Every now and then

A little bit of common sense actually prevails. I’m not talking about the part where Jesse Jackson is ranting about hunting people with AK47s, or where the SF Gate allows their startling bias to show through, or even the part where a San Francisco DA (impartiality? What impartiality) introduced Jackson at the start of the rally. No, I’m talking about this little gem of absolute wisdom, buried down near the end of the article.

Lorrain Taylor of Hayward, whose twin 22-year-old sons were gunned down in Oakland in February 2000 while working on a car, left the rally skeptical.

“I think we’re not looking at the root of the problem. This sounds very political,” Taylor said. “Closing down the gun shops will not stop the violence. … I don’t think the source is the gun stores. It’s a deep spiritual problem.”

You know, I’m honestly shocked that the SF Gate would print that. Honestly though, this is great stuff. This is someone acknowledging that the problem with violence lies with the community, and not with the gun shops, or guns, or whatever. I applaud Ms. Taylor for her candor and intelligence.

At the same time, I’m sort of confused as to why Jesse Jackson is all of a sudden on the gun control issue. I guess he must have gotten tired of flogging one dead horse and decided to flog a different dead horse for a while.