Blaming our "Gun Culture" - McNair

Well it didn't take long for something to set me off this morning. As I was waiting for my train this morning I noticed a guy nearby reading the New York Daily News, and the following headline took up nearly a third of the page: "Famous face just another victim of our gun culture." The story was about the apparent murder-suicide of Steve McNair, the famous former NFL quarterback who was believed to be killed by his 20 year-old girlfriend in her condo, before she took her own life.

I have to take a moment to examine what our gun culture had to do with this tragedy. Hmmm... one Mississippi, two Mississippi... Done. NOTHING! If McNair had been at home asleep in bed with his wife, and wasn't having an extramarital affair this likely would have never happened. And had there been no gun available, a kitchen knife or some poison would have been suitable for this diabolic task.

If I were the journalist at the Daily News, my headline might have reflected that our culture of celebrity was to blame. Yes, a culture that suggests that you can have it all - that enough is never enough. That if you are a celebrity, the public will turn a blind's eye to your transgressions and cheer you on in any direction your moral compass points, even if it is always pointing in the same direction as one's "johnson." The hero worship of celebrities fosters young girls throwing themselves at actors, rock stars, and sports figures, and was the backdrop for parents, who allowed their young boys to sleep in the same bed as a highly-suspected pedophile. Perhaps if the media gave celebrities the same lashing that they give Republicans who transgress, celebrity worship would subside. Maybe as a culture, we would then hold people accountable for their actions and behavior.

I obviously don't know Steve McNair, or his family situation; but this is not a tragedy of the gun, but a family tragedy, one of infidelity that led to the impasse of conflicted romantic intentions among three people. It is a shame and even pathetic, while not surprising of course, that the Daily News would use this tragedy to further its gun control agenda.