I'm not much of a gun person. I believe far more crimes are committed because guns are available than prevented by them. I believe that the number of murders in the US is multiplied because there are so many guns, and I believe that our founding fathers made their second biggest mistake when they stuck the 2nd Amendment into the Constitution (the biggest, obviously, was not dealing with the issue of slavery at a time when it could have been resolved far more cost-effectively and without almost a century's extra suffering than was created by the Civil War). Still, there are a lot of guns out there--in the hands of criminals, cops, and "ordinary" citizens.

Today, at the Dallas meeting of Mystery Writers of America, Bruce Culver talked to us about guns, police shootings, and what to do if you shoot someone and you don't want to get into trouble for it (it's easy in Texas--the state legislature pretty much says you can shoot anyone you want to if you think they might be a criminal. One possible exception, I'll bet that the post office will come after you if you start shooting postal workers so don't do that).

Karen gave me a helpful reminder not to get into an argument with Bruce. I really wasn't going too, although it's hard to restrain myself sometimes. Bruce didn't say it but I've heard people going on about how much safer we'd all be if we all carried guns. Every time some nutcase hammers his horn in traffic, I thank my lucky stars he DOESN'T have a gun.

After the meeting, we headed for home I finished my editing of Cathy Richard Dodson's GLASS HOURS and sent it off to her for approval/changes, then Karen and I watched a History Channel show on rats (they're Modern Marvels if you were wondering). Am I the only person who wonders how come the History Channel doesn't have any history on it any more?

I'm reading SHAKE DOWN by Joel Goldman. So far, interesting.

I'm going to make A FULL ENGLISH PROBLEM by Anthony Perham the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. Former English Police Detectives Sean Crow and Malcolm McKarn get a chance to visit America--and wrap up the man who got away from their last case. The one thing they don't want is for the crazy ex-SAS member to escape from his high security mental institution--but McKarn and Crow never get what they want. Darkly funny and exciting--only $3.99. Learn more, read the FREE excerpt, or buy the entire eNovel here: www.booksforabuck.com/mystery/mys_07/full_english_problem.html. (Available in HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Mobipocket, Palm DOC, and Microsoft Reader formats). Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

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