There ought to be a law....
Come to think of it, there is. There are.
Nevertheless, in one day's news, I read the following stories. Again, in just one day.
Headline: Teen pleads innocent to pregnant mom's slaying.
Details: She was just a bystander, 20 years old. Sidebar: She left four other kids without a mother.
More details: The shooter was just 17. He stole the gun and was out to shoot another kid who had beat him up. He missed and hit the mother-to-be. He already had a record, a juvenile record, with charges like armed robbery, breaking and entering and drug possessions. Prosecutors charged him with a lot of crimes. But not with killing the fetus, because it wasn't yet viable.
Headline: Fire lieutenant allegedly kills family, self.
Details: No one knows why. The family, which included two young children, 6 and 2, had just returned from Disney World. Fellow firefighters noticed nothing wrong. He shot his kids in their beds, his wife in the bathtub.
Headline: Woman accused of killing infant son.
Details: The baby, just a month old, died of a fractured skull caused by a blow to his head.
Headline: They killed 'for fun.'
Details: Two college students, 20 and 21, are carjacked, taken to a golf course and shot as they pleaded for their lives. The perpetrators, five of them, are 19 to 21.
Headline: A test case for a change.
Details: The guy is a certified wife killer, having been convicted of taking a wire to her throat, then hiding her body in the trunk of their car in a mall. He shows up in court in a dress, calls himself Michelle, says his inner woman wants out, and demands a sex change operation, which you and I (also known as taxpayers) should pay for. Cost: $25,000.
Headline: Church youth ministry leader accused of molestation.
Details: You don't want to know. But prosecutors say it's probably the biggest pedophile case in the history of the Commonwealth.
Headline: Shooting victim honored as devoted matriarch, friend.
Details: They had to bury her, and she was just 40, because a neighborhood thug shot her, at random, as she was in a park playing with her 2-year-old grandson.
Headline: Fears of violence boosts school patrols.
Details: Stoughton Police were afraid a threat would come true.
Headline: U. S. grants to help schools reduce problem of bullies.
Details. School bullies are stealing money and tormenting smaller classmates.
Headline: Deviates March On.
Details: The MBTA (Boston's subway and bus folks) spend $8,000 to build a private bathroom to accommodate an employee who is changing from male to female.
Headline: 13-year-old indicted as adult.
Details: Sent home for throwing water balloons, he returned to school and killed his teacher.
Headline: Andover doc's fatal shot wasn't needed.
Details: Irate doctor killed his wife's lover in her hospital room after a struggle. Wife won't testify against husband.
Yes, there ought to be a law. And there is. There are, indeed. But, no matter how hard we try, we can't legislate morality. Or responsibility.
We keep passing laws, and laws and more laws. And the headlines just keep coming.
I'm depressed.