March 2009 was a deadly month

The beat goes on.

• On Sunday, March 29, a 45-year-old man shot and killed eight people, and wounded three others, in a nursing home in Carthage, N.C. Seven of the victims were elderly residents of the nursing facility.

• Also on Sunday, March 29, three people were shot to death in Boston outside a party.

• On March 21, four Oakland, Calif., police officers were shot and killed by a wanted parolee. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that 10 children were left fatherless by the shootings. The gunman — who had used an assault rifle — was also shot to death and a fifth police officer was wounded by gunfire.

• On March 11, in Winnenden, Germany, a 17-year-old former student went on a shooting rampage in a high school, killing 15 people, including students and teachers. The gunman then shot himself.

• On March 10, a 28-year-old man killed 10 people — including his mother and some other relatives — across two counties in Alabama. He then killed himself.

• On March 5, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., was killed by a gunman. The Rev. Fred Winters, 45, was delivering his sermon when a 27-year-old man opened fire. Fortunately, his pistol jammed, allowing members of the church to subdue him before he could do more harm.

• On Jan. 24 in Liberty City, Fla., two teens were killed and seven other people were wounded by at least one person firing an assault rifle. In February, four people were wounded in a spray of gunfire in North Miami, Fla., and on March 8, six — including some teenagers — were wounded by a shooting in Miami.

That's just a sampling of the rampant gun violence in 2009, in which March was a particularly bloody month. Of course, it didn't start in 2009.

It was just more than 13 months ago — on Feb. 14, 2008 — that a former student, 27 years old, opened fire at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, killing five students and wounding 18 others before taking his own life.

It was just 16 months ago — on Dec. 5, 2007 — that a 19-year-old used a rifle to kill eight people and wound five others at a shopping mall in Omaha, Neb. He also killed himself.

And it was nearly two years ago — on April 16, 2007 — that Seung-Hui Cho, 23, killed 32 people at Virginia Tech — and then himself — in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

Of course, the gun lobby and opponents of reasonable gun-control laws would prefer that you not be reminded of such tragedies. The victims, after all, are acceptable losses for those who believe there should be few, if any, restrictions on who should be permitted to carry firearms, thus putting us all in peril. Their solution? More guns. In their cowboy world, we'll be safer if we all carry guns and are prepared to return fire.

Meanwhile, our elected lawmakers keep their collective head in the sand, bowing to the will of the National Rifle Association and the conservative right. No amount of gun violence and bloodshed seems to draw their attention. We just bury the dead and fearfully wait for the next news bulletin, hoping it's not too close to home.

And the beat goes on.