Coming back from a restaurant Monday evening, a friend asked why flags were at half-staff.“It’s because 44 people in the United States — one or two per incident — died Sunday due to gun violence.”
No, of course not. We only offer thoughts, prayers and flag lowerings when the deaths come in large batches, such as the 12 people murdered in Virginia Beach on Friday.
At sunset today, flags and most Americans will resume normal activities. And we can expect another two or three dozen shooting deaths on Wednesday.
UPDATE: As of early Friday morning, there were 40 people killed by guns in the United States on Wednesday. These numbers, by the way, come from www.gunviolencearchive.org. It is also worth noting they do not count suicides, with the exceptions of suicides related to other shootings and “suicide by cop.”
Steve Martaindale 