PD Editorial: A chilling on-air look at gun violence

Enough.

Enough of the mayhem, the heart-breaking stories of lives cut short by gun violence and the feckless claims that the public is powerless to do anything about it.

The solution could not be more evident. As Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said, 'There are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have guns.'

The problem also could not be more visible.

Wednesday morning, it was broadcast live and in cold-blooded fashion as a reportedly disgruntled ex-employee of a Roanoke, Va. TV station gunned down a reporter and cameraman and severely wounded a woman they were interviewing at Smith Mountain Lake, about 120 miles from the capital of Richmond.

Making the case all the more chilling and morbid, the shooter, identified as Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, of Roanoke, filmed himself pulling the trigger and then posted the video on Facebook and Twitter under his on-air name of Bryce Williams. He even seemed to brag about what he had done, tweeting, 'I filmed the shooting.' Both of those social media accounts were later shut down.

Those killed were reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, who, the video shows, were shot at close range. According to the Roanoke Times, the third victim was Vicki Gardner, head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, who was being interviewed when the gunfire erupted. She reportedly was shot in the back and was listed in stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery.

Police say Flanagan, who grew up in Oakland and graduated from San Francisco State University, later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound that occurred while he was being pursued by Virginia police on a highway.

Enough.

By now, none of this should be a mystery. Among developed nations, the United States is by far the most violent, primarily for one reason — the ease with which many Americans can get their hands on firearms.

According to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Australia has 1.4 gun-related deaths per each 1 million people. Canada has about 5.1. American has 30 — nearly five times as many as its neighbor to the north.

The United States has 4.4 percent of the world's population, but it has nearly half of the civilian-owned guns. And it should come as no surprise that those nations — and states — with the most guns also have the most gun-related homicides. That is not a recipe for security or greater protection from government tyranny. It's a recipe for insanity, the kind that was on full view in Virginia early this morning.

McAuliffe is once again calling for a state law requiring background checks on those who buy guns. Legislation crafted by Reps. Mike Thompson, a St. Helena Democrat, and Peter King, a New York Republican, seeks to eliminate a loophole in federal law that requires background checks prior to the sale of weapons at stores but not at gun shows and sales made via the Internet or classified ads. But so far, the law has yet to receive a vote in Congress.

Such laws may not have saved the lives of these individuals, but they would help lessen the number of guns in circulation and make it more difficult for unhinged individuals to access them.

Of the thousands of people who have died from gun violence in America this year, three more were added to the list today. And America's political leaders can't say they didn't see it coming. It was in plain view.