Meanwhile, Outside the Beltway

In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.

William Bernbach 

Some young man brings the family firearm to a middle school. He kills a teacher, wounds a couple of classmates and then ends his own life. "Authorities" are trying to determine how the student obtained the weapon and why he engaged in the rampage.

Meanwhile, the national conversation is - who was to blame for "shutting down" the government. Was it the evil Republicans, the spiteful President or some other devious political operative pursuing some hope of future electoral gains? Perfect.

At what point do real world problems become a national passion? Passing symbolic laws like Colorado's magazine limits accomplishes nothing concrete. Rather - is there some way to keep firearms out of the hands of people who would use them to kill others?

Maybe the answer is no. Can we at least stop talking about the idiots in Washington for ten seconds and focus on the things that the other three hundred million of us care about?