Nightmare In North Carolina

I was originally going to do a snarky piece regarding the gun nuts who can't see a connection between the plethora of guns available, the toothless gun laws in this country and the tragedies that happen with all too much frequency. But then I realized I would be dishonoring the lives lost and their grieving families and friends. Let the gun lovers disrespect them with their false arguments on why we need so many f'ing guns.

Eight people in a nursing home, seven senior citizens and one of the nurses that cared for them were gunned down in cold blood this morning:

Authorities said Stewart began his rampage around 10 a.m. at Pinelake Health and Rehab in the North Carolina Sandhills about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh, firing shots inside and outside the home. It ended when 25-year-old Officer Justin Garner traded gunfire with Stewart in a hallway, wounding the suspect.

"He just comes in and just starts shooting everything around," said Sen. Harris Blake, of Moore County, relating the story told by sheriff's officials.

Garner was wounded in his leg, and police said Stewart wounded two others. One person remained hospitalized Sunday night at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in nearby Pinehurst, and police would only say Stewart was in the custory of the Moore County Sheriff.

Krueger said the victims were Pinelake residents Tessie Garner, 88; Lillian Dunn, 89; Jessie Musser, 88; Bessie Hendrick, 78; John Goldston, 78; Margaret Johnson, 89; Louise Decker, 98; and nurse Jerry Avent, whose age wasn't immediately available.

Krueger declined to say where authorities had taken the surviving residents, including patients with Alzheimer's disease, saying only, "They're safe, which is the primary thing."

I heard something about this being related to domestic violence, which doesn't make much sense. Either way, whether the gunman was insane or just evil, you cannot tell me that the gun laws in this country are strong enough or enforced well enough.