Guns represent many things. In the first quarter of the twenty-first century they are emerging as emblematic of the end of public events.

Festive parades and civic gatherings die when there’s always a respectable chance someone will shoot at the people gathered, or (just as demoralizing) a group of people nearby will be shooting at each other. The headlines are reserved for American parades where happy families are mowed down by nuts with guns, but you’re no doubt missing the smaller, quite frequent, stories of gatherings suddenly reduced to panicked stampedes by multiple gunshots. Something along these lines happens many weekend nights all over the country, the most recent last Friday in Tallahassee.

A large crowd gathered in the FAMU Way Playground near Railroad Square became a scene of chaos and gunfire the night of May 2.

It happened less than an hour after the conclusion of the Square’s monthly “First Friday” event, which celebrates the arts at the opening of each month.

Lt. Robin Abney, a watch commander for the Tallahassee Police Department, told the Democrat that the department was called to the area at about 9:50 p.m. with reports of shots fired. 

… One video of the scene circulating on social media shows a large crowd running after the sound of five rapid-fire gunshots. Another video shows a large fight in the crowd spilling into the street before the shooting, when people start screaming and running for cover.

The gunfire came after the close of the First Friday celebration that draws crowds to the arts district between 6 and 9 p.m.… [T]he incident took place in [a] city playground …

Yes, where kiddies play…

The shooting is at least the 22nd serious shooting this year in the capital city and county. 

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At least the 22nd… serious shooting… The number is much higher, but shooting is so common a lot of it isn’t called in. And how serious is serious these days? Does serious mean at least three people hit? More? Does someone have to be in at least critical condition, though not all the way to dead?

And consider the thinking some local arts enthusiast experiences now.

OOH the arts, the arts… What a fucking loser I am to get all excited about THE ARTS when all I get for showing up for THE ARTS is a barrage of bullets. Fuck the arts.

Read the whole thing.

New Mexico: Land of Drunk Heavily Armed Idiots

Are you kidding? Now I’ve heard everything.

You're never too deranged
To get firepower at a range.
Even if you're totally off
You'll still get a Kalashnikov.

• 18 firearms that included assault rifles and handguns
• 1 Taser
• Over 12,000 rounds of ammunition
• 15 Airsoft guns
• Two-way radio
• Law enforcement-issued police laptop
• An assortment of law enforcement, military, FBI, Army Ranger and Marine uniforms
• Ballistic vest and helmets
• Law enforcement credentials
• Active-duty Army credentials
• FBI credentials
• Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office badges
• 3-D printed body camera
• Self-made Army-training certificate
• Material with Nazi insignia

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He’s planning to kill us all, but today the authorities arrested him before he could do it. Which is great, but even if he gets jail time, he’ll be freed at some point and then he can start accumulating for his killing spree again.

Props to Vermont for going after a notorious nutcase and making it less likely (but not impossible) that he’ll be the next Robert Card.

It’s crucial for fried-brain gunfuckers to know that the state knows who they are, is watching, and, in the case of this particular guntard, is litigating.

A previously self-professed white nationalist, [a person who played] a central role in the racial harassment of a former Bennington representative, [this POS] has faced several charges in the past, including aggravated domestic assault, a hate crime charge of disorderly conduct and repeated violations of his conditions of release. 

Jury took all of ten minutes to convict him of illegal possession of high-capacity firearm magazines. He probably won’t get jail time, so he still walks among us, I’m afraid. There should be a way for my country to protect itself from armed-to-the-teeth madmen.

So far it’s just middling spring stuff – Saturday night fights/shootings, killing one or two, injuring ten or twenty – but come July the gunfire’s gonna be SIZZLING.

Not just on the weekends, and much more productive body bag work – that’s what I’m talking about.

Bring the kids, bring granny – you’re never too old or too young to run screaming for your life and the lives of your loved ones while hundreds of gunshots pierce the balmy air. Get ready.

WASHINGTON—In a dramatic reversal of recent polls showing a decline in the president’s approval ratings during his first 100 days in office, new surveys confirmed Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s support was surging after he pointed a gun at all 340 million Americans. “Ever since Trump pulled out a loaded handgun and menacingly swept its muzzle across the entire American populace, he’s seen a massive bump in favorability on everything from his handling of the economy to his views on immigration,” said Gallup polling analyst Eric Waltman, adding that Trump’s numbers had seen a particularly sharp spike after he fired a shot into the air to show that “he means business.”

“Just seeing people hit the ground and taking cover and, I took cover and balled up like a hamster, so fearing for my safety but thankful I’m still alive and okay,” [a beachgoer] said.

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The reasons why.

Read my blog’s intermittent coverage of bloody Myrtle Beach to get a sense of its astounding gun violence. Even if it doesn’t end in your curling up like a hamster, the action on the beachfront features lots of large, dangerous, fights.

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Some people like a challenge:

“There’s trouble all over the world, we can’t control that. So we just have to come and not let fear spoil our vacation. We still come here to enjoy the sights, enjoy the views, so I don’t feel threatened at all,” [one visitor] said. “I’ve been coming here for years. I’ll still come.”

Hey, if that’s how he feels, he should vacation in Haiti – much cheaper, and spectacular scenery.

We hear also from a local politician:

“It’s very unfortunate that people feel they need to solve their problems with guns but it’s an isolated incident and not indicative of the reality that most Myrtle Beach visitors encounter.”

Hon, ‘isolated’ don’t earn you Fifth Deadliest Beach …

It does this old Baltimorean’s heart good to read articles touting the reemergence of the city of her birth (Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1953), and here’s hoping it’s true and holds true. It was always a great city underneath its gun violence, and apparently having serious gun control laws that make your bangbang shit increasingly unlikely/unpleasant has made a real difference.

If you want to continue to participate in armed warfare, there are many fun alternatives to Baltimore. I’d recommend New Orleans.

Myrtle Beach SC. SC! Murdaughland! Guns à Gogo!

[M]ultiple people were injured and one … killed [last night on a main boardwalk thoroughfare]. … [P]eople described taking shelter in their hotel rooms and inside businesses during the shooting and after.

Myrtle Beach Police observed a disturbance involving multiple people in the 900 block of North Ocean Boulevard … During the altercation, one person began firing a weapon. [A police officer] responded by discharging their firearm…

Exchange of fire! Rumble! Melee in Myrtle! Run for your life!

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This is how you get “one of the highest rates of gun homicides in the nation.”

Anderson County SC’s suicide rate is suddenly amazing:

Suicide numbers in Anderson County are rising fast and have tripled compared to this time last year. According to the Anderson County Coroner’s Office, there have been 24 suicide-related deaths so far in 2025, which is a 300% increase from the eight suicide deaths in the first quarter of 2024. 

Why? Why? Why? asks the reporter, who seeks the answer solely from the pastor of PowerHouse Christian Church, who quotes a bit of scripture and tells everyone to buck up. SC’s ridiculous gun laws, which blanket everyone in weaponry, don’t come up at all, even though we know that the gunniest states have the highest rates (big winners: Montana, Alaska, Wyoming). Anderson’s suicides were overwhelmingly male, and it’s likely all or most of the men used guns to kill themselves. How many of their families and friends knew or suspected they were in crisis? How many were willing or able to do anything to keep them away from guns until the crisis subsided?

Answer: It’s effing South Carolina — look at SC’s first family, the Murdaughs, if you want to know about SC and guns, babe. The idea of doing anything in the gun lock or gun take away line is… It ain’t even an idea, hon! Let’s say you’re even a reporter for a respectable outlet tasked with writing about — well did you know SC state suicide rates have gone up 43% in the last twenty years? Wouldn’t you want to look at this picture – county level, state level – and consult guns rather than God?

Montana’s governor has a new commercial out, directed to Colorado-based gun manufacturers, in which he tells them to move their business from Colorado to his state. Colorado is insane, incredible, obscene, demented, and insane for having recently passed some gun control legislation.

“Move back to America!” shouts the guv; move back to Montana, Real America! “I don’t want to brag,” he enthuses, “but the gun suicide rate up in our magnificent hills is the highest in the country; and some of our counties, like Anaconda, have so many suicides everyone knows someone who’s used a gun to blow his head off!”

It’s true.

‘”This is a norm — people die by suicide,” said [child psychiatrist Kelly Irons,] who moved to Anaconda in 2019. “Everyone has someone in their family here who has died by suicide.“‘ ‘“It’s in the culture,” [says another Montanan]. “If you don’t know someone, you know of someone who has died.”

“Come home to America I say! Just look at this suicide rate-by-state map and compare the pathetic washed out peach color of Colorado to the deep bloodred of Montana! We’re Number One, and every blown off head in the state needs a gun, and you sell guns. Get the picture? Get on over here!”

The governor concludes by singing the national anthem.

“The bullets’ red glare! The brains bursting in air!

More lonely drunk men than you’ll find anywhere!”

… with Minnesota’s law allowing 18-20 year olds to carry guns. Lucky Rosenbloom‘s a firearms instructor, and he has announced that despite the law he himself will not admit that age group into his classes. “These kids are impulsive. They’re not going to think. Some of these kids still think that they’re invincible.”

Panting gunfuckers attacked Rosenbloom for not believing in the Second Amendment. “I’ve been teaching the permit to carry class for over 20 years. I’m not against the Second Amendment,” explained Rosenbloom.

 “There were five deadly shootings Tuesday night, and 13 since April 14. It brings the total to 91 for the year so far... There has been over one homicide a day for the past 10 days.”