills Fellow Student, Two Faculty
3/22/2001— High School Student Shoots and Kills Two Fellow Students
5/27/2000— Junior High Student Shoots and Kills Teacher
4/20/1999— Two High School Students Shoot and Kill 13 Fellow Students

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. And scary. Let’s remember that these are only the shooting incidents that happened in the US within the past several years—since Columbine—involving students that I can remember and/or come across after searching. There are likely others in this category that I’ve missed. (Isn’t it awful that we should need such a categorization of shootings? And categories within it?) In other words, an exceedingly small subset of a huge, massive, urgent problem.

By my count, there are at least 90 students in the above list that have been killed in the past nine years, and to call that figure exceedingly small almost makes me first want to throw up and second drop everything I’m doing and run for Congress. It’s worth mentioning, too, that this doesn’t include all of the others—the ones that were shot but not killed, the ones that ended up in comas, the ones that weren’t students. It doesn’t include gang shootings, shootings in churches, shootings by and of spited lovers, shootings in workplaces, shootings of police officers, or any other shooting, none of which are regulated to any discernible degree. It also doesn’t include similar events in Canada, Mexico, and around the world that happen essentially on a weekly basis. ( See?)

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution allows us this: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” This little “right” of ours seems to be getting people killed left and right, and this is okay? This is a few bad bugs here and there? This is atypical? This is just a bunch of “hormonal high school kids?”I am getting to the point where I vehemently disagree with the Second Amendment. I flat out think it should be repealed. Immediately. I’m not talking about people with mental issues. I’m not talking about terrorism suspects. I’m not talking about illegal gun sales. (I’m definitely not talking about bear arms, which are A-okay in my book.) I’m talking about all gun sales to everyone.

“What about hunters?” Yes, what about the hunters?? Hunt with knives. Hunt with bow and arrow. Hunt with traps. It’s more fair that way anyway. Plus, most trap owners aren’t going to go into a school on a random Wednesday and trap people to death.

“What about the police?” If laypeople didn’t have guns, why would the police need them?

“What about personal protection?” See above re: knives. Baseball bats, crow bars, mace, and fists (fists?! human fists?!) apply here, too. There is absolutely no reason to own a gun for personal protection, especially if attempted robbers don’t have guns either.

“What about the black market?” If lawmakers set aside some money in the budget for a reward for turning in guns, I’m pretty sure many of the guns in households would come in in exchange for compensation (cash, tax breaks, etc.), and this would reduce the prevalence of guns in the general population somewhat.

“What about the army? We are at war, you know.” No comment.

Fundamentally, people need to stop shooting each other. Failing this, which we clearly are, someone needs to do something about guns themselves. This country—this world—needs to do a lot more talking and a lot less shooting and bombing.

Unbelievably, a State Senator from Arizona thinks this problem would be solved if more students and professors had guns, including those in kindergarten and elementary school. And her bill passed the Senate! Right, I see, so any potential gunman could be shot by any combination of a number of other gunman before the first gunman shoots too many people. That’s precisely what we need more of in schools: not just guns or simple shootings, but frank gun fights, “good” gunmen shooting other “good” gunmen, and potential hostage situations with completely untrained mediators! Seriously lady, are you kidding me?

I say, screw guns. If everybody is allowed to walk around with guns, it’s probably not going to be long until we see people going around with missile launchers and bombs, you know, just in case they get mugged or a gunman enters their classroom.