On Jan. 20 one of the finest heart surgeons in the world was gunned down in Boston at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Davidson recently operated on my wife, and he was an incredibly warm, intelligent man with uncanny communication skills. We have all lost an incredible resource. Meanwhile, his wife and three children have a tragedy and heartache they will never get over. Obviously a senseless act of gun violence, but is there anything to be learned from this? The shooter was in his 50s with four children of his own and no history of violence. The recent death of his 85-year-old mother, it seems, had pushed him temporarily over the edge. This is why our gun laws don’t work. Most people can own a gun responsibly. However, the vast majority of people will also experience some kind of a personal event at some point in their lives, when gun ownership is not a safe thing for them to have. Until we can regulate personal tragedy, and the added danger it brings to gun ownership, let’s replace the stupid saying “Guns don’t kill” with something a little more thoughtful: “Guns don’t kill. But people with tragedy in their lives and a gun do.”
Scott McCready
West Bare Hill Road
