Instead of spending all their time glued to 24/7 coverage on Fox News and CNN, people could REALLY get something to think about if they went to see Michael Moore's new documentary "Bowling for Columbine".

About 15,000 gun murders a year happen in the US, and 30% of those murders are random violence where the perpetrator and victim don't know each other. That is roughly 4,500 murders per year. Divide by 52, and you get approximately 86 random violence murders per week in the US. That DOES NOT include people murdered with a gun during the commission of a crime. That is another couple thousand per year.

Then there is suicide with a gun. A few less than by murder, in the 10,000 to 15,000 per year range. And then there are the accidental shootings, like when small children kill small children with big brother's or daddy's hand gun--another couple thousand a year.

I heard some figure (can't remember the exact figure now, of course) in the last day or two of the number of murders in the DC area in the last month while the sniper shootings were going on. For some reason, the number 20 sticks in my mind.

Perspective people, perspective.