In this blog I do not concern myself particularly with current events because Stoicism and literary ideas transcend our modern era. However, I came across the following statement in Elle magazine, the French version, which I read to keep my French current.  There is a lot of textual content and it is always interesting to see how the French view the United States, which figures very largely in this magazine. In an article on the Newtown shootings in Elle 21 Decembre 2012 a psychiatrist, Daniel Zaguery, explained why the U.S knows this kind of violence more than France: “Americans are not more criminally violent than the French,” assures  Daniel Zaguery. “Every year we have dozens of psychotic meltdowns.  The difference is that in France, we don’t have firearms readily available . . .otherwise there would be as many killings.” I thought that summed it up pretty clearly and simply.

Being able to kill animals and preserving the antiquated notion of needing a militia are not more vitally important than making sure children are not killed. Those false justifications should not matter more than surviving a night at the movies or a walk around a campus or a trip to the gas station, when a hot-headed gun-toter decides he was first in line. We will never need to kill a deer to sustain us; we will never need to form a militia. Those fantasies are allowing us to hand a gun to anyone who loses his mind or just his temper.