100,000 murdered

No, that's not the number that's been slaughtered in Darfur, nor the number killed in Iraq. It's a statistic from the good ol' U.S. of A. Take a look at Bob Herbert's column in Tuesday's New York Times (emphasis added):

Murder, that darkest of American pastimes, celebrated in film and song and fostered by the firearms industry and its apologists, continues unabated.

It has been almost six years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when the nation’s consciousness of terror was yanked to new heights. In those six years, nearly 100,000 people — an incredible number — have been murdered in the United States.

No heightening of consciousness has accompanied this slaughter, which had nothing to do with terrorism. The news media and most politicians have hardly bothered to notice.

At the same time that we’re diligently confiscating water and toothpaste from air travelers, we’re handing over guns and bullets by the trainload to yahoos bent on blowing others into eternity in armed robberies, drug-dealing, gang violence, domestic assaults and other criminal acts.

On Monday, dozens of university and law enforcement officials gathered in Richmond, Virginia to discuss how to shore up campus safety in light of the recent massacre at Virginia Tech. A group called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus lobbied to turn over a state law that allows colleges to ban the carrying of firearms on campuses. Will more guns really help?