What a terrible week for the US.  A number of issues that surround law enforcement have come to a head in a tragic week.

The fatal shootings of two black men in Minnesota (Philando Castile) and Louisiana (Alton Sterling) by policemen have been captured on videos posted to social media for all to see.  In both cases the black men were armed which should rightly make police officers much more concerned for their personal safety.  But from what is publicly known at this time, neither man went for their weapon, and in the case of Philando Castile, he was reaching for his license to carry as had been requested by the officer who then shot him.  This is outrageous behavior by a supposed trained, professional police force.

And now Dallas.  A peaceful protest of the two above shootings turned into an assassination of Dallas police officers (5 dead, 6 wounded at this time) by multiple suspects using automatic weapons.

There are important issues of race that play a large part in all of these incidents.  But the recurring theme is guns.  Handguns on the persons of the two black men fatally shot by police officers; automatic weapons in the hands of the Dallas assassins.

Guns.  Guns.  Guns.

I believe in the 2nd amendment.  I believe that a population has the right to bear arms for two reasons.  The first is attack by outside enemies of the state in which an armed population is a deterrent and resistance towards the outside attackers.  The second case is the rare case that the citizens need to rise up and forcefully take back power from a government that has abducted power from those citizens.  Though a preferred method of ensuring a government entity does not take too much power from the people it serves is by the citizens taking an active part in politics and the political process.

I am not a weapons expert but in neither of those cases are hand guns or automatic weapons necessary.

If anyone has a rational, scientific argument that the number of and easy access to guns in this country had benefited anyone other than the gun manufacturers, I am willing to listen.  But until I hear a valid argument in favor of guns, I remain convinced that the US as a country and society is worse off due to the prevalence of guns.