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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW OSF project translating Bard into modern English stirs international debate ... Roseburg shooting victim describes gunman's rampage ... Guest Opinion: Plaza fencing is ugly and wasteful ... OSF project translating Bard into modern English stirs international debate ... Roseburg shooting victim describes gunman's rampage ... Guest Opinion: Plaza fencing is ugly and wasteful ... GUEST OPINION Guest Opinion: A family tragedy revisited Comment By Donnan Beeson Runkel DailyTidings.com By Donnan Beeson Runkel Posted Oct. 15, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Donnan Beeson Runkel Posted Oct. 15, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News In 1983, we joined the coterie of families whose history was altered by a gunshot. Our collective lament over all these years continues to spill over the bloody banks of a river that just keeps flowing. In our case, my brother-in-law was the one who did the shooting. A known gun fanatic and troubled man, he shot my husband’s sister and then himself. In the electricity of our shock ran the fatal current that we all knew was present all along. We knew he was capable of such a deed. But we didn’t think he had access to his guns that day, because they’d been moved to a neighbor’s house for safekeeping under a judge's order. Apparently, once he’d made up his mind about his final mission, his craving for the power of the trigger overcame not only him, but all the people around him who, like us, knew his default position often involved a gun. The neighbors gave him back his guns. His wife came to visit unaccompanied. What did we already know? We knew that after work each day, he’d punctuate a six-pack of Bud with a target session in the side yard of the home they’d built in the middle of nowhere between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, away from all the people he mistrusted. A sign across the driveway declared, “Visitors will be shot.” We knew his wife’s increasing doubts about their life together had tripped his violent wire more than once, causing her to take refuge in a women’s shelter. We knew that he had once threatened to shoot our dog should it threaten his daughter. Like his family, we were half a continent away, feeling helpless to head off the disaster we all had feared. A Sunday afternoon call from the New Mexico State Police brought the news that a couple lay dead in their garden. Our secret was out, the history of two families changed irrevocably by a gun. What matters now is the number of disaffected, disadvantaged — mostly men — who seem to find meaning only when their fingers are securely locked around a trigger. Whether it’s glory or relief they seek, I do not know. I do know that hand-wringing so far hasn’t yielded any positive results. And as our family certainly admits, keeping concerns secret doesn’t either. I have to wonder if, a few months before this event, I could have reacted differently to the threat against our beloved dog. Instead of leaving the room in fear and anger, what if I had approached my brother-in-law and said I could understand his fear on his daughter’s behalf and I would do my best to make sure a gun threat simply wasn’t warranted? All these years later, I need to say it. Handguns are just plain solid metal evil. They are made to kill. That is their only function. For me, the Second Amendment is overridden by the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” As a Quaker, I believe there is God in every human being. Soldiers may need guns; your neighbor and mine just don’t. Today we live in an armed and perhaps over-informed nation. Who knows how many suffer from friendlessness? Should there really be such free access to violence on the Internet, be it in games, videos or How To Be A Successful Assassin? This is a new age, not the one of the killer in our family. Yet we all remain at risk of being senselessly killed just as our relatives were. Our story is not one I often tell. There is shock and shame in it. This latest event has loosened my tongue. It’s up to all of us to tell our stories and expect from our elected officials some action, once and for all. It’s up to all of us to figure out a way to befriend the friendless. Who talked to this young student about Umpqua Community College? What did the Army say when they discharged him? Why was his mom so helpful in assembling his arsenal? She may have been complicit, but I say we’re all complicit. Donnan Beeson Runkel left a long career in Washington, DC in 2002 to become the co-owner and innkeeper of Anne Hathaway’s B&B and Garden Suites in Ashland. By Donnan Beeson Runkel DailyTidings.com By Donnan Beeson Runkel Posted Oct. 15, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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