The Chattanooga Shooting Is Actually the Bigger Problem

Small disagreements turning into life-changing events, because of guns.

On Sunday night in downtown Chattanooga, six people were shot, with two of them in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. The incident, according to the Chattanooga police chief (and there’s every reason to double-check everything any police chief says these days, I’m sad to say), happened when “two individuals from one group started firing upon the other group,” with all six of the injured being “unintended” targets. This was at roughly 11 p.m. on a Sunday night on a holiday weekend in a heavily populated downtown area, which is to say, it was just a bunch of people out partying on an evening when most of them don’t have to go to work the next day. I love the city of Chattanooga: I’m going to be there in exactly two weeks, on those same streets, maybe at those same bars. It’s a wonderful city. It deserves better. But then again: We all do.

The incident was not pre-planned or thought out. It was simply a bunch of guys, on a night out, getting in a fight. This happens all the time — I’d argue it happens nightly. This has been happening forever, since men have been gathering, from the beginning of time. This does not make it OK, necessarily, but it is certainly not unusual and certainly not…