Oh, come on....you don't know what you will do in an extreme, unpredictable, emergency situation  like that.  That is just macho bluster.  And we have a little too much of that already in this country.

Writing from the perspective of a Texan and college professor, English teacher John M. Crisp makes several points about being a Texan and working in a school setting.  First, he mentions during its last legislative session Texas lawmakers legalized the open carry of handguns and in another year, students and teachers will be able to carry concealed weapons into college and university classrooms. Opposition by school officials and law enforcement went unheeded.  Crisp suggests that two, unwelcome lessons will emerge in Texas classrooms: Our culture has reached a point where it's impossible to be safe unless you own your own weapon, and despite the level of gun violence Americans are affraid to confront the powerful interests that profit from America's infatuation with guns.

Some Americans accept these killings and the bloodshed as ordinary part of our culture and we need to get used to them as our "new normal."  Crisp mentions Jeb Bush's nonchalant remark following the Umpqa shooting--"stuff happens."  Have the gun lobbyists succeeded in shifting Americans' thinking to a    more quiescent acceptance of guns as an ordinary necessity of everyday life?"  Does this "new norm" include plenty of accessible guns and a numb toleration of mass shootings?  Are these killings the inevitable byproduct of freedon to own a gun?