We see the out of date 18th century 'right' to bear arms in a milita, and the common law tradition of self defense (in the larger context of the duty to retreat that is found in common law world wide - except here) distorted so as to viciously violate the right recognized world wide of a person to be safe.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the shooter is a gun nut, who is absolutely certain his penis, testicles and y-chromosomes are less important to his masculine gender identification than his firearm.
I'd bet with equal confidence that he carries it with him for that all important feeble excuse that he needs it for self defense...........excpet that isn't the reality of how guns are used by gun nuts like this one. Quite the opposite.
Or maybe he just has a problem with geography and keeping up with current events; South Dakota is after all right next door to Montana.... where gun nuts tried, perhaps tongue in cheek, to mandate gun ownership (unless you were a LEGAL immigrant - because right wing gun nuts tend to be paranoid and delusional). We can't trust those newer citizens with the full bill of rights; we have to ease them into those potent freedoms.
The irony of this pointless, mindless act of gun nut violence is of course the Title of the work of the author who was shot...
From MSNBC.com:
Hitchhiker writing 'The Kindness of America' memoir shot by motorist in Montana
By Sevil Omer, msnbc.comA West Virginia man who was hitchhiking across the United States and writing a memoir titled “The Kindness of America” was shot by a motorist in a random attack in northeastern Montana, authorities say.
Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier said Raymond Dolin, 39, was sitting on his backpack on the side of U.S. Highway 2 west of Glasgow about 6 p.m. Saturday when a man drove up in a pickup, rolled down his window, shot him in the arm and drove off.
“He was preparing to eat his meal when the truck pulled in and he thought ‘hey, here’s a ride’ and jumped up to walk over to the driver,” Meier told msnbc.com on Monday. “When he got closer he saw the gun and as he was starting to walk back, the guy pulled the trigger.”
Dolin was struck in the upper arm. Meier said Dolin was able to flag down another motorist and was taken to the hospital in Glasgow with non-life-threatening injuries. Hospital officials refused comment for an update on Dolin’s condition.
Meier said authorities arrested a suspect in Culbertson, about 100 miles east of Glasgow, about four hours after the shooting. Glasgow is community of about 3,100 residents.
Charles Lloyd Danielson III, 52, of Washington state, was jailed in Roosevelt County on suspicion of felony assault with a weapon and driving under the influence, Meier said.
Danielson had been in the area looking for work, Meier said.
“This is unusual for our community or any community," Meier told msnbc.com, adding "for two people from opposite ends of the nation to end up here and this to happen – it’s totally random.”
Yeah, well maybe they don't get a lot of people from other places in their community, but random gun violence appears to be pretty common in the U.S. It happens every day in this country, a reality of our violent gun culture.