Some Problems with Society

In many ways, I am a typical guy. Typical guys think things like baby showers are boring. Apparently, they are not. At least, in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the mother-to-be was beaten, one man was shot and three men were arrested.

How did the altercation start? The AP reports that an argument escalated into a brawl when Aristotle Garcia (sidenote: very cool first name) got into a fight with Antonio Santiago, who is now dating his ex-girlfriend. Sounds like a standard issue thing, doesn't it? No one likes the guy who is going out with their ex. Yet this gets better - the argument was over whether the ex-girlfriend let their 5-year-old daughter drink beer.

The shower's hostess attempted to put a stop to the fight when another man, Jazz Rivas took a large stick and starting hitting some of the guests, including the seven months pregnant mother-to-be.

Then another man, named Juan Velazquez, fired a gun into the party crowd and hit Garcia in the stomach.

According to the Springfield Police Department,

It was a baby shower gone bad.-
Springfield Police spokesman Sgt. John Delaney

Wow - that is an understatement.

The legal stuff:
Velazquez - arrested and charged with assault and battery
with a dangerous weapon and armed assault with intent to murder. Plead not
guilty. Held on $100,000 bail.

Santiago - arrested on same
charges. Plead not guilty. Held on $50,000 bail.

Rivas -
arrested and charged with three counts of assault and battery with a
dangerous weapon and one count of assault and battery on a pregnant
female. Plead not guilty. Held on $10,000 bail.

How have we come to the point where this junk seems common? I have a couple observations, although they are certainly not exhaustive.

First, we as a society tolerate crap like this. Sure, most of us who read such an article and shake our heads in condemnation. Yet, as a whole, there is not any widespread outrage.

Second, anti-gunners will look at this and say things like, "well, this wouldn't have happened if guns were banned," totally forgetting that it is illegal to shoot people out of the bounds of self-defense, and it is illegal to beat people up - including a special crime when pregnant women are beaten. It will soon be the "fault" of the gun - even though a stick was used to beat the woman. Personal responsibility will be thrown out. Guns will be demonized. The politicians will do their thing in front of a camera.

Third, laws are in a state of disarray. On one hand, we have abortion laws that, in effect, say that a fetus isn't a human. Then we have laws when dealing with abuse of pregnant women that say a fetus is a human and protected. Don't see a correlation? There is. We can't have it both ways.

This is nowhere near exhaustive, but the same problems are at the root of a lot of common lawlessness getting the press these days.