As you've probably heard by now, on Saturday night a Grover Street resident shot and killed a man who police say was trying to force his way into the house. Another man was seriously wounded.
I've seen several gun enthusiast sites lauding this story as a reason why gun-control laws are a bad idea, and why everyone should arm themselves.
Something similar happened after the Virginia Tech shootings. Anti-gun control advocates said the bloodshed there could have been prevented if more students were packing heat. And when Ronald Taylor went on a shooting rampage in Wilkinsburg back in 2000, Dimitri Vassilaros wrote the same thing in the Tribune-Review.
Now, I'm no gun-control nut. People have a right to own a legal weapon and to defend themselves when necessary. And if someone's going to get hurt, I want it to be a bad guy, not a law-abiding citizen.
But I know a fair number of cops, and I've never had one tell me the biggest crime problem in the United States is "not enough weapons." In fact, even the cops I've known who were gun buffs have told me that our existing gun laws stink, and that enforcing the toothless regulations we do have is almost hopeless because too many cheap weapons are flooding the market.
So I don't know if the lesson to take away from the Grover Street shooting is, "More guns, please."
Seriously. Do you think Virginia Tech's campus would be safer if 18-year-old freshmen were carrying 9-mm pistols? I know some 18-year-olds who I wouldn't trust with plastic forks and knives. Ditto for little old ladies riding the bus in Wilkinsburg.
As a civil libertarian, I believe in the Second Amendment:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
When I interviewed for a job at the Daily News in the fall of 1997, suburban editor Dave Fennessy asked me a standard question: "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"I'd like to be editor of a little weekly newspaper someplace," I said.
Well, I jinxed myself. For whatever reason --- perhaps I didn't get out of the way fast enough --- last week, almost 10 years to that fateful day, I was named the editor of our official weekly newspaper where I work.
Seriously, God, this is really funny and all, but I was thinking more along the lines of the Claysville Weekly Recorder or the Bentleyville Times.
I don't like to talk about work too much here. Suffice to say it's a promotion, and I'm very honored and a little bit intimidated. I'd make some joke here about the fact that I've had to change my underpants several times this week, but I haven't. It was all scared right out of me when I got the news.
People keep asking me if I "like it so far." Ask me if (when! I mean when!) the paper actually goes out the door on time.
Anyway, right now I'm shoveling copy as fast as I can, and I have two freelance jobs that are due this week, plus a big article I'm working on for PBRTV. (It never rains, but it pours.)
As another Daily News editor, the late Marie Havrilla, once told me: "If they strapped a broom to your a--, you could sweep the floor while you walk."
So if the Almanac is sucking this week (more than usual, I mean), I hope you, gentle reader, will understand. There just isn't a whole lot left in the tank right now.
By next week, I'll either have found my groove and life will settle down, or I'll be pumping gas at Tyke's Gulf on Greensburg Pike.
Or possibly I'll be rocking back and forth and finger-painting at Hillside Psychiatric Clinic.
One way or another, things should be back to normal (or what passes for them) at the Almanac.
But if entries next week look like they've been finger-painted, at least you'll know where to find me. And if you visit, bring me tapioca pudding. That's my favorite.
. . .
(P.S.: As always, opinions expressed at Tube City Almanac are not those of my employers or any organizations with which I might be affiliated. And the nurses who bring my meds agree.)
I haven't succumbed to gas fumes (or even hot air) from Versailles, but the editorial dept. at Tube City Almanac has been very busy this week. Your patience is appreciated. We should resume normal service temporarily.
Rather than posting the canned goulash picture, how about some pictures from this year's International Village? None of these are being submitted for Pulitzer consideration, but they should give you the flavor (no pun intended) of the three-day festival.
Just call us the International Village Green Preservation Society.
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