Day Thirteen

Day Thirteen:  February 13, 2013

After days of searching, Christopher Dorner, a former LAPD officer and Navy reservist, may have been killed. 

Sheriffs say that it was a tear gas canister that started the fire that eventually consumed the cabin near Big Bear.  The loss of four lives and the life of the alleged murderer touches us on many levels. 

The discussion regarding firearms and the Second Amendment will not be resolved any time soon.  I still advocate the regulation and registration of ammunition.  After all, it's the bullets that do the damage. 

That said.  If, indeed, Dorner is identified as the dead body in the burned down cabin, we will never know what truly drove this man to the lengths he was driven to seek revenge for being dismissed from the LAPD.  I have often wondered why authorities are in such a rush to bring holed up criminals into custody.  The use of a 'Bear Cat' demolition device to literally tear the cabin apart was evidently employed.  The man was surrounded.  Escape was impossible.  Could he have been taken without the destruction of the cabin?

Could the value of bringing criminals to justice bring insights into mental health and other social issues.  

There is no excuse for murder, of course.  I just wonder about the military mentality and why 'extreme prejudice' trumps trying to bring a fugitive to justice by waiting the fugitive out.  We may never know how Dorner died.  "Death before dishonor" may have been bywords for him. Certainly, he must have been deranged.     

The funeral for fallen Riverside Police Officer Michael Crain was carried from beginning to end on at least one local Los Angeles television station. The heavy military tone of the ceremonies was a bit troubling for me.  This is not to diminish condolences for Officer Crain's family, but I wonder why the entire funeral was televised for hours and hours.  

Will the same coverage and honors be also televised for San Bernardino Sheriff Jeremiah MacKay?  Or, for the slain couple: Monica Kwan and Keith Lawrence? 

These are just questions.  I know they may never be answered, but as we face tens of deaths by fire arms daily, I think a better question might address the ease of acquiring ammunition for the millions of guns already in the hands of Americans who think they deserve to keep them because of their limited interpretation of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Michael Sheehan