Dual State of Mind

      While watching PBS News, I learned last week that a major coffee lounge was allowing people to openly bring  guns in with them. Further in the piece, I watched in disbelief as a video portrayed a Starbuck's in Alabama. A man who had a rifle strapped on his back walked up to the counter to get a brew. 
      Within the same week, two men in Michigan were engaged in road rage. One man followed the other into a parking lot and they shot each other dead. Both men had a concealed weapon permit. The guns were legal, but the resulting murders were not.
       This weapons craze is very baffling to me. I really thought carrying guns for protection was settled long ago in the wild west.The futility of arming yourself for protection is linked to the thinking that society can wage permanent war to achieve lasting peace.