What A Fearsome People We Are.

In Maryland, two high School Lacrosse players were caught with a jack knife and a lighter. They were suspended, one was arrested, and charged. The knife was for trimming the strings of his glove and the lighter was for sealing the ends of the strings. The state stepped in finally and expunged all records in this story. What's worrisome is having kids carry weapons in school or on a school bus. The school acted wisely, somewhat. In this case nobody was made aware of the fact that the penalty would be so harsh. Not the coaches or the student body. It was supposedly the decision of the school board of a "Zero Tolerance" rule. Why I bring this up is not the idea of being strict on weapons in schools. What bothers me is the total fixation of our entire society on fear. We're afraid of a lighter, nail clippers, immigrants, legal or illegal, hoodies, terrorist threats, the other political party. You name it, we're frightened of it and by it.  So we allow concealed guns in any place a human can go. No, that's not quite true. You can carry a concealed gun if you aren't one of the suspected, even if you should be suspected and inspected. Now there are some places where you're not allowed to carry. There should be a lot more. You're allowed to stand your ground, even if that makes no sense. Even if that's dangerous. To you and probably a lot of other people. Are we safer living this way? I suppose some few people are safer, but for most of us, we're decidedly less safe this way. But if we're less safe, why is it that state government after state government is rushing to allow such silliness. I think that before somebody gets a permit to carry a concealed weapon, they need a background check and maybe even a psychiatric test. After all, isn't the whole idea to provide more safety? Do we really want just anyone to run around with a six gun or semi-automatic they can hide under their jacket with permission to "stand up to anyone who gets in their way"? What if I'm in the line of fire? Well okay, what if you're in the line of fire? What if some legistator is in the line of fire? Would that make a difference?