Baseball and an unexpected death

My daughter lives in another state. She decided several years ago that she was feeling stifled in CA. So we packed her up and moved her cross country. She lived with family friends, then a roommate, and now has her own place. She has a good job and they are pleased with her. She is close enough to walk to work and she does.

Friday she called me right before my class was to start and said "don't be alarmed if you get some alerts about a shooting in -XX"  where she lives and works. She said there was a shooting and she thought everything was ok. 

15 minutes later, while I'm talking about the new class, there's an urgent text message. Her friend, who was walking with her husband to the train to meet friends for dinner, was dead. She was shot through the face by some gang members who were aiming at a group of men standing near a store. Evidently, the aim of the shooter was poor, and he sprayed the bullets and several of them hit her friend. An automatic weapon. Took 1 life there and a half hour previously shot a 13-year-old boy, the same shooters. NO REGARD FOR ANYONE.  Yesterday about 11 miles from here, a 14-year-old was shot and killed. The newspaper didn't have much information. He was shot, paramedics came, took him to the hospital and he was DOA.  

Do the mothers of these young men know what they did that night? Do they know that owing allegiance to their gang, they went out and killed people? How do they live with themselves? Do they rationalize their moves? Do they high five each other and say, hey we got one of them tonight? 

Once many years ago I was trying to calm down a rowdy class, made primarily of young black men. I was at the end of my rope, and I asked them, would you treat your Mother or Grandmother with the same disrespect you seem to dole out to me daily? Why would you act like that towards me? I'm a mom and I can tell that my children would not dream of saying the things you're saying. That seemed to work, finally, they saw me as a person and not just a teacher. 

This is now a rant. 

There is no reason in the world for people to own automatic weapons. Las Vegas proves that, Orlando proves that, Sandy Hook proves that. 

BUT THE CHICKEN SHITS IN CONGRESS WHO ARE BEHOLDING TO THE NRA AND GUN MANUFACTURERS CAN'T SEE BEYOND THEIR WALLETS!NOT TO MENTION THE CHEETO WHO CHEERFULLY SMILES WHEN TALKING ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE. HE DOESN'T CARE. HE NEVER WILL. 

But you say, Bunny, people who hunt need powerful guns. Yeah, I know. Grew up with them. But they need a single shot rifle that will shoot one bullet at a time at game animals.If you shot a deer, elk, moose, bear or buffalo with an automatic gun, you'd tear up the insides and ruin the meat. What's the point of hunting if you don't get to use the meat? 

I'm done for now. 

bunny